Anyone who has lived in Nashville for any length of time knows what most Vanderbilt football seasons consist of. Vandy always plays teams like Florida, Alabama and UT close but never win. (with the exception of last year over UT Dynamite!!) They never fail to find some crazy way to lose the game.
The Titans seem to be following the same pattern this year. Look at the Colts game where the Titans rushed the ball really well, stopped the run, and won the turnover battle but still lost. Today was the same thing. After building a 26-7 lead the Titans watched it all evaporate in a 27-26 loss. There was a missed field goal, a blocked field goal, a terrible call by the refs and a crazy play that all contributed.
I have said this before but it seems like the Titans can never make the necessary adjustments coming out of halftime. The Titans looked lost on offense in the second half and the defense allowed McNair to talk to some of his old fans while looking for a receiver. It was funny sitting in the crowd because McNair would run around, break a tackle and then find a receiver open across the field and instead of getting mad the fans would just say, "That's McNair." There was a nice video montage for him before kickoff and he received a nice round of applause.
VY played much better than I thought he would. He only turned the ball over once and even that was a tipped ball. He had a nice scramble to set up the field goal attempt that was blocked.
Speaking of that field goal attempt, I hate that the Titans ran the ball 3 times and then kicked the field goal. I understand that is the "smart" way to play it but when you have a kicker who has already missed 2 kicks (one didn't count because of a penalty) you need to get him as close as possible. That said, the block was not his fault because the whole right side of the line caved in.
You saw today this is a young team that is going to look great at times and is also going to make you want to pull your hair out at times. Our secondary has got to get on the same page. The first TD the Ravens scored was a pass I could have thrown. On the last TD to Mason, a basic slant route, Adam Jones just let him go. By the way, real classy of Mason to do his best T.O. impression on the Titans logo.
The terrible call came in the 4th quarter on a play where the Ravens running back clearly fumbled but the ref across the field came in and ruled him down by contact. The Titans then came out of the pile with the ball and one ref signaled Titans ball but it didn't matter because the play was ruled down. Fisher then challenged the play and the ref acknowledged that it was a fumble but the replay did not conclusively show who recovered. The ref with the replay was correct. The one who called the play down by contact was a moron.
At least it was a fun game to watch. I am going to be at a conference tomorrow so Monday afternoon quotes will actually be Monday night quotes.