This could also be titled the Radio Shack edition of the recap.  You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers.  The Titans continue to prove that they can win games in all types of ways.  They outscored the Colts, overcame a terrible performance by Kerry Collins to beat the Packers, threw their way to a victory in Chicago, and came roaring back from a terrible first half performance to put up a 21-0 second half score on the way to a win against the Jags.

That first half was the worst half of football this team has played this season, and it isn't even close.  The offense could do nothing.  If you take out the field goal drive that was 8 plays and the knee at the end of the half, the Titans offense ran 16 plays on 5 drives.  The only drive that wasn't 3 and out was the first of the game when Collins hit Gage for the 47 yard gain on the first play of the game.  It's no wonder the defense looked gassed at the end of the half.  They were on the field for all of it.

Luckily they play a second half in the NFL.  Jeff Fisher should get coach of the year just because of the second half adjustments his squads have made all season long.  While a lot of people in the game thread already had the Titans down 21-3 because the Jags got the ball first in the second half, the defense wasn't ready to concede that.  There was a pass interference call on Chris Carr on the second play of the half that gave the Jags a first down, but that was all they would get on that drive.  There was even a Jevon Kearse sighting with a HUGE sack on second down.

The Titans got the ball back and took the momentum back as well.  Collins was very sharp on the ensuing drive going 4 of 4 for 37 yards that included a 13 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jones.  As August mentioned this morning, that celebration was just silly.  Those 15 yards you get for excessive celebration are very important yards.  If you are going to get them please earn them.

After the defense forced another 3 and out, the Titans did a 3 and off the field when Collins found Gage for a 56 yard touchdown.  12 Gage used a nice stiff arm to carry Reggie Nelson for about the last 15 yards of that.  Nelson should have been penalized for tossing Gage to the ground when he was clearly in the end zone.

The funniest moment of the game came on the kickoff that followed that touchdown when Jags' return man Brian Witherspoon decided to kick the ball out of bounds at the 3 yard line.  Jacksonville would get some yards on that drive but would end up punting.  The Titans offense reverted back to first half form on the next 4 drives with 4 punts and not very many yards. 

I was starting to get a little nervous with the Titans clinging to 17-14 lead late in the 4^th quarter until Chris Carr picked off a David Garrard pass with 5:49 left to go, and Collins found Gage again, this time from 38 yards out, to put the game on ice.  After the defense stopped the Jaguars again, LenDale White came in and busted some heads to make sure the Jags didn't get another shot.

This was another big win for this team.  It keeps the 4 game AFC South lead and the 3 game lead over the rest of the AFC with just 6 games left to play.  It also proves that they can put up points in a hurry when they need too.

A few other thoughts:

• Those announcers were by far the worst we have had this season.  Anytime an announcer is talking about a coach and his nice smile it is time for them to go.  I never though I would long for Solomon Wilcots.
• That defensive holding call on Tony Brown was absolutely awful.  It is a good thing that didn't end up costing the Titans the game. 
• Equally as awful was Brown pointing to the sky and then laughing on the sideline after he committed 52 penalties in a row.
• I haven't watched the end of the game yet, but I hear there was a celebration by Vince Young on the sideline.  A lot has been made of his indifference on the sideline.  Maybe I won't have to hear that call on talk radio 2,200 times this week.
• The Titans are 10-0 and that is awesome!!

10-0.  That is pretty incredbile.  This team proved again today that they can win when they don't bring their A game.  That first half was the worst half of football I have seen the Titans play in a long time, but they overcame that and rolled in the second half.  The defense, as has been their custom this seaosn, gave up some really bad plays but only gave up 14 points.

There wasn't a lot of running room again today, but bizzaro receiver world contiued with Brandon Jones and Lavelle Hawkins dropping passes and Justin Gage making big plays.  Gage finished with 147 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Welcome back 12 Gage.  Kerry Collins proved once again that he can win a ball game with 230 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.

Another week another win.  It wasn't pretty, but it counts just like the rest of them.  

Links and a full recap in the morning.

It seems that every week the Titans answer some questions the doubters have about them.  This week they proved they can win when they cannot run the ball. The Bears defense held the Titans to just 20 yards rushing.  They were in the red in rushing yards in the first half.

Kerry Collins won this game with his arm.  Coming off a terrible effort last week, he was 30 of 42 for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Brandon Jones came up big again with 8 catches for 82 yards.  It is time for him to crack the starting lineup.  Justin Gage continued his dropsies early but came back to make some big plays late in the game.

9-0 is pretty unbelievable.  I am pretty sure you could have won a lot of money if you would have bet on that before the season started.  Now we cheer for the Steelers to knock off the Colts and increase the division lead to 5 games.

 
August called it Vintage Fisherball this morning.  I couldn't have said it better myself.  We have gotten spoiled this season with the Titans blowing out most of their opponents, and I had forgotten just how stressful that type of game can be.

Did anyone think there was anyway Rob Bironas was going to miss that second kick?  I know I didn't, and neither did Craig Hentrich:

"The good thing about Rob is that his ADD is so bad he doesn't remember the last kick," joked Titans punter Craig Hentrich, who doubles as the holder on placekicks. "He's got a great temperament for a kicker. He never lets things bother him."

Someone asked yesterday in the open game thread, which was awesome again by the way, if that was the first money kick that Bironas had missed for the Titans.  Off the top of my head the only miss I can remember that would have won a game was in 2006 against Baltimore, but in fairness to Bironas, that kick was basically blocked in the backfield.  It cannot be overstated how important it is to have a kicker as money as Bironas for Fisher's style of football.  We will probably see a lot more of these games come down to a field goal in the coming weeks.

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Well for the first time all season my preseason prediction about a game was wrong, and you know what, I am ok with that.  That was a big win.    8-0 with a 5 game lead over at least Jacksonville and Houston is a good place to be.  This is the toughest stretch the Titans will face this season, and starting it with a win is huge.

Even though I said they should run the ball a couple more times, I knew Rob Bironas wouldn't miss a game winner twice.  I was shocked he missed the first one.

Bad day by the passing game, but that was to be expected going against the Packers secondary.  What I didn't expect to see was Kerry Collins put the ball in the air 37 times.

This week we will take a look at all of the positions at the halfway point.  August will have links in the morning, and I will have a full recap later in the day.

Enjoy 8-0.  You can also use this thread to discuss the Colts/Patriots game tonight.  This is something I never say, but Go Patriots!

There are very few things that make me happier than watching the Titans beat Peyton Manning.  I have hated Manning for years, and seeing that sad look on his goofy face brings me so much joy.

Chris Carr opened the game with a bang when he returned the opening kickoff 42 yards.  I was very critical of Carr early this season, but he has turned out to be a solid return man for this team.  He is going to take a kickoff to the house before this season is over.

The Titans opened with a very efficient first drive as they always do under Dinger.  The only bad thing about the drive was that the Titans had to settle for a field goal after a 3 yard completion to Bo Scaife on 3rd and 8.  It is frustrating to see a throw to a guy that isn't going to pick up the necessary yardage on 3rd down, but it is possible that all of the other receivers were covered, and Kerry Collins dumped it to Scaife to avoid taking a sack or throwing into traffic.

The Titans defense, playing without Kyle Vanden Bosch, had a good opening series.  It was tough watching Peyton have all day to throw last night, but Schwartz stuck with his gameplan and didn't blitz hardly at all.  The "Bend but Don't Break" defense worked again last night.  I applaud Schwartz for not over-reacting and sending a bunch of people.

The Titans did nothing on their next possession, and bad punt from Craig Hentrich gave the Colts really good field position.  Peyton hit a big pass to Dallas Clark, who seemed to be running free in the middle of the field all night long, and then another 10 yard pass to Clark for a touchdown.

The Titans next drive ended with a field goal as well.  You really saw the Titans philosophy shift on this drive.  They had pretty much decided they were going to attempt to throw the Colts out of their 9 man front.  The Titans proved last night that they can win a game when the other team takes the run away from them.  Some may call the Titans offense anemic, but it is putting up more points per game than the "explosive" Colts offense.  The excuses are really piling up over there.

But I digress.  That was it for the scoring in the first half.  Rob Bironas missed his first field goal of the season after Chris Hope's first interception of Peyton.  Maybe Bironas missed because they didn't shoot off the cannon before he kicked the field goal.

The Colts marched right down the field for a touchdown to open the second half.  That put the Titans behind 14-6, and started Tony Kornheiser's monologue on how that was it for the Titans.  They weren't built to come from behind with Collins at quarterback and blah, blah, blah.  It was enjoyable to watch him flip as the game went on.

Collins shut Kornheiser up by taking the Titans 80 yards on 17 plays.  Only 7 of those plays were runs, and 3 of those 7 runs came from inside the 5.  The Titans then went for 2, and Dinger made a great play call with a play fake to Smash where Ahmard Hall slipped out of the Titans backfield and was wide open in the end zone.

The next Colts drive was what won the game for the Titans.  The Colts decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Indy 49.  Not only did they not get it, their play was absolutely blown up by the Titans.  Dominic Rhodes was stopped by Stephen Tulloch for a 1 yard loss.

You could feel the momentum build even more with that stop.  The Titans were able to take the lead on one big throw from Collins to Alge Crumpler and a 48 yard Bironas field goal.  That gave the Titans the lead back at 17-14.

The Colts didn't learn from their first mistake and decided to go for it on 4th down again.  Nick Harper jumped the route on a pass intended for the washed up Marvin Harrison and knocked the ball away.

The Titans anemic offense took the ball 66 yards for a touchdown to push the score to 24-14, and that was your ballgame folks.  It wasn't the end of the scoring though because Peyton gave the ball to the Titans again with another interception.  Chris Johnson took the first play of that drive for a 16 yard touchdown run, and there was much rejoicing in Nashville.

The Colts added another TD in junk time to make the game not look so lopsided, but if you watched the game you saw the Colts hang around for three quarters but get exposed in the 4th quarter.

7-0 is a fantastic start, but there is still a lot of work to be done this season.  The 4 game division lead is awesome, but the race is not over.  The Titans will actually have to play some good teams the next 3 weeks.  We would love to win all 3, but going 2-1 in that stretch will keep the Titans in the driver's seat not only in the divison, but also for home field advantage in the playoffs.

The Titans can't come from behind according to Tony Kornheiser: False

The Titans can't win a game where they can't run the ball: False

The Titans defense isn't that good because they haven't played anyone: Well I guess we can't call that one false yet because the Colts, just like most of the teams the Titans have played, are under .500 and aren't very good.  Yeah, I said it.

This is the biggest win the Titans have had in a long time.  A 4 game lead in the divison through 7 games is awesome.  

Also, who predicted a 7-0 start?  This guy (says Jimmy with two thumbs pointed at himself).  

The Titans have a tough 3 game stretch coming up, but the good news is the Titans have a 4 game lead in the division.  Much, much more coming on this game tomorrow.  For now we celebrate this win.

As I said yesterday in the game thread, I feel bad for the fans of the Kansas City Chiefs.  They seem to be a likeable bunch of people and have some of the classiest bloggers on SB Nation, but their football team is really, really bad.  A lot is still being made of the record of the Titans' opponents, but as I have said a million times this season, you can only play who the schedule makers put in front of you.  Yesterday the schedule makers put the Chiefs in front of the Titans, and the Titans dominated them.

332 yards rushing.  8.3 yards per carry.  Let those numbers sink in for a moment.  I don't care who you are playing, that is an impressive number.  The Titans offensive line was dominant just as it has been all season long.  It was good to see the Titans get back to the balance of carries between Bongo (18) and The Round Mound (17).  They are going to need both of those guys to be involved to continue to win football games.  Watching TRM rip off an 80-yard TD run was awesome.

We have been talking about the lack of a passing game here, but who needs a passing game when you are getting 8.3 yards per pop on the ground?  The Titans proved against the Ravens they can make some plays to come from behind in the passing game.  I am not worried about that at all.  The best thing about the passing game yesterday was Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler making big plays.  Crumpler is looking better and better each week, and he is going to be a huge part of this offense down the stretch.  Scaife just keeps making plays.

The Titans defense was dominant again allowing the Chiefs only 58 yards on the ground.  Again, I know we aren't talking about shutting down the 2007 Patriots here, but they came in and took care of business without half of their starting defensive line.  Kyle Vanden Bosch gave it a go but wasn't able to play much.  Hopefully he will be closer to 100% this week because the Titans will need him against the Colts.  We will keep an eye on KVB and Tony Brown as the week goes along.

There isn't a whole lot to say about this game because of how one-sided it was.  The Titans have gotten through the first 6 games without a let down.  That says a lot when you look at what has gone on around the NFL this season.  The Titans could play .500 football the rest of the season and make the playoffs.  Of course that is not what any of us want to see happen, but it is good to have that safety net for injuries and such.

Now we move forward to the Colts.  One of the reasons I love this blog so much is because we have, for the most part, been able to keep to talk about the Titans and not ripping of the teams they play.  Let's try and keep it that way this week.  We have no reason to be drawn into anything with Colts' fans.  The Titans are 6-0.  The 12-24, or whatever it is, combined records of the opponents doesn't really mean squat.  Colts' fans may not believe now, but they will.

Another good win for the boys in two-toned blue.  The Titans ended the game with 40 carries for 332 yards.  Now that is Jeff Fisher football.  We will have to hear another week of the talk about how the Titans haven't beaten anyone, but the good news is the Colts are coming to town next week.  A beatdown of the Colts will quiet that talk.  

Use this thread to discuss the Colts vs. Packers game as well as the Titans' win.  Links in the morning.

First off, I need to apologize again to Alge for what I said about him in the game thread about looking like the high school kid that didn't belong on the football team.  He came up big when it mattered the most yesterday.  

Also, I love the fact that Kerry Collins faked Ray Lewis out of his jock on the game winning touchdown pass.

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