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Elliott from Chattanooga, TN writes: The Jets put Leon Washington on a second-round tender. Does that mean since the Titans don’t have a second round pick this year they can’t make bid for him? If they could do you think they would be interested in him sense he was a Pro Bowl kick returner and that was a position they were looking to address this year, plus he would be someone to alternate with Chris Johnson.

Paul Kuharsky: Good question for the AFC South since neither the Titans nor the Jaguars have a second round pick.

If either of them wanted to sign a guy tendered at a second-round level to an offer sheet, they’d have to a) acquire a second rounder equal to what they would have had in the draft or one higher; or b) give up their first rounder instead. Basically, if you don’t have a pick in the right round and can’t get one commensurate to what you would have had, it gets rounded up a round. Nobody’s going to be doing the rounded up thing.

While Washington is intriguing as a return guy, the Titans have sufficient alternatives to Johnson as running back. A second rounder they’d have to trade for plus the kind of contract Washington would want are too high a price for the Titans, I’d say.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky

A running back going against an unfamiliar team can be a surprise.

No matter how much film a defense has watched, a guy can be shiftier, more slippery, faster, stronger or tougher to bring down than he appears.

Division games are, of course, a different deal.

There are few such surprises between teams that face each other twice a year and often gear their personnel moves and roster construction to give themselves the best chance of conquering their most frequent foes.

So what does it say that the AFC South boasts the NFL’s three best running backs when we measure only division games?

This chart comes courtesy of the Titans supplemental weekly notes.

Highest rushing average in division games, 2008-09 (min. 40 attempts) Player Games Att. Yds. Avg. Long TD Chris Johnson, Tennessee 9 145 915 6.31 91* 5 Steve Slaton, Houston 8 132 738 5.59 71* 6 Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville 10 138 765 5.54 80* 10 Darren Sproles, San Diego 10 59 327 5.54 37 2 DeAngelo Williams, Carolina 8 153 843 5.51 41 6 Frank Gore, San Francisco 7 130 693 5.33 80* 7 Leon Washington, NY Jets 9 71 377 5.31 47* 2 *TD run

Is this a good thing that shows how good these three backs are? Is it a bad thing that shows how these defenses, even as familiar as they are with these backs, still can’t stop them?

I’m curious about your interpretations.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky

Fresh off a giant rushing day in a loss to Tennessee, Maurice Jones-Drew graciously donated 20 minutes to the AFC South Blog to chat about the latest version edition of ESPN.com’s Power Rankings.

	Fernando Medina-US PRESSWIRE
	Maurice Jones-Drew weighed in with an opinion on every team in the league.

He wound up offering more of a team-by-team commentary on the league than on the rankings, which is just fine with us.

So here is a sampling of his thoughts:

"The Saints and Colts both struggled this week, I just don’t know how long those guys can last with those high-powered offenses. It seems like New Orleans, at least, has to have a shootout every week to win, you know. So I don’t know how long that’s going to last. The Colts survived a scare. So call them the Houdinis, they find a way to win."

"Minnesota I think is one of the best balanced teams with the running game, passing game, great defense and special teams. They’re firing on all cylinders right now."

"Denver at four, I don’t know how long they are going to last with just throwing the ball all the time. You’ve got to have a balanced offense in this league, and to run the ball just 10 times [actually 19] against the Ravens was not good."

"New England’s just sneaky, I haven’t heard too much about them yet. They ranked No. 5, so you all have your eye on them."

"Cincinnati is revived, new heart."

"Pittsburgh, great defense."

"Dallas was like on the bottom half of the league last week or two weeks ago, weren’t they? [They were 19 just two weeks ago, I tell him.] I just remember everyone saying Dallas is horrible, they aren’t going to be any good. Now all of a sudden they are up there. Nineteen two weeks ago, now eight? That’s a question mark how guys can jump up that far, this is not the BCS."

"I like Philadelphia. Donovan McNabb has multiple weapons, defense is playing solid right now. They are an opportunistic team."

"Baltimore is catching their stride right now which is going to be pretty dangerous for some people. They can run, they can throw, they play great defense, their special teams are starting to come on and their head coach is a special teams guy. I like them, I think they are going to be a good team and later on they’ll be higher than 10."

"Atlanta is going to be a team that sneaks up on people to. I think they should be a little bit higher. They lost their last two, but before that they were like No. 6 or something, weren’t they? They were high up there. I just don’t know how teams drop in this week-by-week deal."

"The Packers can’t beat the Vikings. They can’t win their division it seems like."

"Cardinals live by the pass die by the pass. It’s a risky way, but if that’s what you’re going to be, know who you are."

"Texans at 14, oh man. I don’t know…"

Blogger break in: Jones-Drew gets to the security gate of his neighborhood. “Hello,” he says. “Monroe, right?” the woman asks him. “No, Jones-Drew,” he says politely. “I’m sorry,” she says. Then turning back to me on the phone: “That’s crazy, my own neighborhood doesn’t even know me. I tell you what, I’ve still got a long way to go.”

"...Texans, Matt Schaub was struggling and Ryan Moats steps up big for them in that Buffalo Bills game. I have Matt Schaub on my fantasy team and he did not play well for me."

"The Giants were the No. 1 team probably three weeks ago and they lost three now, I guess they are on a skid. Now 15, they will probably be down where they Jaguars are next."

"San Diego? Slow start. They always start slow and they always pick it up towards the middle and the end of the season. So it’s kind of surprising, people have to realize that’s how they play the majority of the time. I think they will be higher."

"I don’t know about the Bears. They’re kind of inconsistent. Matt Forte, he’s on my fantasy team, I’m glad he had a big week against Cleveland. They are just inconsistent. I think now, 16, 17 on down you’re going to get to the teams that are just inconsistent."

"Injuries are what make the Jets so low at 18, to lose Kris Jenkins is a big hit for them on the defensive side. And then you lose Leon Washington, your kickoff returner and your backup running back, one of the most explosive guys in the league. That’s tough."

"I think the 49ers are catching their stride. They played Houston tough and almost beat Houston, they came back on them. They played Indy incredibly tough with the Joseph Addai touchdown. Whenever you can hold Peyton Manning with no touchdowns, it’s real big."

"Miami, I think they are undefeated in divisional play, right? You win your division you get to the playoffs. They are the head of their division but that can beat anyone else. Divisional bullies?"

"Jaguars at 21? That’s bull. We should be No. 1. [I chime in that I understand why he says so, but he knows how it sounds to people, right?] "If I didn’t say that, it wouldn’t be right. Everyone should say that about themselves. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?"

"Buffalo, injuries. They’d be higher if they didn’t have as many injuries."

"Carolina, give the ball to Steve Smith. Give him the rock, feed him. You have a running game, but no Steve Smith. That’s why they are ranked that low."

"Seattle: listen to Houshmandzadeh."

"Washington, 25th, they’re struggling. What Haynesworth said: When they want to win, they will."

"The Titans beat the Jaguars."

"Oakland: Off the field issues."

"Kansas City: Off the field issues."

"The Lions got their first victory."

"I think St. Louis should be ranked higher than Detroit, they should flip-flop spots 29 and 30. The Rams beat them didn’t they? If two teams are evenly matched like that, usually the team that beat the other one should be right ahead of them."

"Cleveland: internal bleeding. They are firing everybody in Cleveland right now. They just traded Braylon Edwards, now you’re going to fire your GM. Who’s next?"

"Tampa Bay? [Expletive]! I know how they feel, like anything and everything you do isn’t right. You can do all the hard work in the world and it still doesn’t pay off."

"I think you guys did pretty good. Denver I understand they are high up there, they beat New England which was a big win. Other than that, most of their wins were against opponents that aren’t up there. …I obviously think we’re way too low, we beat Houston. I think Houston could be a little bit higher. At 5-3 they are a little tougher than what people think."

"Fantasy-wise, I need Antonio Gates to step up. I need Philip Rivers to throw the ball to Antonio Gates more. We play two quarterbacks, I have Matt Cassel but I hope he does bad [in Jacksonville Sunday]. I might just play one quarterback."

	Jason Bridge/US PRESSWIRE; AP Photo/Wade Payne
	The Titans need Nick Harper, Kyle Vanden Bosch and the rest of the Titans' defense to step up their game for the team to avoid an 0-3 start.

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The numbers hardly add up. A team with three Pro Bowlers in the secondary rates 32nd in pass defense and has two losses two weeks into the season.

The 34-31 loss to Houston, in which Matt Schaub shredded the secondary, skews the ranking against the pass. But at crucial moments, the max-protecting Steelers picked the Titans apart and the quick-throwing Texans found plenty of big plays.

A lot of pride is on the line as the Titans head to Giants Stadium to face the Jets, and they know an 0-3 hole could simply be too big to dig out of.

“I’m very confident that that was a one-time deal, it won’t happen again,” linebacker Keith Bulluck said of the Houston game. “We all were embarrassed by it on the defensive side of the ball …. We got it out of the way.”

First-year defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil, who was previously the secondary coach, said he understands why passionate fans are distraught over the team’s results so far, but that he’s obligated to take emotion out of things, dissect what’s happened and plot what needs to be done.

	AP Photo/Wade Payne
	First-year Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil said the defense's problems won't be difficult to fix.

“The biggest thing to me is to be objective about what’s happening and I feel very confident about what we are trying to get accomplished and what we’re doing,” he said. “I think what problems we might have had are easily rectified. …. The emotional part of it you have to step back and just go, ‘No, what happened, why did it happen, what do you need to do to fix it? And move on.”

Simply put, defensive backs need to cover better. As Jeff Fisher said Monday, “when a player gets beat one on one, it has nothing to do with the game plan or the calls or so on and so forth.”

That’s priority No. 1 for corners Nick Harper and Cortland Finnegan, safeties Chris Hope and Michael Griffin and nickelback Vincent Fuller.

“We’ve got some things going on right now, and we’re going to get them fixed,” Harper said. “For whatever reason we’re just not playing well right now. … Right now we feel like we’re letting the team down. The past two seasons we felt like we were the strongest unit. We feel like we’re the weakest unit right now.”

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