Well that was a change from last week's game. Showing you're never as bad as your most recent loss, the Titans got pretty much all the breaks and took advantage of them to rout the Dolphins in Miami, 37-3. The first break came after an exchange of punts to start the game-Reggie Bush converted third-and-13 with a run, but Jason McCourty forced a fumble the Titans recover. Jake Locker found Kendall Wright on third down, and he eluded pigeon Jimmy Wilson to find the end zone and a 7-0 lead.
The second break came to start the next possession. Jake Locker tripped with Chris Johnson on a playfake and went to the ground. Down in college, not in the NFL. He then gets up and runs for a 20 yard gain. Locker converts fourth-and-2 when Mike Munchak goes for it at the Bills 37, then Chris Johnson finishes the drive with a very Chris Johnson 17-yard run where he bounces the run all the way to the other side after the Dolphins think they have him bottled up and lose contain.
Break number three? Well, Akeem Ayers tips a Ryan Tannehill pass right to Colin McCarthy, who's able to catch it with a clear path and take it 49 yards for a score just under a minute into the second quarter for a 21-0 lead.
Break number four? That would come in the second half, when Jamie Harper loses the ball and is erroneously ruled to be down by contact, a non-challengeable call. Jake Locker finds Jared Cook in the end zone with a nice seam throw and better catch the next play, and the Titans take 31-3 lead to put the dagger in the Dolphins.
I've been critical of the Titans, but this was the best performance of the season. The Dolphins struggled to find any consistency on offense all game. All three starting linebackers would end up with interceptions-Ayers beat Fasano for his, while Zach Brown's was quite similar to Brian Urlacher's last week albeit with the QB managing to bring him down short of the end zone. Chris Johnson finished with 23 carries for 126 yards. About the only downside was Jake Locker's very inefficient day throwing the ball-only 4 of 14 for 37 yards in the first half before finishing 9-21 for 122 yards and the two scores.
The Titans get to head into the bye week on a very positive note and could consider themselves in the picture in a very, very murky race for the AFC wild card. There's plenty to say about this team after 10 weeks, and I'll try to take advantage of the bye to say as much of it as I can.
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