Yesterday's win was a good one. The 49ers are a solid team, and that west coast trip has been a nightmare for even the best Titan teams. The best thing about these past two games has been the return to the type of football that this team was designed to play, and a lot of that has been due to the play of Vince Young. VY has been everything Kerry Collins was supposed to be and more. He has been efficient, 12 of 19 yesterday, has taken care of the ball, 0 interceptions and fumbles in his 2 starts, and has made plays with his legs to help the team. Just look at yesterday's 7-yard touchdown run. That dimension gives teams one more thing to guard against in the red zone.
And, of course, there is Chris Johnson. This guy is having a special season and has a legitimate shot at 2,000 rushing yards. T-Rac's Posse doesn't think it will happen, and while I will give him that it is a long shot, the Titans have three games left against team with rush defenses ranked 27th or worse.
You can make the argument that he single-handedly won the game yesterday when he scored on that option play on 4th and inches. Pretty funny that Peter King gives Mike Heimerdinger coach of the week because if CJ doesn't get in there the Titans probably lose the game and all the talk here would be about Dinger's terrible play calling (and it was a TERRIBLE call).
How about the return of 12 Gage?!? Justin Gage has to be the most frustrating wide receiver in the league. It seems like in his 3 years here he has been everything from a legitimate #1 receiver to the one of the worst receivers in the league every single season. When he is playing well, like he is right now, he gives this team a solid possession guy and a deep threat that makes plays like this:
The biggest turnaround has come from the defense and it is my opinion that most of that is because the secondary has gotten healthy. The only time a receiver was downfield all by himself yesterday was the touchdown right before the half, and that looked to me to be because Cortland Finnegan left his assignment because Alex Smith looked like he was going to run. While those types of things still really need to be fixed, I will take one a game over the 42 we saw each game earlier in the season.
The defense has also done something else that was a foreign concept earlier in the season, force turnovers. Yesterday they picked Smith off three times and forced three fumbles. From the why did it take them 5 weeks to sign this guy file, Rod Hood had his second interception in as many games. Frank Wycheck said on the radio this morning that Nick Harper will get his spot back when he is healthy. I think the next MCM petition might need to be one that demands Harper remain on the sideline.
Things are starting to look better around these parts. The Titans have a game they should win this weekend when Buffalo comes to town before running the @ Houston, Arizona, @ Indy gauntlet.
Food for thought/discussion; these two wins have come in large part due to a couple of things/people that make Jeff Fisher look bad in the form of VY and Hood, so while it obviously benefits Fisher's job security to get these wins does it hurt him at the same time because he didn't make these moves earlier?