Folks, smashmouth football has returned to Nashville.
Smash and Dash ran through and around the Lions’ 32nd ranked rush defense in the Tennessee Titans’ lopsided 47-10 victory over the still-winless Detroit Lions.
My thoughts on today’s commanding Tennessee Titan Turkey Day victory are after the jump.
Game balls
No surprise here. Both LenDale White and Chris Johnson are deserving recipients of today’s offensive game balls.
Johnson broke out early, as he scored on a short touchdown run that was sponsored by a mistake-prone Lions’ offense that squandered the football away on their first possession. Later in the first quarter, Johnson displayed his rockets on a 58-yard touchdown scamper on a 3rd & 5 draw play.
With the entire nation watching, today may end up being CJ’s signature performance in a debut season that may be culminated with the league’s offensive rookie of the year honor.
The Lions’ putrid run defense was also a welcome sight to LenDale White, who also scored two touchdowns on the afternoon while surpassing the century mark in rushing yards.
After complaining about limited involvement in last week’s loss to the Jets, White was force-fed the pigskin against Detroit and he responded with a solid outing.
On defense, I’m going to reward this week’s game ball to David Ball. The unheralded defensive lineman, who did a great job of replacing KVB during his absence, stepped up today with a sack and an 15-yard interception return for a score.
His celebratory dances may be horrible, but Ball has proven to be a solid player in the Titans’ DL rotation in 2008.
As for special teams, I gotta go with Rob Bironas. In addition to successfully converting all five of his extra points, Bironas connected on all four of his field goal attempts, including a 4th quarter make that resembled a basketball bankshot.
The Return of Vince Young
A commanding 4th quarter lead presented Vince Young with the opportunity to get some action for the first time since the opening game of the season.
Young completed his only official passing attempt: a 54-yard screen play that went to fellow University of Texas alum Ahmard Hall, who was sprung loose by the block of another former Longhorn, Bo Scaife.
Kerry Collins: game manager
Due to the re-emergence of the Titans’ trademark power-running game, Kerry Collins resumed his role as game manager against the Lions.
It’s great to know that Kerry is capable of leading the team to a W via his throwing arm, as he was able to accomplish in recent victories over Chicago and Jacksonville. Somewhere down the road, Kerry may be called on once again to pass the team to victory.
However, the Titans are at their best when Collins is only attempting somewhere around 25 passes while playing second fiddle to Smash and Dash.
In the words of an article I wrote a while back: Kerry Collins, Just Manage Baby!
Final thoughts
1. As Al Beaton suggested in our recent Q&A exchange, the Lions are historically bad.
2. Tuff Harris lived up to the billing of his nickname by once again making an impact on special teams.
I’m beginning to like this “Tuff’ fella.
3. Although he didn’t receive a game ball, Kyle Vanden Bosch continues to make his presence felt on defense.
As we all know, this defense just isn’t the same when KVB is on the sidelines. The Titans need his energizer bunny-like motor to wreak havoc on helpless opposing quarterbacks.
4. Back to the Lions: Daunte Culpepper has to be the first QB I’ve ever seen with not one, but two playcards on his arms.
I laughed out aloud when the game announcers mentioned that Pep was tipping off his plays against the Bucs last week. Apparently, Tampa realized that Pep would look down at his arms on upcoming passing plays.
Only the Lions.
5. On behalf of Total Titans, I hope everyone has a great rest of the day. We all should eat well after watching the Titans take it to the Lions this afternoon.
What are your thoughts on today’s Titan victory?
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