Archive for the ‘Titans’ Category

Titans overcome 4 turnovers, edge Tampa Bay 23-17

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

By TERESA M. WALKER

Chris Johnson‘s usual gloves got wet and slick, so he tried on a pair of leather gloves. Those proved too slippery as well, so he finally went without anything on his hands on a cold rainy day.

With the way the Tennessee Titans blocked and how he ran, Johnson finally looked like the man who led the NFL in rushing the previous three seasons.

Johnson ran for a season-high 190 yards, and Matt Hasselbeck threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Damian Williams on fourth-and-2 with 3:01 left and the Titans beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-17 Sunday.

Johnson said he knows it’s only one game and likely won’t quiet his critics.

“Basically we just executed our plays,” said Johnson, who did lose one fumble. “I feel like everybody did the right thing. I read my blocks well, they blocked well. … I feel like everybody executed.”

It was the third-highest rushing game of Johnson’s career and highest since Nov. 1, 2008.

“Any running game questions?” Titans coach Mike Munchak said to open his postgame news conference.

The Titans (6-5) forced five turnovers and overcame four turnovers of their own. The Bucs outscored them 14-3 off mistakes even though Tennessee got the ball three times on Tampa Bay’s side of the field.

But the Titans got the ninth and final turnover of the game when rookie linebacker Colin McCarthy intercepted Josh Freeman with 2:19 left.

The Bucs (4-7) lost their fifth straight even with LeGarrette Blount running for 103 yards, though he also had two fumbles.

“No excuses and no explanations,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. “We’ve got to stop the run better at the end and we can’t turn the football over. The weather and none of that stuff is an excuse.”

Freeman threw for 199 yards and a touchdown, but he had an interception and lost a fumble. He also fumbled the snap on fourth-and-1 before being tackled with 40 seconds left to seal the Titans’ victory. Morris wasn’t happy that officials didn’t measure to see if Freeman got the first down.

“You shouldn’t have to ask. It is what it is,” Morris said. “When you do ask, they tell you they don’t have to give it to you. They just give it to you automatically (in) third downs and critical situations.”

Tommie Campbell took a reverse from Marc Mariani and ran 84 yards for a kickoff return, Dave Ball had two sacks, and Rob Bironas kicked field goals of 31, 52 and 38 yards as the Titans keep chasing the Houston Texans (8-3) in the AFC South and hanging around the playoff picture.

Johnson ran for 44 yards, including a season-long 34-yarder, as Tennessee drove 80 yards to go ahead. But the Titans had to go for it on fourth down, and Hasselbeck rolled right before finding Williams at the back of the end zone for a 20-17 lead. He finished 19 of 34 for 160 yards and two interceptions.

Hasselbeck credited Williams for staying alive at the back of the end line.

“We knew that this was a do-or-die situation, a critical situation,” Hasselbeck said. “Someone needed to come up and make a play, make a clutch play. We needed this to win the game, and Damian came through and did a great job.”

Tampa Bay had been giving up 133.5 yards rushing per game. Johnson shredded the Bucs at times after being booed heavily most of this season after signing a $53.5 million extension.

“I just knew if we were able to execute ourselves we could have a pretty good day,” Johnson said.

On a rainy day with a cold front dropping the temperature more than 15 degrees, both teams had a hard time holding onto the ball.

The Bucs tied it up at 10-all just before halftime off Tennessee’s second turnover. Javon Ringer fumbled after a short pass from Hasselbeck with the ball popping straight to Bucs safety Tanard Jackson, and he took it 13 yards to the Tennessee 13. Freeman needed only 46 seconds before tossing a 3-yard pass to Mike Williams to tie it up.

It only got worse in the third quarter when the teams had four turnovers combined.

Johnson opened the half running well only to be stripped on his third carry after 13 yards by Aqib Talib. The Bucs had the ball all of three plays before Titans safety Jordan Babineaux stripped it from receiver Mike Williams after a catch. Talib picked off Hasselbeck and ran it back 27 yards for the TD and a 17-10 lead with 12:04 left in the third.

Blount had his second fumble after a short pass from Freeman when Titans rookie tackle Jurrell Casey stripped him of the ball and recovered at the Bucs 29. The Titans got nothing from the turnover. Adrian Clayborn sacked Hasselbeck, and the Titans went three-and-out.

“There’s nothing anybody could do besides hold on to the ball tight,” Blount said of the slippery conditions.

Notes: Johnson has 27 career 100-yard rushing games and six for more than 150 yards. … Munchak said Campbell will have an MRI, but they think he sprained his left shoulder. … Bucs DT Brian Price was carted off in the second quarter with an ankle injury and walked out of the stadium on crutches. … Campbell and Mariani combined for a 100-yard return that was the fourth-longest in team history.

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Titans defense stifles Panthers in 30-3 win

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

By STEVE REED

The Tennessee Titans’ strategy was simple – put on spy on Cam Newton and try to confuse him.

It worked to perfection.

Tennessee’s defense left the rookie shaking his head in disbelief after its 30-3 rout of the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

The Titans (5-4) sacked Newton five times, intercepted him once and took away Carolina’s downfield passing game. Carolina came in ranked fifth in the league on offense and first in plays of 20-plus yards, but the Titans limited Newton to 209 yards passing and held Steve Smith‘s, the NFC’s leading receiver, to 33 yards.

Chris Johnson ran for a season-high 130 yards and scored a touchdown, most of his yards coming in the second half after the Tennessee defense had set the tone.

The Titans sacked Newton four times on first down and put the Panthers in several third-and-long situations.

“(Newton) holds the ball,” said defensive tackle Jurrell Casey. “If a quarterback is going to hold onto the ball like that, we’re going to get to him. We kept him in the pocket. He couldn’t do anything but sit there. Having the spy on him meant he couldn’t run, and our guys got to him.”

After the game, Newton still seemed confused over what the Titans did exactly to disrupt what had been a potent offense throughout the first half of the season. Newton said he couldn’t remember playing quarterback in a game in which his team didn’t score a touchdown.

“Never, ever, ever,” Newton said.

Newton’s longest completion was 19 yards, and the Panthers failed to pick up a first down on seven of their 13 possessions.

“This is embarrassing, man,” Newton repeated three times while shaking his head. “This is as poor of a performance as a team as I’ve ever seen. Poor performance by myself. There’s no pointing fingers without looking at yourself and asking yourself what you could have done better. I know I could have done a lot of things better. It’s a reality check, that’s what it is. ”

The Panthers (2-7) came in averaging 415 yards and more than 23 points per game behind a big-play offense, but Tennessee’s defense completely took away their downfield passing game – and just about everything else.

At times Newton rolled out in the pocket and couldn’t find anyone to throw the ball to.

“The thing is, Cam has the ability to extend plays, then slingshot one down the field 50 or 60 yards,” said Titans safety Jonathan Babineaux. “We knew coming into the game they had some down-the-field threats, and we couldn’t let No. 1 get comfortable. We did a good job of harassing him and making sure he didn’t have time to get back on his feet and make accurate throws.”

The Titans finally got Johnson involved in the offense.

He came in with only 366 yards rushing, but had 174 yards from scrimmage and eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the first time since Oct. 2. Johnson had 104 yards rushing in the second half and scored his second touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

Johnnson’s touchdown was set up by Matt Hasselbeck, who scampered 21 yards on a quarterback bootleg before getting knocked out of bounds at the Carolina 1 without much of an effort from the veteran to score.

As Johnson entered the media room, Hasselbeck walked out and yelled, “Fantasy points!”

“Matt told me I was on his fantasy team, and that he stepped out at the 1 to help me get in the end zone,” Johnson said with a laugh. “So everyone has to thank Matt and all the fantasy owners.”

Said Titans coach Mike Munchak: “We finally gave him carries. This was one of those games we have been waiting for.”

The Titans piled up 172 yards on the ground.

“We were on the same page as an offense, executing plays,” Johnson said. “Some of the plays we ran in the second half, we’d run in the first half and didn’t have a lot of success. There are those situations as an offensive line and as a running back to get more of those opportunities to run the same plays, and eventually, it will work out.”

The Panthers appeared to be sleepwalking early on after coming off a bye week.

After Carolina went three-and-out on its first possession, Marc Mariani returned Jason Baker‘s punt 79 yards for a 7-0 lead. It was the third long punt return for a touchdown allowed by the Panthers this season and the 11th against Baker, the most of any active punter in the NFL.

Tennessee quickly made it 14-0 on its first possession when Damian Williams turned a short pass from Hasselbeck into a 43-yard scoring play after defensive backs Sherrod Martin and Darius Butler missed tackles. Williams finished with 107 yards receiving.

Hasselbeck was 15 of 27 for 219 yards with his only mistake, a third-quarter interception, leading to a Carolina field goal. Even then, the Tennessee defense held after the Panthers took over deep in Titans territory.

Five of Carolina’s eight first-half drives ended in three-and-outs and two others were halted by costly mistakes by tight end Greg Olsen.

Olsen fumbled in the red zone early on then dropped an easy 16-yard reception late in the first half that would have made for a short field goal attempt by Olindo Mare. Instead, Mare missed the ensuing 50-yard kick on the final play of the first half, and the Titans took a 17-0 lead into the locker room.

“We didn’t do anything right,” Olsen said. “There isn’t one thing that we can hang our hat on. It was just an overall pathetic effort by us.”

NOTES: Rob Bironas‘ 38-yard field goal in the second quarter was the 200th of his career. … Chris Gamble‘s third-quarter interception was the 26th of his career, giving him the Panthers all-time franchise record… The Panthers are 4-23 over their last 27 games.

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Titans force 3 turnovers, beat Ravens 26-13

Monday, September 19th, 2011

By TERESA M. WALKER

Mike Munchak gave his Tennessee Titans a quick lesson to make sure they all understand their short but intense rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens.

Then they went out and added their own piece of history.

The Titans gave Munchak his first coaching win in their home opener by racking up their most offensive yards ever against Baltimore in a 26-13 win Sunday. The Titans rolled up 432 yards against the vaunted Ravens defense with Matt Hasselbeck throwing for 358 yards and a touchdown.

“If you are going to get your first win, it is a good team to get your first win against,” said Munchak, who had a cooler of Gatorade dumped on him in the final seconds before owner Bud Adams gave him a game ball in the locker room. “And hopefully, it helps build confidence in our players in a lot of different areas and kind of carries over into next week and the rest of the season.”

Munchak excused the Ravens (1-1) for possibly getting caught off-guard by his Titans (1-1). He said neither fans nor Baltimore really knew what to expect after Tennessee’s 16-14 opening loss at Jacksonville.

“We found out a little bit more about ourselves,” Munchak said.

The Ravens came in determined to stop Chris Johnson, and they held him to 53 yards on 24 carries. But Hasselbeck, along with Kenny Britt‘s nine catches for 135 yards and a TD, made them pay by throwing for more yards than any Tennessee quarterback against the Ravens. The Titans wound up holding the ball for 35 minutes, 52 seconds. The defense did its part too, sacking Joe Flacco three times and forcing three turnovers in holding Baltimore to 229 yards.

“Anytime you have a home run hitter like that, that’s the focus,” Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said. “The focus is Chris Johnson. We got after him. They went away from him because they saw we were really getting after him. They started throwing the ball, and Hasselbeck is a veteran quarterback and he got the ball out very quickly.”

Nate Washington also had seven more receptions for 99 yards, and Rob Bironas kicked four field goals for the Titans. At times, Britt looked as if he was toying with the Ravens’ secondary, often turning around at the last second to catch passes. Jared Cook also caught a 33-yarder over Ed Reed, who had to apologize to Britt for an inadvertent facemask while tackling him earlier in the game.

The Titans even converted two fourth-and-1 situations against the Ravens.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone get a fourth-and-1 on them,” Hasselbeck said.

It was a big letdown by the Ravens after their 35-7 rout of the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers to open the season. Baltimore coach John Harbaugh credited the Titans with beating the Ravens every way a team can.

“I don’t have any theory right now,” Harbaugh said. “Everybody’s going to have a theory, and none of them are going to be right. We didn’t make plays when we needed to make plays. We didn’t get off the field on third down. That’s really the bottom line.”

The Titans set the tone from the opening kickoff, deferring to let Baltimore take the ball on offense. Tennessee forced the Ravens to go three-and-out on their first two possessions, with Alterraun Verner picking off Flacco’s pass to end the third. Playing field position helped the Titans push the Ravens to start two drives at their own 4 and held them to 25 yards in the first quarter.

Baltimore managed to tie it up at 10 apiece going into halftime after Ray Rice turned a short Flacco pass into a 31-yard TD, then David Reed returned a kickoff 77 yards to set up the first of Billy Cundiff‘s two field goals.

But Tennessee took control in the third quarter, outscoring Baltimore 10-0 and outgaining the Ravens 147-43. Javon Ringer finished off the opening drive with a 10-yard TD run on fourth-and-1 with Johnson on the bench. Johnson heard scattered boos as he struggled, including dropping a pass in the third quarter. He said the boos don’t bother him because he knows he’ll be cheered once he has a good play.

Johnson also loved to see Hasselbeck playing well.

“A lot of teams come in thinking they can just load the box and if they stop me, they can win. … It just showed we have other playmakers,” he said. “We have other ways to beat you. Hopefully, they help out and let other teams around the NFL know you just can’t stack the box and try to stop me and win.”

Notes: Lewis came in with 2,498 tackles, and he had eight against the Titans. … Tennessee now is 8-5 in home openers since opening LP Field in 1999. … Ravens NT Terrance Cody had a concussion, and returner David Reed was in a sling after the game with an injury to the AC joint in his shoulder. … Hasselbeck is the 33rd NFL player to throw for at least 30,000 yards in his career. This was the 22nd 300-yard passing game of his career. … Britt now has six 100-yard receiving games in his career.

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