Titans/Chargers Game Blog

OK we're three hours from either the end of a pretty solid Titan campaign or another brick in the wall for Norv Turner's coaching demise. Yesterday's games were really good and the Bucs/Giants game was good for a solid fourth quarter nap. Has Eli Manning turned the corner? Time will tell.

Today's games are way too warm for playoff contests. A few players had to leave the Giants/Bucs game due to heat. That's odd for January.

Vince Young will start. I will wear my red Young practice jersey. I have a Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale ready to pour and a small bag of multi-grain pretzels. After consuming pizza two days in a row I'm looking at some hot-sauce chicken breasts for dinner around halftime. It's go time.

Young has one or two good scrambles in him. Let's see if he uses them wisely. Also, will LenDale start as well?

The weather isn't a big factor. Any bad weather favors the Titans.

In my next life, I want to be a kickoff specialist. Chris Henry avoids the big hit on the opening kickoff.

Titans pull a trick play, and execute it very poorly. The entire line goes left and blocks no one. That's not a good start. Chris Brown starts at RB and Gage drops a slant. Eric Moulds is starting. His expiration date was a few years ago.

Ahmad Hall gets a first down on a screen pass. How did the Chargers not see that?

White gets the first carry. Whew. Not going three and out: priceless.

Jeff Fisher is the only coach in the NFL who would say "punting will be good."

12 guys in the huddle on third and one. Young still runs around and gets a first down running. Get the first down and get out of bounds.

Young launches a nice pass with some air on it to Gage. White gets a short run and Chris Davis makes a catch.

It would be so huge for the Titans to start with a TD. Sadly, I went to nfl.com to see who number 85 for the Titans was. I'm behind on TiVo and it's a field goal for the Titans.

Young got crushed by Shaun Phillips, who looked to be offside. Incomplete pass. Both ends looked like they were offside. You get that call at home. I don't think they were playing for the first down.

TD or no TD, running 5:30 off the clock on the first drive was huge. Now the Titans need to put some pressure on the Chargers.

Jamie Petrowski is 85. I think the Titans signed him this week.

Norv Turner: "It's time for this team to win a playoff game." OK, that beats Fisher's quote.

It's a sack on the second play. Finnegan makes a corner blitz. His speed is ideal for that kind of play, especially when Tomlinson didn't even take him on.

Three and out is huge. Daniel Loper starting the game means that all the tackles the Titans drafted three years ago are starting on the O line. Young nearly escaped a sack but had to go down.

Young is down after throwing the ball away. He might be done. The crowd is extra loud, and I hope it's not because Young is hurt. Collins can field goal you to death. He may just have hit his head.

The lightening bolt design looks like a telestrator accident. Weird beard is bundled up today. Come on, it's not Foxboro.

Chargers aren't helping themselves so far. Dielman tries to hurt Haynesworth. Cheaters!

I love seeing the Chargers punter on the field. He's a good punter. The Titans do not have the advantage in the punting game. Hentrich probably has a lower handicap.

White can't get two good runs in a row. It's third and short again. Nice second effort by White. I think the Titans will be happy with getting two or three first downs and pinning the Chargers deep. From the last game, no lead is enough.

Troupe with a catch. My heart just stopped.

It's third and less than a yard. Has Amano learned the snap the ball to his foot play? That was a key screw-up in the earlier game. Ahmad Hall is a beast with another first down.

I like it how Chris Brown kept running and 99 for the Chargers just stopped playing. This is such a grind-it-out team. You either love it or are tormented constantly. I'm in the second boat.

On third and one White gets 14 yards. It's time to finish a drive. White, shockingly enough, only gets one on the next play. Chris Brown volleyballs a carry right to Shaun Phillips. Shawn Merriman caused that one. We just can't play a mistake-free game.

If Chris Brown gets on the field again after fumbling last week, there's going to be a riot.

Tomlinson goes out of bounds. Coward.

Rivers hits Antonio Gates for the first down. Bulluck can't cover him. That's going to get this offense started.

Chambers catches the deep ball. Gulp. Griffin makes the tackle. Where was Lowry?

Haynesworth is out. Starks comes in for him and luckily coverage was good downfield. Haynesworth comes back in for third and long. Vincent Jackson can't catch the sideline route. Chargers have to punt but they do flip field position.

This is where the Titans get really conservative. White has to lead the league in two-yard gains. White falls down on a screen pass. He could have at least advanced the ball a bit. It's third and 12. Time to bite on my fist for a minute.

Chris Davis catches a pretty solid out pass, then he doesn't. He got shoved out of bounds. The Titans need a Bobby Engram this offseason in a bad way. Chargers start at the 42. The lead's about to disappear.

Finnegan is the MVP so far. He had single coverage on Chambers and took away a potential touchdown.

Rivers is pissed, at himself hopefully. Vince one-hops the first-down throw. It's third and eight time. The Titans have to be the worst team in the league in taking advantage of turnovers. Two guys end up in the same spot. I think Davis knocked the ball away from Gage. The Chargers will get the ball at the 55.

Charger fans are dying for a good Tomlinson run. If I see that stupid animals singing Jeep Liberty commercial again, I'm going to break my beer bottle and shove it in my eye socket.

VandenBosch gets pressure on Rivers, who almost threw the ball to Thornton.

On third down Vincent Jackson is somehow totally uncovered. Lowry, of course, misses the tackle. Why is he starting?

Gates is hurt. It's third and long again for the Chargers. A sack could get them out of field goal range. Keith Bulluck taps him on the head, which is good sportsmanship and a personal "whew" since he won't have to cover Gates at least for the rest of the half. I expect that Tony Brown will get a fine for going head to head on that semi-unnecessary hit.

Griffin saved Finnegan on that out pattern. He tipped it away at the last second. Kaeding misses the field goal. This game is nuts.

All I want is one freaking first down. The Titans only have four wideouts active today, downfield throws are going to be rare. It's my least favorite down and distance, third and six.

Biren Ealy gets the first down and at least the Titans will run out the first-half clock. Scary stat: the first game was 3-0 Titans at the half.

Chris Brown gets a carry and seven new I hate Chris Brown threads start on the Titans Central message board. Troupe gets called for a hold. It's the first time that he's tried to make a block in his career.

Moulds gets the ball near first-down yardage. It's either a long field goal attempt or the clock's going to run out. Ealy gets another third-down catch. The Titans drafted three wideouts and this free agent rookie is getting key throws.

Troupe gets a first down and it's spike time. Ball is at the 30. Are they going to try to go downfield, or just get a few more yards? White runs it to the 27. It's not a gimme field goal.

I know the Chargers are going to wake up in the second half. Getting that half-ending field goal is still a big deal. Look what happened to the Steelers yesterday when Roethlisberger threw that half-ending pick. Bironas kicks it down the middle. He's going to get two million bucks next year.

My Pats friend (howdy Paul) complained when Brady was not the unanimous MVP. Remember when Mark Mosely won it? Imagine the blowback if that happened today. Bironas missed four field goals all year. He missed a pretty easy kick that would have defeated the Chargers last time. The Titans need one TD to win this game. They're going to need at least three (a giant order) to beat the Pats if they can hold on.

Will the halftime crew backtrack at all? I didn't listen to the pregame talk. Cowher blamed Chambers for the interception. The ball needed to be a bit deeper.

LenDale White has 55 more rushing yards than Tomlinson. The Chargers have 14 passes and seven runs. It's Titan football with 43 plays to 21 for the other team. Young's averaging less than five yards per attempt and that is fine. It's amazing that the Titans have five receivers with between 16 and 19 receiving yards. Gage has to get more involved. Seven different receivers with catches isn't bad.

This is the drive of the season. The Chargers generally play tough to start the second half. A block in the back won't help.

Isn't it amazing that all four teams yesterday choked? The Seahawks choked away a 13-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Then the Redskins were all but handed a 21-13 lead and they couldn't hold it. The Jags had a giant lead and blew it, then the Steelers inexplicably went for two from their own 12-yard-line. Then the Steelers couldn't hold it.

I agree with Simms. Tomlinson will break a run soon. I hope it's in the Pro Bowl.

That was a nice pocket that the line created. Rivers had time and hit Chambers on third down. Odom is hurt, which isn't good. This team is running on fumes. Not having injuries makes you a better team.

The Titans tried a corner blitz. Randy Starks was unblocked and crushed Rivers. Harper and Tulloch blitzed there. Chambers makes the catch on third down. Griffin goes for the hit and might be hurt. Going shoulder first against a bigger guy generally doesn't work.

Brady would tear this Titans D up. The only chance the Titans would have is to hit Brady a ton. Rivers hits Chambers for another big play. One drive can erase everything the Titans did in the first half.

Fuller and Lowry are the safeties. Dude.

It's another huge third down. The Titans hold, somehow. The lead survives.

Nice pass by Young to Hartsock for the first down. White leaves, Henry gets crushed, and Young throws a deep pass to Gage, who stopped. Now the Chargers have to go 80 yards to take the lead.

The Titans have missed maybe one tackle all day. That's pretty solid.

Tomlinson barely gets the first down, although I think he went out early. Tomlinson likes to go out of bounds.

Good line by Simms: "You want to waste a challenge on a couple of inches?"

Titans are drawn offside, and Haynesworth throws Rivers down. That's 15 free yards. You can't give them free yards.

Tomlinson is starting to get some yards. It's going to be tough for the Titans to get a touchdown, so if the Chargers can get six, the pressure will be on.

Vincent Jackson does it. The Chargers have pretty decent receivers, and they're all pros compared to what the Titans have left.

Can the Titans throw a counter-punch?

Perhaps Haynesworth's anger issues will save the Titans a few million dollars.

Young hit a perfect pass to Ben Troupe. Chris Davis gets another first down on an end-around. I like this more aggressive approach.

Ahmad Hall is my hero. He breaks a few tackles and falls down in the open field. The Titans are in the red zone with a quarter to play.

This team is playing hard, win or lose. The Chargers have scored on both drives, so even if the Titans can punch it in, it's going to be a 60-minute fight.

White gets crushed on first down. Young almost threw it to Clinton Hart. It was a five yard play at best. Titans should have kicked on third down. Ugh. They need more to advance.

Bironas missed it. Good night and good luck.

The rain isn't helping. Blitz fails and Gates easily slips the tackle for a first down.

The Titans can't cover anyone. Why must they torment me by playing well for a half then falling apart?

Would Tom Brady ever let his running back call the timeout as the play clock is about to expire? I think not.

Tomlinson catches the slant and is down short of the end zone. Fourth and goal from inside the one. Norv Turner challenges and wastes his last time out. The Titans need the Chargers to go for it and fail.

Tomlinson's momentum was stopped before he reached over the goal line. He was stopped then he reached over the goal line. Bulluck made a giant hit. There's no way that they overturn this. The official on the left side started running in before Tomlinson reached over the goal line. Dang this sucks. Shaun Phillips' stop of White on first and ten was huge. White had a hole and probably would have gotten close to a first down. The Titans haven't tried to put the ball in the end zone yet and the conservative play hasn't helped.

Another second-half choke for the Titans. If it weren't for the first choke, the second one wouldn't have happened.

Young was hit hard. Phillips was untouched. 94 was offside on the next play. OK, maybe he wasn’t. Young had no chance. You have to go for it, I think. Fisher pulls a Pinkel and punts. The way the offensive line played in that series, I guess you have to hope your worn-out defense can make a play.

Tomlinson's getting yards now. Nice downfield block by Chambers. Holding on to that block is a good way to say it.

There was a lot more excitement to last year's non-playoff squad. This could be the most boring 10-6 team ever.

I liked seeing the Oiler title teams in 1960 and 1961. That's pretty rough, winning two titles in a row followed by nothing for 36 seasons. The light blue Oiler helmets were underrated.

Two penalties in a row felt like an unnecessary kick in the crotch. Young throws one right to Drayton Florence. He's going to be in the spotlight next year. I bet Young isn't blaming his receiver for the interception. I'll take Young over Rivers, albeit barely.

CBS showed a montage of the Titans' WR "playmakers." It hurts to look at. I don't think that Scaife and Williams would have helped. No Brown might have helped.

Do the Chargers have a chance to beat the Colts? Manning threw six interceptions and it still took a Vinatieri missed field goal for the Chargers to prevail at home. LT better come through in a big way.

Haynesworth didn't have a good game. The whole team had a terrible second half.

Well, there's one weekend of wall-to-wall football left. I don't know if I'll enjoy it more with my team out of the race.

Jeff Fisher needs a haircut. Dude.