Despite Kenny Britt’s game-ending injury, Chris Johnson’s continued struggles and a boatload of penalties, the Tennessee Titans were still able to emerge victorious in today’s 17-14 win over Denver.
Veteran Matt Hasselbeck continued his stellar play, completing 27 of his 36 passes for 311 yards and two scores. His performance was even more impressive considering the aforementioned adversities the offensive unit faced as its two biggest playmakers (for two completely different reasons) were essentially non-factors on the afternoon.
Additional thoughts on the Titans reaching the 2-1 mark thanks to today’s victory…after the jump.
Some additional praise for Matt Hasselbeck
In spite of his age, Hasselbeck is proving that he’s got something left in the tank.
Even without the services of his #1 WR threat and the runner formerly known as CJ2K failing to crack the 2.0 yards per carry mark, Hasselbeck was able to will his unit to success on Sunday. He completed passes to an impressive eleven different receivers, including tosses to unlikely playmakers such as Craig Stevens and Daniel Graham that resulted in huge plays for the offense.
After all of the quarterback shuffling and inconsistency we’ve witnessed as of late, it’s finally nice to be able to watch an established veteran signal-caller work his magic on game-day.
Thank you for bringing back stability to the QB position, Matt Hasselbeck. Jake Locker, I hope you’re taking notes.
Defense stepping up when it matters the most
Speaking of breaths of fresh air, it’s also a pleasure to see an improved effort from the defensive side of the football after the catastrophe known as the Chuck Cecil era.
Jerry Gray’s group, for the second consecutive week, made some key plays on defense that played a pivotal role in the outcome of the football game. Despite several unnecessary penalties, the group stepped up with a crucial goal-line stand that halted a potential Denver scoring drive and for the icing on the cake, sealed the deal courtesy of Will Witherspoon’s “right place at the right time” interception.
Final random thoughts
-What on earth has happened to Nate Washington? He’s catching nearly everything in sight these days and has become a beacon of consistency at the WR position.
I’ll have more on Nate’s emergence in an article sometime this week. Stay tuned…
-When your punter runs the football for the same amount of yardage as your star running back on the afternoon, to paraphrase Hamlet, you know there’s something rotten in the state of the running game.
Hopefully, CJ will get on track sometime soon.
-Speaking of CJ, to be fair, he was able to make some plays catching the football. He ended up with 4 grabs for 54 yards, including a sensational 34-yard sideline snag that was confirmed to be a reception by replay.
-Jason McCourty continues to step up at cornerback. He’s a physical presence at corner and for the second consecutive week, was able to come up with an interception.
-Last but certainly not least, thanks to New Orleans coming back to defeat Houston, the Titans find themselves in a tie for first place in the Manning-less world also known as this year’s AFC South.
Any thoughts on today’s resilient Titans’ victory? You know the routine…
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