Tennessee Titans Lose Another Close One
By Les Bailey
It was another close loss for the Tennessee Titans when they took on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but the bottom line it was just another loss 14-13 in week five.
With all of the the new excitement around this young team, they have an identical record for last year at this time, and that season ended with an ugly 2-14 final.
We were at the game and had to deal with a large contingent of Buffalo fans who went a little crazy when Bills quarterback, Tyrod Taylor escaped on a third and 23 call from their seven yard line with 8:17 on the clock.
Taylor ran for 24 yards and got another 15 yards when he was horse-collared by Zach Brown. That run was Taylor’s second big run of the game, and eventually resulted in the the winning touchdown.
Jurrell Casey took the blame for the getting turned around and letting Taylor get away, but the momentum of this game had already shifted to the Bills, who had done nothing to write about until the fourth quarter.
Casey told Jim Wyatt at Titans Online after the game:
“I take the blame on that play. Coaches called a play, and I did the wrong thing on the play. I allowed him to escape up the middle on us and he made a big play and put us in a bad situation,’’ Casey said. “I know the coaches trusted on us to get the job done and I let the game slip through my fingers and not make the play when I needed to. I put us in a bad situation.’”
But as Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt said in his post-game presser, it wasn’t Casey’s, or the defenses fault that the offense didn’t score more earlier in the game when they were moving the ball, but failed to tack more points on the board.
Silly penalties and a failure to run the ball against the leagues number three defense seemed to be the big problem that was the reason for yet another loss.
I felt that Dick LeBeau‘s defense did a stellar job in stopping the Bills, and on a rather warm day in Music City, they started to get tired late in the game and I had told my wife that those big 300 pound definsive linemen would get tire of chasing Taylor around the Bills backfield and eventually he would get away.
And he did, twice.
Marcus Mariota could have won this game if someone on offense could have just made a couple of plays. The running game was pathetic for both teams, but the Titans only managed 97 yards on 28 attempts, with the rookie quarterback being the leading rusher.
The Titans have lost two critical home games by a total of three points. Until the Titans find some people who can makes a play when needed, instead finding ways to lose games in the fourth quarter, they will continue to struggle being taken as a serious contender in the NFL.
Good teams find a way to win games, and not ways to lose them!
Next: Titans vs Bills a Must Win for Mariota