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Poor play by offense has Titans concerned
First-team offensive unit says it's time to turn things around
By Jim Wyatt • THE TENNESSEAN • August 23, 2009
While Jerry Jones worries about what to do with his gigantic — but low-hanging — video board, the Titans left Cowboys Stadium needing to erase what showed up on it.
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It was all there in high-definition. The Titans played poorly, especially on offense.
The first team struggled most of the time it was on the field during Dallas' 30-10 victory on Friday night, marking the second straight game Tennessee had difficulty moving the football.
Yes, it's the preseason, something Titans coaches and players like to remind everyone when things aren't going so well, but with the regular season less than three weeks away there's clearly room for improvement.
"As one of the players on offense we have to play better,'' tight end Bo Scaife said. "To me, it is not a concern but it is something I want to get rid of. Our job is to go out there and move the ball up and down the field and score points and we haven't been doing that.
"And if it's your job and you're not doing it then you're not doing your job. That's how I feel."
In four series against the Cowboys, the first-team offense managed four first downs, went three-and-out three times and managed just 78 yards. All four first downs came in the final three minutes of the first half.
On Saturday, Coach Jeff Fisher said he's not sure how long the starters will play in the fourth preseason game, Saturday at Cleveland. Kerry Collins is likely to start at quarterback, Fisher said.
"We definitely have to come out of the blocks better,'' Collins said. "Whatever it is the last couple of games it hasn't been as good as we wanted to be coming out of the gate, but that is what preseason is for, to get things corrected and get better.
"It's one of those things where you're in training camp and you're working on the things you need to work on. We are not game-planning a whole lot. But having said that, we still need to execute better.''
After a fast start against the Bills in the Hall of Fame game, the first-team offense went nowhere against the Buccaneers and Cowboys. In eight series it went three-and-out five times, posted seven first downs and gained 112 total yards.
Running back Chris Johnson had 26 yards on 15 carries in the first three games, and on many plays he was hit behind the line of scrimmage.
"We didn't make any big plays on first down, so we created down and distance problems for ourselves,'' Fisher said. "We have some work to do … but we didn't plan, we kept things basic.''
The Titans return to the practice field today.
"There is no cause for panic,'' receiver Nate Washington said. "Last week we had three series. This week we had maybe 15 plays. It showed at the end of the half as we were out there more things started going a little better.
"The ball will get rolling, but this is a time to just buckle down and get ready for the season and continue to get better together. We missed a lot of things (against Dallas), but we can evaluate, see what's going on and get things corrected.''
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090823/SPORTS01/908230366/1027
First-team offensive unit says it's time to turn things around
By Jim Wyatt • THE TENNESSEAN • August 23, 2009
While Jerry Jones worries about what to do with his gigantic — but low-hanging — video board, the Titans left Cowboys Stadium needing to erase what showed up on it.
Advertisement
It was all there in high-definition. The Titans played poorly, especially on offense.
The first team struggled most of the time it was on the field during Dallas' 30-10 victory on Friday night, marking the second straight game Tennessee had difficulty moving the football.
Yes, it's the preseason, something Titans coaches and players like to remind everyone when things aren't going so well, but with the regular season less than three weeks away there's clearly room for improvement.
"As one of the players on offense we have to play better,'' tight end Bo Scaife said. "To me, it is not a concern but it is something I want to get rid of. Our job is to go out there and move the ball up and down the field and score points and we haven't been doing that.
"And if it's your job and you're not doing it then you're not doing your job. That's how I feel."
In four series against the Cowboys, the first-team offense managed four first downs, went three-and-out three times and managed just 78 yards. All four first downs came in the final three minutes of the first half.
On Saturday, Coach Jeff Fisher said he's not sure how long the starters will play in the fourth preseason game, Saturday at Cleveland. Kerry Collins is likely to start at quarterback, Fisher said.
"We definitely have to come out of the blocks better,'' Collins said. "Whatever it is the last couple of games it hasn't been as good as we wanted to be coming out of the gate, but that is what preseason is for, to get things corrected and get better.
"It's one of those things where you're in training camp and you're working on the things you need to work on. We are not game-planning a whole lot. But having said that, we still need to execute better.''
After a fast start against the Bills in the Hall of Fame game, the first-team offense went nowhere against the Buccaneers and Cowboys. In eight series it went three-and-out five times, posted seven first downs and gained 112 total yards.
Running back Chris Johnson had 26 yards on 15 carries in the first three games, and on many plays he was hit behind the line of scrimmage.
"We didn't make any big plays on first down, so we created down and distance problems for ourselves,'' Fisher said. "We have some work to do … but we didn't plan, we kept things basic.''
The Titans return to the practice field today.
"There is no cause for panic,'' receiver Nate Washington said. "Last week we had three series. This week we had maybe 15 plays. It showed at the end of the half as we were out there more things started going a little better.
"The ball will get rolling, but this is a time to just buckle down and get ready for the season and continue to get better together. We missed a lot of things (against Dallas), but we can evaluate, see what's going on and get things corrected.''
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090823/SPORTS01/908230366/1027
