Actually, I blame the special teams unit, the coach thereof, or maybe even our head coach, for his lack of foresight of the opponent's possible plays. Let's set this up...
The wind was blowing north to south; Denver had to kick into the wind, on that important what should have been their final kickoff of the game, at around the 2 minutes remaining; we had the lead, 20-16, and all looked set and in the bag. This kills me: our coach(es) had to know Denver would be kicking short, right? But return man Marc Mariani was all the way back to near the goal line, as if there was no wind, and he expected a normal kickoff.
And the Denver sideline knew the Titans knew they would be kicking short, so they told the kicker to kick even shorter than he could have. He did so; the kick hit the ground right between two rushing Titans, bounced; they looked at it as if it was not their responsibility. It wasn't, of course. But a screw up of major proportions was in the works.
Marc Mariani was busting his ass to get up there to field the kick; but there was no way in hell he was gonna make it. He tried to catch it on the hop, there was a fumble, and Denver recovered and won the game. End of story.
So, what the fuark is clogging the mindset on the Titan's sideline that allowed this sort of trick play to be pulled on them? Are we becoming lethargic in the brain stem ?
Hmmmmph.
This was Jeff Fisher's 250th consecutive game played with the Titans, putting him 8th or so on the list of all-time longest-running coaches in the NFL who've coached the same team. No worries about him catching #1; I think that's solidly held at some 493 games.
Hell, if Fish doesn't start thinking like a chessplayer, anticipating the opponent's possible moves, he may not last out this season. Do you see how old Bud Adams is looking? I'm thinking his patience isn't what it used to be...
OK, photos. Today was the Breast Cancer Awareness day; everyone was done up in pink. We had these nice little pink ribbons to wear, which we did of course.
Note Vince Young in pink shoes. Kerry Collins didn't have on pink shoes; I think only the starters were given the pink.
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| Vince Young, pregame warmups |
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| Bud Adams with the breast cancer awareness group. |
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| Titans Cheerleaders, in pink. |
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| TRac bungee-flopped onto the field, landing amongst the cheerleaders. |
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| Rob Bironas' field goal |
Check out this larger version of the above picture, blown up so's you can see the football (in the circle between the uprights). Note the referee to the right has eyes on the ball.
What is the referee on the left looking at ? (click to enlarge)
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| Nashville Skyline under a cloudy sky |
The flyover was late. The National Anthem was over; Charlie Pride had walked off the field, the teams were getting ready to start the game, and finally the 4 jets flew over, some 50 seconds or more late. Had to be embarrassing. This shot was taken long before that, when they were on the way to Fort Campbell's Logan Field to refuel.
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| Unofficial overflight |
No sign of Tebow. But several Tebow jerseys. I didn't see any Orton jerseys. Plenty of Elway jerseys, and a couple Shannon Sharpe jerseys, but no Orton Jerseys. Strange, that.
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| Tebow fan. |
Good luck next week in Dallas. They're gonna need it; 2-2 but lost 2 at home. That's never good.
