Popular Post TitansGuru Posted December 19, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Confused about who to root for if you're a Titans fan pining for the number one pick? We've got you covered. The Tennessee Titans entered week 16 holding the number two overall spot in the draft with three other teams sharing the same record. They faced off with one of them on Thursday and, assuming your aim is the top spot in the draft, got the much needed loss to the Jaguars. That leaves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders tied with the same number of wins headed into the last two weekends of the season. As most of the readers here know, for teams possessing the same record the first tie-breaker is strength of schedule. In the case of draft seeding, lower strength of schedule is better. This is why the Buccaneers are currently picking ahead of the Titans in the draft order. Entering the weekend, when you consider the remaining games, the Buccaneers have a strength of schedule of .480 versus the Titans at .493. The Raiders on the other hand have the highest strength of schedule in the league at .585. We'll make the safe assumption that the Raiders strength of schedule is likely too much to overcome and ignore them for now. So, how much difference is there between a strength of schedule of .480 versus one of .493? Three games over the course of an entire NFL season. That's all. Not including the win against the Jaguars, the Titans opponents can claim a record of 110-113-1. Meanwhile, the group beating up on the Buccaneers sport a lean 106-115-3 mark. Considering that ties basically count as a half win and half loss, that puts the statistical totals to 110.5 wins for Tennessee opponents to 107.5 wins for those of Tampa Bay. Three games. So, what would it take for the Titans to overtake the Bucs for the top spot? Well, they took the first step by losing to the Jaguars in Jacksonville. In doing so, this bumped the Titans' strength of schedule to .498. Why such the dramatic jump from .493 to .498? It's because divisional games count twice towards strength of schedule. This will come into play later.The easiest way to secure the top spot would be the Buccaneers to pull out a win in either of their next two games and the Titans falling to the Colts in the last week of the season. This week will be a tall order for the Buccaneers with the Packers coming to town with play-off implications in the balance. However, their final test comes against a very beatable divisional foe in New Orleans. Still, the Saints will likely be playing for the division title so you would expect them to bring their best. Which brings us back to the strength of schedule tiebreaker.So, who do you root for this week if you're a Titans fan? As stated earlier, division games count twice. So, you would want anyone in the AFC South to lose and anyone in the NFC South to win. Week sixteen only offers a few games that can help is in this way. The Saints are playing the Falcons, cancelling out any benefit. The game involving the NFC south that can really help is the Browns versus the Panthers. The Titans need the Panthers to beat the Browns in Carolina. The Panthers are currently a field goal (-3) favorite to do just that. They also have an outside track to the divisional title and a spot in the play-offs. Next up is the Texans against the Ravens. You want the Texans to lose at home. They are expected to do just with rookie Tom Savage getting his first start. The Ravens are a five point favorite. There is also another type of game this week that will count twice: games where the Titans played one side and the Buccaneers played the other. Since the Titans played the Giants and the Buccaneers played the Rams. Titans fans would benefit from a Giants loss to the Rams. Again, the odds makers in Vegas have this working in our favor as the Rams are currently a touchdown favorite at home over the Giants. So, we have three games that simply have to go to plan in order to flip the scales towards the Titans having the number one pick. Who else should you get behind this week? Common and intradivisional opponents eliminates the relevance of many games this weekend. Still there are some you should care about.You want the Colts to lose to the Cowboys. I know what some of you are thinking: But I thought you said divisional opponents count twice. Why did you not mention them earlier? Simple, the Titans played the Cowboys as well. Meaning one result will cancel out the other. Cowboys favored by 2.5 points.You want the Patriots to beat the Jets. No worries here, except that the Jets have traditionally played them tough. Patriots are an 11.5 point favorite.You want the Vikings to beat the Dolphins. The Vikings are currently a seven and a half point dog.You want the Steelers to beat the Chiefs. Steelers favored by 2.5 at home.You want the Redskins to beat the Eagles. This is the least likely one of all. Eagles favored by 7.5. So, there you have it. You now know who to root for in week sixteen. If everything holds to form, look for the Titans to be in possession of the top spot in the draft entering the final week of the season.Click here to view the article Omar, Denali, woolfolksunclesuncle, and 14 others 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzTitan Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) Nice writeup! Â But the Titans played both the Redskins and Eagles, therefore it's a guaranteed 1-1 result for the Titans win-loss? Â And Steelers and Chiefs? Edited December 19, 2014 by OzTitan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scine09 Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Nice writeup! Â But the Titans played both the Redskins and Eagles, therefore it's a guaranteed 1-1 result for the Titans win-loss? Â And Steelers and Chiefs? TB played Pittsburgh and Washington. So Pittsburgh and Washington results do nothing for the Titans either way when compared with the Bucs. However, since the Bucs didn't play KC and Philly if you want the Titans to get the #1 pick you'd want them both to lose to worsen Tennessee's SOS while not impacting TB's. OzTitan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpy Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Nice writeup! Â But the Titans played both the Redskins and Eagles, therefore it's a guaranteed 1-1 result for the Titans win-loss? Â And Steelers and Chiefs? Tampa played both the Steelers and Redskins. OzTitan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzTitan Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Ah, of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scine09 Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 The SF-SD game does nothing for either team's SOS.  You also have to keep week 17 in mind. San Diego-KC, NYJ-Miami and St. Louis-Seattle will all factor in.  I think it's too tall an order. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number9 Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 TitansGuru!! Â TG is da man! JCBRAVE 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulluck4dmvp Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) I'd be ecstatic w/ either the #1 or #2 pick. Definitely looking forward to the draft process while salivating over Gregory.  Counting down until April 30th... Edited December 19, 2014 by Bulluck4dmvp SuperFreak90 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
helimachoptor Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I'm still lost! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nash Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I sent a link out to Gbnreport.com.. Great work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonboy Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I'm still lost! It's pretty confusing, but things will get a lot more clear after this week's games. We'll know exactly what needs to happen. Soxcat, JCBRAVE, TitanedUpSince'70, and 1 other 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I've said it before but I'll say it again. I don't care about the first pick. I'm pretty confident the Bucs will take a QB leaving the Titans their pick between Gregory or Williams. Its very important for the Titans that they pick before the Raiders and Jags as both those teams have no interest in a QB. titanruss, and ctm 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scine09 Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 I've said it before but I'll say it again. I don't care about the first pick. I'm pretty confident the Bucs will take a QB leaving the Titans their pick between Gregory or Williams. Its very important for the Titans that they pick before the Raiders and Jags as both those teams have no interest in a QB. The Jaguars can only catch the Titans if the following happens:  Titans beat Colts Texans beat Jaguars Chiefs beat Steelers 49ers beat Chargers Jets beat Patriots Vikings beat Dolphins Jets beat Dolphins Chiefs beat Chargers  If one of those 8 things does not happen then the Titans will be guaranteed to pick in front of the Jaguars.  As far as the Raiders, if the Titans and Raiders finish with the same record the Titans are guaranteed to win the tie-breaker. Jonboy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 The Jaguars can only catch the Titans if the following happens:  Titans beat Colts Texans beat Jaguars Chiefs beat Steelers 49ers beat Chargers Jets beat Patriots Vikings beat Dolphins Jets beat Dolphins Chiefs beat Chargers  If one of those 8 things does not happen then the Titans will be guaranteed to pick in front of the Jaguars.  As far as the Raiders, if the Titans and Raiders finish with the same record the Titans are guaranteed to win the tie-breaker.  I know which is why the outcome of last night's game was so important. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haywood Posted December 19, 2014 Report Share Posted December 19, 2014 Great post @TitansGuru. These kind of posts make this place invaluable. Thanks again! earlers, SuperFreak90, CreepingDeath, and 1 other 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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