Led by the efficient play of Vince Young and the elite playmaking ability of Chris Johnson, the Tennessee Titans notched their first victory of the season in their 30-13 rout of the Jags.
Young completed 15 of his 18 throws on the afternoon, including a beautiful short toss to Nate Washington for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. CJ was magnificent as usual, galloping for 228 yards on 24 carries that included TD scampers of 52 and 89 yards.
More on today’s Tennessee Titan victory…after the jump.
Welcome back to the starting lineup, Vince
I liked what I saw from VY today. He was confident out there, making plays with his legs in addition to completing the throws that he needed to make. As I mentioned earlier, his TD toss to Nate W. was a pretty impressive. On another play, he quickly avoided a Jaguar defender by pivoting in the opposite direction and almost simultaneously releasing a dart in the awaiting hands of rookie Kenny Britt for a first down.
By no means do I expect Vince to be a savior. However, he did provide somewhat of a spark out there today by energizing the crowd with his running ability and efficient passing. No offense to Kerry Collins, but there were several occasions where Vince was able to make plays in situations where Collins would have probably either taken a sack or threw the ball away.
With the team still sitting at 1-6 and their playoff aspirations all but eliminated, the Titans had nothing to lose by handing over the reigns to Vince, who didn’t disappoint via his solid performance.
What more can you say about CJ
Entering today’s contest, CJ was undoubtedly the team’s MVP. Johnson continued his stellar play in 2009 with a scintillating 228-yard performance against Jacksonville.
He’s quickly become one of the league’s most exciting players and it’s great to have the privilege of witnessing such a dynamic playmaker do his thing on a regular basis.
Even when the team is losing (which has been the case in all but one of this year’s games) CJ is a pleasure to watch.
Some thoughts on the defense
With the exception of Maurice Jones- Drew’s two long touchdown runs, the Titans did a solid job on defense for the majority of the afternoon.
One of the D’s biggest accomplishments was their harassment of David Garrard on a consistent basis. After torching the Titans in the first meeting, Garrard only threw for 139 yards while also being intercepted twice this time around. Jacksonville’s signal-caller was also sacked four times by the Titan defense.
A key behind today’s success for the Titans’ defense was the return of veterans to the starting CB positions. No offense to the M&M rookies (Mouton and McCourty) but I felt a lot more comfortable seeing Cortland Finnegan and Rod Hood defending opposing receivers. It was also great to see Mr. Indispensable a.k.a. Vincent Fuller out there after missing several games due to a broken forearm.
Final random thoughts
- Welcome to Nashville, Rod Hood, who contributed with an interception today.
- Welcome to Nashville, Part II: Punter Brett Kern placed three of his four punts inside the 20 on the afternoon. He isn’t going to make us forget about Craig Hentrich, but not a bad debut by Mr. Kern.
- Welcome back, Smash-mouth: The Titans rushed for 305 yards today. They also dominated time of possession by having the football for close to forty minutes. That’s Titan football, folks.
- Kevin Kaesviharn isn’t going to remind anyone of Devin Hester, but unlike others before him, at least he was able to avoid the disease known as fumble-itis.
- Kudos to the offensive line for keeping Vince’ jersey relatively clean. The Jaguars registered a goose-egg in the sack department for the afternoon.
What are your thoughts/impressions on the Titans’ first victory of the 2009 season?
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