To those of you looking for a new beginning in Zach Mettenberger’s first start as a member of the Tennessee Titans, well, you’ll have to keep looking. In a performance that looked a lot like the six that came before it, the Tennessee Titans lost to the Houston Texans 30-16. The Titans are now 2-6 as they head into the bye week.
The game started off on a promising note, with a defensive stop and a long Dexter McCluster punt return to put the Titans inside the Houston 25. It was almost all downhill from there for about three quarters. The offense went run, run, pass, kick. They did get a first down their next possession, two even, but a penalty knocked them back, and forced another punt. Next series: another penalty, another punt. And the next series. Then, the Texans started moving the ball on the ground. A field goal to tie. A penalty on the punt and an Arian Foster cutback run made it 10-3 Houston. Mettenberger’s first NFL interception, and a return gave the Texans the ball in plus territory late in the first half. Field goal, 13-3 Houston through three quarters.
Things changed after halftime? Well, if you include J.J. Watt making more of an impact, then yes. Sack, fumble, and another Arian Foster touchdown. A booming Brett Kern punt knocks the Texans back to the 2. The start of a comeback? Nope, 103 yards of offense later (net 98 with a penalty offset), Foster had his third touchdown of the game. 27-3 Houston with twenty minutes to play.
At that point, Mettenberger was a sparkling 10-17 for 78 yards and the game was virtually over. He would go 17-24 for 221 yards the rest of the way, so your evaluation of his play will be colored by how much you discount what he did once the game was, in my view, uncompetitive. One thing that did happen after that point that did not happen early was hitting on what I think of as Random Deep Balls. He’d thrown for Justin Hunter a few times and missed him. He found Kendall Wright for a 48-yard gain to set up a touchdown to Delanie Walker that made it 27-9 (after a missed two-point conversion) late in the third (in a competitive game, the Titans probably kick a 39 field goal instead of going for it on fourth down). He would find Nate Washington for 43 yards the next series (fourth down failure, 40-yard field goal attempt likely in competitive game). Three and out, then a drive that ended with a Justin Hunter score to make it 30-16 in the final minute to close out the scoring.
Themes of the game? Not enough yards on the ground to sustain anything. Bishop Sankey finished 9-36 as the Titans only ran 31 plays in the competitive part of the game. Justin Hunter had four grabs on 10 targets for 31 yards and the late score. In fact, no receiver had more than four grabs, though Nate Washington, Dexter McCluster, Delanie Walker, and Sankey did join Hunter at that mark. The offensive line struggled again, with those penalties and that whole “blocking J.J. Watt” thing, for which (le shocque) Chance Warmack and Michael Oher seemed to be primarily to blame.
The defense rediscovered its pass rush, having a lot of effectiveness with their blitzes in bringing Ryan Fitzpatrick down four times in the first half, but when he had time he found open receivers and continued drives. When they tipped Fitzpatrick’s passes, they didn’t end up as interceptions. Blidi Wreh-Wilson had a very active day, especially early, with what looked like mixed results. It didn’t matter much, though, A week after limited Alfred Morris, Foster gashed them on the ground much of the afternoon and finished 20-151 rushing. Houston’s offense is often as ugly as Tennessee’s, but it was effective enough that, when combined with some good field position, they scored six times in seven possessions for a comfortable win.
Bye week time in Nashville. Most of the changes that are likely to be made during this season have already come, so where do the Titans stand and where do they go from here? Beats me, I’m just some guy who sits on his couch and says things. But I’ll try to give some possible answers over the next two weeks, including trying to figure out just what the heck the second half of the season can and should mean.
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