Do the WRs need to play better? Absolutely. No doubt about it. But, I maintain that a part of the problem also has to do with Schottenhiemer and the the elephant in the room, Mr. Sam Bradford. From what I've seen, he has gotten better each year, but he still needs to inch his barometer to the right just a tad bit more.
QB Barometer: Game manager.................#14.............................Gun Slinger / Playmaker.
Years ago, the Titans best WR was a guy named Derrick Mason. He wasn't a superstar, but he was a pretty good WR. If I didn't know any better, I would believe that Steadman Bailey could be his clone. Just watch him grow and go his way Sam.
Austin Pettis is a hard to defend back shoulder completion just waiting to happen, IMO. It's just a matter of accuracy and timing. Why do we throw so few of these things???
With another year of seasoning, Tavon Austin going in motion with his quickness should be almost impossible to defend. And for the love of mike, let the kid go down the field more!!!
Chris Givens may or may not prove to be a one-trick pony, but it should be a pretty darn good trick (ala Mike Wallace) especially with a strong rushing attack and play action passes.
Some will disagree, but T.J. Moe is a bigger Danny Amendola and if he balls out on special teams could make the 53.
I still don't understand why Schotty doesn't have a package where Jared Cook lines up out wide and simply runs down the sideline vs. whatever defender. He's almost 6'5" and has a 40" vertical. Sure, he's still got to catch the football, but if isolated on one side of the field he should be almost impossible to defend with an accurate high pass.
I don't know if Brian Quick needs to learn the playbook or not, but the kid does have the talent to be a pretty good target. And this is year three where, barring injury, he'll put it all together or get left behind.
If all these guys are played to their strengths (which I believe Norv Turner would do a better job) and Bradford can do a better job of forgetting a bad play and trusting these guys, they may not even need Kenny Britt to do anything, IMO.