Well that wasn’t any fun.
This one began just how you would expect — kinda... sleepy. The Titans playing without Marcus Mariota tried to establish the run, but couldn’t sustain drives. Miami was able to capitalize off of a DeMarco Murray fumble to put three points on the board.
The next drive Matt Cassel “fumbled” and the Dolphins picked it up and scored. It looked like a simple incomplete pass, but was ruled a fumble on the field. The replay was close, but the referees couldn’t overturn it. The Titans were in a 10-0 hole early.
Just when all appeared lost, Jay Ajayi coughed one up. Kevin Byard recovered the fumble, putting the Titans in business deep in Miami territory. The offense couldn’t muster anything, but Ryan Succop added a field goal to make it 10-3.
That was about it for the first half. Neither side could do anything. Dolphins’ fans were even chanting for backup quarterback Matt Moore.
Finally, the Titans put something together. DeMarco Murray ripped off a couple of runs over ten yards, then Phillip Supernaw caught a touchdown in the back of the endzone.
To open the 4th quarter, Jay Cutler and Jay Ajayi got going. They led a drive down the field to score as Cutler found Jarvis Landry on the goal line. The extra point was missed, putting the Dolphins’ lead at 16-10.
Even at that moment — just needing seven points to win — the game felt like it was over. Matt Cassel was just dreadful. The exit of Taylor Lewan in the first half didn’t help things. The Titans sustained nothing on the ground or through the air.
The Titans move to 2-3.
This team isn’t going to win many (any?) games with Matt Cassel under center. That’s the ugly truth. The ground game isn’t good enough to sustain the offense right now. They’ve got eight days to get ready for Indy, who they’ll take on next Monday night.