Unfortunately for the Tennessee Titans, their spirited rally was too little, too late.
Facing an early 21-0 deficit, the Titans’ comeback bid fell short as they suffered their sixth consecutive defeat in last night’s 30-28 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Additional thoughts on yet another Titans’ loss…after the jump.
Can’t pin the blame on the offense this week
Entering this week’s contest, the Tennessee Titans’ offense was in a funk to say the least. With Kerry Collins a.k.a “The Game Manager” trying to overcome injury and father time and even all-world RB Chris Johnson failing to perform at the level we’re accustomed to seeing from him, the Titans’ offense had struggled mightily as of late.
Needless to say, it was nice seeing the unit break out of the doldrums of their slump last night. Kerry Collins played adequately, completing 28 of his 39 throwing attempts for 244 yards, 3 scores and not a single INT. CJ was an all-purpose threat, rushing for 111 yards while also amassing 8 grabs for 68 yards in the passing game.
Overall, we saw a seemingly long overdue solid performance by the offense last night.
A few words on the defense
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the football, the struggles continued. On the positive side, after being gushed for a ton of rushing yards over the last two weeks by the Texans and the Jaguars, the Titans only allowed 87 yards on 32 carries to the Colts last night. Of course, facing the likes of Donald Brown and Javarris James had to be a relief for the defense after having to deal with trying to contain Arian Foster and Maurice Jones-Drew.
Now, for the bad news. Conforming to the expectations of many and to the surprise of no one, Peyton Manning was able to break out of his “slump” with an impressive, 319-yard, 2 TD performance while avoiding the turnover bug that’s uncharacteristically plagued the legendary QB lately. Of course, facing a Titans’ defense that’s recent struggles of failing to generate sacks and turnovers are well-documented, I can’t say that I’m shell-shocked by last night’s developments.
With or without defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil, I think we’re going to witness an overhaul on the defensive side of the football and considering the unit’s lackluster performance as of late, that’s probably not a bad thing to look forward too in 2011.
Final random thoughts
-His fumble aside, it was nice seeing what Kenny Britt brings to the table once again after being sidelined the last several weeks due to a bum hammy. It’s going to be great watching him continue to develop as the team’s #1 WR next year and beyond.
-Speaking of #1 WRs, Randy Moss has been anything but that during his short tenure as a Tennessee Titan. Of course, you can’t blame Randy for not getting enough opportunities to make plays: He can’t throw the ball to himself. Unfortunately, Moss’s inevitably brief stint with the Titans will mostly be remembered as him serving as a decoy and a wasted resource.
For the nostalgic lovers out there, it was nice to see Randy Moss finally adorn a Titans’ uniform after all these years. Unfortunately, his arrival in Tennessee was about 12 years too late, as one can continue to wonder what if regarding the impact he would have made in Nashville catching passes from the late Steve McNair while removing opposing safeties from the box, which would have enabled Eddie George even more running room on the ground.
Oh well, guess it wasn’t meant to be as they always say…
-Gotta extend some kudos in the direction of Bo Scaife for his performance against the Colts. After suffering from a horrible drop against the Jags last week, Scaife stepped up last night with four catches, with two of them resulting in touchdowns.
He’s still a bit too inconsistent for my tastes, but for at least one night, I was satisfied with Bo’s efforts.
-Speaking of TEs, it was nice to see Craig Stevens make a couple of grabs and also end up with a TD. He’s the team’s blocking TE, but he does have the potential to make a play or two catching the football when given opportunities.
-Last but not least, Jeff Fisher’s team didn’t quit tonight. Despite the circumstance surrounding the potential of Fisher leaving after this season and the team’s seemingly neverending losing streak, the team as a whole fought hard against Indianapolis.
Unfortunately, unlike Pee-Wee football, where the concept of effort reigns supreme over team success, the NFL isn’t about moral victories. As Bill Parcells famously once uttered, “You are what your record says you are.” At 5-8, the Tennessee Titans are a team that despite a promising start, is well-deserving of their basement status in the AFC South and when the season ends in a few weeks, there will justifiably be a lot of changes looming on the horizon in 2011, including the possibility of Fisher no longer roaming the sidelines at LP Field.
Stay tuned, folks…
Any thoughts on the Titans’ loss to the Colts? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts below.
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