1. Protect. The. Football. ✗ Wow. What can I say? This really was the key to the game. 7 fumbles and 3 interceptions, resulting in 7 turnovers. Words can't describe how bad that is.
2. Get to Dennis Dixon early and often. ✓Dennis Dixon was sacked twice by halftime, and two more sacks came after halftime. The Titans are currently third in the league in sacks. The defensive line's pressure eventually got to him and he was injured out of the game. The defense was obviously not why we lost the game.
3. Get more receivers involved. ✓Justin Gage and Kenny Britt caught their first passes of the season, and eight different Titans received a catch. Nate Washington caught a touchdown pass,and almost had another one late.
4. Stop the run. ✓The Titans allowed 108 rushing yards and kept the Steelers to 3.2 yards per carry. Again, defense was not the reason we lost, so that is okay. 8 rushing plays were stopped behind the line of scrimmage. The Titans were caught on a 21 yard rush by Dennis Dixon and a 20 yard run by Rashard Mendenhall, but other than that, pretty good.
5. Win the special teams battle. ✗ This key, along with the first one is the reason we lost the game. On the opening kickoff, Antonio Brown scored a touchdown on a reverse on the first play of the game. At that point, I reasoned that the Steelers were going to score eventually, so might as well get it over with so the offense can get on the field. But no, Marc Mariani fumbles the kickoff and gives the ball right back to the Steelers. Mariani did come back with a nice return later, but the damage had been done. Bironas made his only field goal attempt, and Kern did fine.