Titans vs. Lions

                                                                                         

Tennessee -11 vs. Detroit

In one of the bigger mismatches of the NFL season, the Titans (10-1) will travel to Ford Field to take part in the annual early Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. Perhaps a bit of embarrassment for this matchup has gone away for the Lions (0-11). Certainly the media would be billing it as the battle of the unbeaten and winless. However for Detroit, who has let a pair of 10-0 and a 17-0 leads evaporate over the last two weeks, there is plenty of embarrassment to go around.

The chances of the Tennessee Titans becoming the third modern team to go undefeated in the regular season were long, and for two teams to do it in back-to-back years, astronomical, so they were bound to lose. Being perfect, Tennessee was clearly the hottest team in the NFL. But the second hottest team, with all apologies to the New York Giants, were the New York Jets. The Jets staked their claim to the hottest team, at least in the AFC with their 34-13 road victory over the Titans this past Sunday.

Tennessee's offense seemed out of synch throughout the game. Kerry Collins was 21 for 39 for 243 yards and a touchdown, but the running game did not help the veteran. Chris Johnson had only 46 yards on the ground and Lindale White only received one carry for minus one yard. The Titans won 10 games in a row as a team and this was the case with their first loss. The defense surrendered 409 yards and allowed Thomas Jones and Leon Washington to gain 178 yards with Washington scoring twice.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and the Titans can truly be thankful that Detroit is their next opponent and if they do what is expected, they will be 11-1 with 10 days to rest until their next game against Cleveland December 7. Tennessee will undoubtedly be able to get its offense on track against the Lions who are susceptible to big plays. Detroit fell to Tampa Bay at home 38-20 despite building a first quarter 17-0 lead. This was only one week after Carolina spotted them 10 points only to storm back and win 31-22. This has been the story of the season for the Lions, who have held leads in seven of their games this season.

Daunte Culpepper continues to struggle as he learns the offense. The veteran who came out of retirement prior to Week 10 has looked decent in certain drives, but has continually made key mistakes. Culpepper has completed just over 50 percent of his passes for 432 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions in three games. Against the Buccaneers, Culpepper threw for 121 yards with a touchdown, but two costly interceptions, one which was returned for a touchdown and caused him to be benched in favor of Drew Stanton. Although with Stanton suffering a concussion late in the game, it appears certain Culpepper will start Thursday.

Detroit has never beaten Tennessee in two games since the team relocated from Houston. They last beat the franchise in 1995 at the Astrodome.

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