Titans-Colts Game Notes

Wow. What a thrill to see the Titans play so well in such an important game. We didn’t do everything right, but it seemed like every player on the team made a vital contribution at some point. I haven’t had a chance to watch the TV broadcast yet, but thinking about it, and looking over the numbers, its clear that Jeff Fisher and crew just had the better game plan. Discounting that last Colts touchdown, which came in garbage time, we held Peyton Manning and friends to only 14 points. Isn’t it funny that Tony Dungy, who has relied on the cover two defense his whole career, couldn’t find a way to beat ours? I mean we were textbook: only rushing four down lineman, dropping linebackers into coverage, and (most importantly) not getting beat deep. Sure we gave up some runs, and Dallas Clark got open in the seam, but we made them drive the whole field to score, giving our defense a chance to stop them on 3rd and 4th downs. 

• I couldn’t be prouder of our secondary. Starting with Chris Hope continuing our team’s season-long interception party; from great open field tackles by Michael Griffin; to solid coverage throughout by Cortland Finnegan; to key break-ups from Nick Harper and Vincent Fuller (I though Fuller really saved the game from getting getting out of hand early). They showed a nationwide audience why they are the best unit in football.
• Our d-line’s pass rush looked average at best with Kyle Vanden Bosch out (I’m sure losing his replacement David Ball, on the first play of the game didn’t help much either). We had no sacks and Albert Haynesworth looked like he got one lick on Manning, but thats it.
• We dropped some passes (cough… “Mr. #1 receiver” Justin Gage cough…), came back and made great catches (I see you Alge Crumpler), but I just wanted to say its nice to see Lavelle Hawkins making some plays out there.
• Lendale White has a league-leading 10 touchdowns!
• A couple of streaks came to an end last night: Rob Bironas missed his first kick of the year, he was 3-4 on the night and 13-14 for the year… By scoring 21 points the Colts became the first team in 10 games to score more than 17 points on the Titans…
• Streak continuing: putting on for our city all season long!!!