Late Scores Give Redskins Win Over Titans

Washington Redskins 14 – Tennessee Titans 6
The Titans played their preseason opener tonight, and fell to the Redskins by a final score of 14-6. The biggest story of the night, though, was that Vince Young was suspended for the game for an unspecified violation of team rules. Without Vince Young, the Titans offense struggled for almost the entire game, only making it to the red zone once despite starting their first two drives in Redskins territory. The Titans’ scores came on field goals, one by Bironas from 41 and the other from John Vaughn from 39. Vaughn also missed from 27, which won’t help his chances of making the team.
The Titans led for most of the game, as both of the Redskins’ scores came very late. The Redskins third string offense dominated the Titans third string defense, and Marcus Mason capped off a 7 play, 75 yard drive by plunging over from the 1 yard line with 1:17 to play. Rookie center LeRoy Harris had lots of trouble with shotgun snaps tonight, and one that never got more than six inches off the ground was eventually recovered by Byron Westbrook in the end zone only 26 seconds after the Mason TD to get to the final tally.
Like the Titans, the Redskins also missed a field goal and had their offense sputter for most of the game. Missing top RB Clinton Portis, their ground attack was ineffective, and QB Jason Campbell was under pressure for most of the first half. The Titans D forced Campbell to fumble twice in the first half, with Fuller forcing one off a blindside blitz and Tony Brown the other coming off a stunt. Aside from Fuller and Brown, Ulrich Winkler, Jesse Mahelona, and Sean Conover had sacks for the Titans. Tony Brown led the team in tackles with 5, 3 solo and 2 assists.
On the offensive side of the ball, the benching of VY forced the Titans to play Collins and Rattay the entire game, with Collins taking the first half and Rattay the second. Collins was 10 for 17 for 79 yards and Rattay 13 for 21 for 121 yards. Neither QB threw an interception, but nor did either have any particularly impressive plays. The Titans mostly kept it short and simple, with the longest pass a 26 gain to tight end Casey Cramer. Bo Scaife led the team with 4 receptions, and Brandon Jones had 3 catches for a team-high 34 yards. The Redskins didn’t have any sacks, but that was more because Rattay and Collins threw the ball away when necessary than the Redskins not getting pressure.
The Titans ran the ball, too. The problem was they generally didn’t get very far when they did. Chris Henry had 12 carries for 42 yards, with a long of 10, to lead the team. He started off better than he finished, with 7 for 35 followed by 5 for 7. Maybe it’s the early burst, but he looked better than either Chris Brown (9 for 19) or LenDale White (6 for 15). Quinton Ganther got into the game at the end. Snore.
I’m sure Andrew will chime in with his own thoughts on the game. For more detailed thoughts, see my liveblog. Henry favorably impressed me the most, and the defensive line looked pretty good for the first three quarters. Spencer Toone was flagged for a couple penalties on special teams, so he stood out in a bad way. First round draft pick Michael Griffin also had a personal foul face mask on defense, which you don’t want to see.