FOXBORO -- When the ball is snapped, there's blood in the water and the Tennessee Titans' front seven is a school of sharks.
"It's controlled chaos," explained Patriots safety Aric Morris, who played for the Titans for three years. "They just go out, get a read and go. They live and die with it, wrong or right. They'll go 110 miles up the field, spin moves and stunts. There's no two-gapping or sitting and reading (the blocking schemes). They just get off the line and go, disrupt stuff and make the plays."
Chaos comes to Foxboro Sunday. The 3-1 Titans will be in Foxboro to face the Patriots, and an offensive line stretched to its limits by injuries will have to batten down the hatches for a three-hour tour of large bodies running fast in many directions.
The Titans across the defensive line are Kevin Carter, Albert Haynesworth, Robaire Smith and Jevon Kearse. Haynesworth's been dinged up (partially dislocated elbow) and his replacement is rookie James Atkins. The linebackers are budding star Keith Bulluck, Rocky Calmus and Rocky Boiman, who's in for the injured Peter Sirmon.
This will be an especially difficult matchup for the Patriots. Against Washington, two linemen made their first starts -- right tackle Tom Ashworth and left guard Russ Hochstein. Rookie center Dan Koppen made his third career start in place of the injured Damien Woody. Woody may be back this week, but the Pats are still a little green up front. Not the best-case scenario for facing Tennessee. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick explained why.
"Unlike a lot of weeks where an offensive lineman can watch tape because he'll block the same guy 80 or 90 percent of the time, this is one of those weeks where it doesn't matter where you're playing, you can get four or five different rushers and different styles," he pointed out. "You can face a speed rusher like Kearse, a guy with quickness and movement like Carter, a power-rusher like Atkins or Haynesworth. They have a lot of different types of guys who they move around a lot, and that's tough to prepare for. Even if you've got the right guys, the whole technique of blocking is different."
Morris was asked the best way to attack this group.
"Just run it right at them and hope they get out of their lanes or you get some guys on the ground because they have a very athletic front four," he said. "The best thing to do is run right at them. Sideline to sideline won't get it done."
The Patriots haven't excelled at running right at anybody for some time. They can try it with Antowain Smith, their burlier back, but he's slower to the line and could get caught up in the chaos. Kevin Faulk is pretty good at hitting little seams and squirting through, but he doesn't bring the heft necessary to run through people.
It's going to be a chore. And Belichick knows it.
"(The young linemen) held up OK (against Washington)," he said. "It wasn't perfect, but I've seen worse. This will be a big challenge."
The best the Patriots can hope for on Sunday is a stalemate. They will not blow the Titans off the ball. And if the Patriots fall behind and have to play catch-up, don't expect to see the kind of late rally they had against Washington last week. Tennessee is not Washington.
