Gramsey may not be surprised by this start, but I am. It was pretty easy to excuse away the loss in the opener. It was opening night against the defending champs in their house.
That is where the excusable losses end. the Texans are not a good team and losing to them at home is just not acceptable, especially when you look at the way the game was lost.
Today's game is a win if Ryan Mouton doesn't put the ball on the ground twice. Be very careful though who you blame for that. There has been a lot of hate here for Mouton, but Jeff Fisher is the one who put him out there, in those elements, after Mouton had dropped two punts the week before. It is also Fisher who has been convinced all along that we don't need any help in the return game. That is on him plain and simple.
Be careful not to fall into the trap of talking about how the Titans are still a good team because all of the losses are a play here and a play there from being wins. That is the National Football League. There are very few games in this league that are decided by more than a play here or there. This team has some major holes that are going to have to be addressed before we can even think about getting into anything that resembles a playoff run.
What really sucks about today is that the team was able to fix one of their biggest ailments after the first quarter. The defense looked today like a defense that could help a team win some games. Sure they gave up 24 points, but 14 of those points came on a short field after turnovers on special teams. Chuck Cecil showed today that he is able to make adjustments in game. It was good to see that.
A couple of things:
People, please stop talking about Albert Haynesworth. He is gone, and it was the right decision for the franchise to make. You simply cannot afford to give one player that much money. Look at how it is working out for the Redskins. Obviously this was a better defense with him here, but that is irrelevant at this point.
I would have actually liked to see Vince Young get a shot today. Now obviously it wasn't going to happen because he wasn't well enough to be the backup, but Kerry Collins is not going to be successful against a pass rush like that. By the end of the game he was pretty much running backwards as soon as got the snap. (If we are being completely honest, Collins was off target even before the pass rush was getting to him.)
Would VY have done any better in that game? I don't really know, but if Collins cannot have at least a 3:1 TD to turnover ratio, it isn't worth having him in the game because there is no upside.
So the title of this is what now? I don't really know the answer. This team still has enough talent on it to make a run at a playoff berth, but some things have to get worked out for that to come to fruition. It starts with Fisher admitting that we need some help in the return game. Until he does, we are going to continue to keep ourselves a play here and a play there from winning games.