Had Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt not gone down with a hamstring injury in San Diego last Sunday, Tennessee would not have put a claim in on Randy Moss. With Britt down, the Titans felt compelled to pursue Moss, and it was more to prop up their running game than anything else.
Defenses have been more than willing to go man-to-man in all situations against the Titans, freeing more players to crowd the box and smother reigning NFL rushing champion Chris Johnson.
It showed Sunday in San Diego. After Britt left the game, Johnson was held to 54 yards on 13 carries. And if you eliminate his 29-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, the star's stats fall to 25 yards on 12 carries.
The Titans expected, in the wake of Johnson's superlative 2009, defenses to target the 2,000-yard rusher. They didn't expect it to go as far as it has, and so they needed to properly replace the presence Britt brought - forcing defenses to pay the price for playing up.
Moss can do that, and the Titans couldn't afford to go the 6-to-8 weeks Britt is expected to miss trying to find a way to wriggle Johnson loose.
The expectation in Tennessee is that, by the time the Titans next hit the field next weekend in Miami, Moss will have grasped more than just the basic stuff, and he'll be able to do more than just run go routes the way he did in his Viking debut.
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