Green Bay Packers at Tennessee Titans Odds

The 4-3 Green Bay Packers head to Tennessee to take on the NFL’s only remaining unbeaten team this week. Odds makers think the Titans will improve to an 8-0 mark with a win in this game as evidenced by making the Titans 4.5-point favorites with the total set at 40.5.

The Titans have been winning with a ferocious defense, a hard-nosed running attack, and good decision making from QB Kerry Collins. They’ll see if this same winning formula will work once again this week.

Collins’ numbers are not staggering. He’s completing 58.2 percent of his 28 pass attempts per game for three touchdowns and three interceptions. He has gone five straight games without being sacked. His savvy veteran play has as much to do with Tennessee’s success as anything.

Tennessee’s game planned called for Collins to throw the football more last week and it completely caught the Colts off guard. He was 24 of 37 for 193 yards and no interceptions in Tennessee’s 31-21 win over rival Indy.

Airing it out has not been a good recipe for Collins in the past against the Packers however. He set a career high with 59 pass attempts for the New York Giants in a 34-25 loss Jan. 6, 2002, and put the ball in the air 53 times for Carolina in a 37-30 defeat Sept. 27, 1998. In Collins’ defense, I’d say he has a better defense behind him this time around.

I expect Tennessee to take to the ground game again this week with the trouble that Green Bay is having against the run. Green Bay is allowing 141.9 yards per game on the ground. The Titans, meanwhile, have averaged 145.0 rushing yards a contest.

Tennessee’s thunder and lightning backfield has complimented each other well and kept defenses off balance. Speedster Chris Johnson has 626 yards and four scores and bruiser LenDale White has 327 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Titans are not known as an explosive offensive team, but they have managed to score at least 30 points in five straight games.

That is largely do to a defense which hands the ball over to the offense in great positions. The Titans have the league’s best scoring defense, allowing only 87 points this season.

The Titans defense will have to be on point this week against a Packers offense which is averaging 27.7 points per contest. They will see Aaron Rodgers at his best after using the bye week to regain some health in his right shoulder.

Despite dealing with the injury, Rodgers has played quite well, completing 70.5 percent of his passes for 707 yards and six TDs with one INT. His solid play has helped the Pack move into a first place tie with Chicago in the NFC North.

The bye week has also given the Packers defense a chance to regain its health. Cornerback Al Harris and safety Atari Bigby appear ready to return to action.

Harris is coming off his first Pro Bowl season. He was injured his spleen in a late September contest with the Cowboys. Bigby’s was an important part of the Packers’ success last season and has missed five games in 2008.

The Packers are riding a two-game winning streak and will be going after the big target on Tennessee’s back.