Tennessee Titans News Links: "It's frustrating."

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The Titans lost yesterday in their season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. The first half of the game was pretty. The second half of the game...not so much. The game was 10 to 0 heading into the second half, and the Titans were looking strong offensively, and the defense was doing a great job keeping AP in check. The second half opened with a monster return by the Vikings, and the series ended with 3 points (Walsh finally made a kick) for the Vikings. A little later the offense was driving and looking strong, and then things took a turn. Mariota threw a pick 6 to Eric Kendricks. The Vikings hit another field goal, and on the next offensive series for the Titans another turnover occurred. This time a botched exchange between Mariota and Murray led to a fumble...which was picked up and returned for a Touchdown by Danielle Hunter. The second half sucked, and I'm currently scheduling my lobotomy so I can forget it even happened.

Quick Hit: The second half implosion ruined everyone's day.

John Glennon gives us three thumbs up, and three thumbs down from yesterday's game. Let's start with the thumbs down stuff first, so I'm not overly depressed after writing this paragraph. Mariota turned the ball over...twice. This was the thing he was wanting to improve on during the off-season. Hopefully this game was just a hiccup. Downfield passing was practically nonexistent. There is no real downfield threat on this team, and the only passes that traveled for over 20 yards were to Henry and Walker. That stupid trick play. Seriously. WHY?! Third and short and you get cute?! The....fudge?! No more of that. Please. Ok now for the good. Murray and Henry both looked good coming out of the backfield. That catch and run from Henry. More of that please. The defense posted their first (yes first) first-half shut out since last October yesterday. Granted it was against Shaun Hill, and Walsh couldn't make a field goal to save his life, but still. The run defense shut down "All Day." The dude finished the game with 19 attempts for only 31 yards. Dang.

Quick Hit: Robiskie was ready to call plays again after waiting a wicked long time.

Mariota is blaming himself for the horrifying turnovers that happened yesterday. He notes the turnovers and mistakes are frustrating, and feels that the team kind of beat themselves yesterday. The offense was moving pretty well early on, and then gift wrapped two scoring plays for the Vikings defense. He acknowledges that the pick six occurred because he was trying to do too much. He will learn from his mistake though. The botched exchange was a failure of communication. He wanted to take the ball back, but realizes now that he should have just let Murray do his thing. On the flip side: Murray blames himself for the fumble. Murray believes he grabbed the ball, and doesn't feel Mariota was at fault for that turnover. Dang those turnovers were so hard to watch.

Quick Hit: DeMarco Murray "took flight," but he isn't pleased overall.

That's all for today. Happy reading!