Lots of preparation, some luck and a little deception is what's needed for Titans' interceptions

OK, let's time travel back to Nov. 15 at LP Field in the fourth quarter of the Tennessee Titans' 41-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Ahead by 10 points, the Titans' lead appears to be safe—but one more play from someone would make certain of it.

Enter Titans nickelback Vincent Fuller, who anticipates a curl route and jumps in front of Bills receiver Josh Reed, picking the ball off and going 26 yards for a touchdown and a 34-17 Titans advantage.

After the game, Fuller credited the interception to a lot of preparation with a little bit of luck to go with it.

"It's something that we picked up during the week—in two-minute and a lot of third-down situations, the Buffalo Bills like running certain routes," Fuller said. "You work hard all week to get an opportunity to make plays like that, and I'm just fortunate that the stars aligned and I was able to capitalize on my opportunity."

As it turns out, that seems to be the primary recipe for nearly any interception—a good-sized portion of preparation with some good fortune sprinkled in.

During the week leading up to the game, Fuller was asked about the art of picking off passes as an NFL defensive back.

"A lot of it is preparation, knowing what's about to come, watching film and being able to take educated guesses on what the offense is about to do, and putting yourself in position," Fuller explained. "But you also have the times where you get a tipped ball that comes right to you. Both of mine that I had in '06 were just tipped balls that landed in my direction. Just pure luck. Not knowing what the play was or anything like that. So it's a little bit of both."

So if some part of the interception equation is just pure luck, what can a defender do to make a like a poker player and somehow turn the odds in their favor?

Obviously a good pass rush can cause a quarterback to get careless with the football, but that certainly is far from all that goes into the defense taking possession of the football via an errant throw. The film study portion has already been mentioned. But another factor is simply making sure you track the football when it leaves the quarterback's hands.

Rod Hood has quickly picked up on that, with three interceptions in his three starts since coming in as a fill-in while Nick Harper was injured.

"I think it's about preparing yourself and getting to the football," Hood said. "Coaches talk every week about running to the football, that good things will happen if you run to the football. And I think that's what's happened with guys hustling to get to the ball."

That, says Fuller, is a key element.

"The biggest thing is just being around the football. Running to the football when you see it in the air. Nothing is going to happen if you're not around it," he said.

Since their bye week, the Titans have been quite busy gobbling up passes from opposing quarterbacks. In their three games before the Monday night affair in Houston, Tennessee had seven interceptions, including three returned for touchdowns. During their dreadful six-game losing streak to start the season, the Titans came up with just four picks – none for scores.

Defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil says having a veteran group that knows how to prepare with film study and practice field work has made a big difference in the way the interception totals have jumped.

"A lot of times you get interceptions because you prepare. There are things you see on film that allow you to get a half a jump step here or half a jump step there, and you anticipate things," Cecil said. "You get some of your picks that way, and some of them, the ball just bounces up in the air and you just happen to be there. It's really a combination of both. It's not an exact science."

Cecil knows a thing or two about interceptions. He had 16 of them to go with his 400 tackles during an NFL career where he was considered one of the toughest defensive back ever to play. But the Titans boast another former player with 26 careers picks.

Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt knows a little bit about interceptions—he had 12 in one season, 1979 with the Houston Oilers.

"I'd say a third of them come from preparations, from film work, from understanding patterns and tendencies and that type of things. I think a third come from being really aggressive with the ball," he said. "A lot of people have chances at the ball, but they don't really attack the ball. And I think a third of them are just blind luck, being around the ball, being at the right place and also expecting to be ready for the ball if it does come."

Asked how his came in that magical season of 1979, he said, "four, four and four."

As for what's happening on the current Titans' preparation front, it's probably not a coincidence that the interception binge the Titans went on occurred around the same time that Fuller and Cortland Finnegan returned from injuries, and Hood, a seven-year veteran signed off the street, became functional in the terminology of the scheme.