The worst part of the Titan’s loss last night could have been having to listen to Mark Schlereth on ESPN, and his verbal diarrhea the next morning, barely stopping short of sending San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers an engagement ring, (Lord help us once Trent Dilfer and Michael Irvin volunteer their opinions)…or watching Tennessee QB Vince Young cough up the ball on a scramble while he was sliding to avoid a hit, or the two interceptions that he threw decidedly behind his receivers, or the fact that the faint playoff hopes for a team that began the season by losing their first six games have officially been snuffed out, or the seven penalties for ninety-six yards, or…..well, you get the idea. San Diego 42, Tennessee 17…now you get the idea.

If it wasn’t the feeble play of Tennessee’s quarterback, it was the phantom pass interference penalty while Titan’s safety Courtland Finnegan was having his facemask yanked from behind. It was cold, windy, and Christmas, but none of that seemed to matter to the San Diego Chargers, who looked as though they were playing an exhibition contest against the hapless Titan’s defense. Sure, Keith Bulluck was watching from the bench with an ACL tear, but if these guys rely on Bulluck this much, they’re going to need a lot more than a linebacker’s return to 180 this franchise.

Titan’s running back Chris Johnson continued his march toward history, with his 10 consecutive 100-yard effort, closing to within 128 yards of a 2000-yard season - a feat accomplished only five times before in NFL history. The all-time, single-season rushing mark currently held by Eric Dickerson of 2,105 yards, is perhaps a bit less attainable, as Johnson would require a herculean performance of 234 yards in his final game of the season. Not out of the realm of possibility for an athlete of such proven production, but it would certainly be asking the moon from the teams’ most consistent player. The Titan’s will travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks for the 2009 finale.

“We gave them a lot of turnovers and had too many penalties,” Tennessee linebacker Stephen Tulloch told reporters after the game. Tulloch felt that the team took a big step backwards. “We are a better football team than that, and when we went on the winning streak we weren’t doing that. Inconsistent football won’t get it done in this league.” Tell us about it.

Young’s dismal 8 of 21 for 89 yards was in stark contrast to the production that had led this team to victories in 7 of their last 8 games. “My mistakes hurt us,” Young said. “And that didn’t give our defense a chance to get to the sidelines to get a breather. That’s pretty much it. Every time we got into a rhythm, I turned the ball over, and that is something that I can’t do. We were driving the ball pretty good, and it was the turnovers on my behalf that hurt us.” Young, with that unconventional three-quarters passing delivery that has attracted batted balls and inaccuracy like a magnet, finished the evening with a quarterback rating of 11.9. Two interceptions and a fumble, all of which led to Chargers scores.  A rushing touchdown capping an eleven-play, 77-yard drive with only seconds remaining in the first half, allowed the Titans to trail 20-10. This one was never that close. After the Seahawks, the Titans will face several decisions in the off-season, not the least of which will be VY’s huge $14M salary cap hit, and where he’ll be throwing interceptions - er - playing football in 2010. Young, if he’s still on the Tennessee roster in 2010, will be due a $4.25M roster bonus (a bonus?), a $7.5M base salary, along with that cap number…but if he’s cut, it would cost the Titans a $4.92M accelerator to shed his contract…hmmmm…stay tuned.

Seven weeks ago, the Tennessee Titans took the beating of their professional football lives, a 59-0 shellacking in the snowy confines of Gillette Stadium at the hands of the New England Patriots. They took their medicine, and swallowed it through what had to be a very tough bye week to boot. Now, turn the calendar ahead to Sunday afternoon in Nashville, where the Music City Miracle now has company in the story-telling department. The Titans are now 5-0 since that beating near Boston, running off five straight after losing their first six, with none more compelling than the improbable victory over the Kurt Warner-less Arizona Cardinals, 20-17.

Vince Young took the reins of the offense on his own 1-yard line, with merely 2:37 left on the clock, and his Titans trailing 17-14 - and became the stuff of legends.

“We fought to the finish,” Young told reporters at his post-game press conference.” It was hard. It takes a lot of confidence and patience. It was a team effort. Everybody is stepping up.” Tennessee’s quarterback was 27 of 43 for a career-best 387 yards.

The drive lasted 18 plays, including three - that’s right - three 4^th down conversions, 9 out of 16 passes completed, a six-yard scramble by Young, one sack, and the chance to go from goat-to-hero for rookie wide receiver Kenny Britt, who caught the game-winning touchdown as time expired. Britt fumbled away the football in Tennessee’s previous possession, turning it over to Arizona in what seemed to be at the time, a back-breaking error. But the Titan’s defense held firm, forcing the Cards to punt, and setting the stage for the dramatic final two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of the game.

With Young’s fifth victory since being reinserted into the starting lineup, the Titans are on a roll. With undefeated (11-0) Indianapolis next up on the schedule, Tennessee’s path to a possible playoff appearance is definitely not an easy one. But that’s just the way the Titans seem to like it…the tougher, the better.

The Indianapolis professional football team continues to have Baltimore’s number.  On a day when the Ravens played their hearts out the fans got their heart’s ripped out.  How sick are Ravens fans of losing close games to good teams?

It’s an old football cliché, but when you settle for field goals, especially off turnovers, you set yourself up for failure.  The Ravens’ defense forced Peyton Manning and Indy’s offense into three turnovers, but only had six points to show for their efforts.  Toss in a fourth quarter Indy goal line stand and a Joe Flacco INT and you have a recipe for disaster. 

This game was so crucial for the Ravens who saw the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinatti Bengals unexpectedly fall to weak AFC West opponents. The Ravens had a prime opportunity to knockoff unbeaten Indy, improve their record to six and four, and stay atop the wildcard pack.  Instead the theme of the day was blown opportunity. 

The offense was able to move the ball fairly well against an injury bitten Indy defense, but couldn’t seal the deal with touchdowns.  Cam Cameron committed to running the ball with 31 attempts, but the o-line weren’t able to blow the undersized defenders back at the point of contact.  This marks the fourth straight week the Ravens rush the ball for less than a four yards per carry average.  Rice is a hell of a player, but we need that big bruising back to run in-between the tackles.  That person used to be LeRon McClain, but McClain has been underutilized as a tailback this season.  Frankly, I’m not quite sure McClain has the quickness needed to be a dominant tailback in the NFL

Another factor contributing to the Ravens lack of offensive production is the fact that our wide receivers get little to no separation.  I realize that Derrick Mason had a huge day, but many of his catches came under direst.  Outside of Mason the Ravens wide receivers had a total of two catches for 18 yards.  Bottom line, this offense would be a force if Flacco had a big fast option opposite Mason.  There’s no white knight receiver available to the Ravens at this point, so let’s continue this conversation in April.

Billy Cundiff looked to be a just what the Ravens needed, but instead of  turning in a five-for-five Matt Stover-like performance, he missed a chip shot that would have been the difference in the game.  I’m not blaming the loss on Cundiff though, because the Ravens’ offense left so many points on the field. 

In all honesty the season’s not over, but if we lose to Pittsburgh next week it will be.  Perhaps Harbaugh can get his first victory against the Roethlisberger-less Steelers.   

P.S. Can someone on the Ravens’ coaching staff please tell Ed Reed that he is no longer allowed to lateral the ball on returns of any kind.  I realize that the Ravens would have had the ball on the their own 31 yard line with about 17 seconds left on the clock, but at least they would have had a chance. 

With the National Football League’s leading rusher, and a young quarterback emerging at the most opportune time, the Tennessee Titans returned from San Francisco with a hard earned, and much-needed 34-27 win - and a 2-game winning streak.

Running back Chris Johnson’s speed, incredible durability, and toughness once again produced results for Tennessee, with 25 carries for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns -  not including an 85-yard run that was called back after review, with the Ref calling Johnson out-of-bounds well before he reached the end zone. Coach Jeff Fisher and Johnson both claimed that his heel never touched the line, but apparently that was not the way the Officials saw it.

“I really feel like when I run, my heels don’t touch down,” Johnson said. “I am always on my tippy-toes, so I felt like I stayed in. I kind of knew I didn’t step out of bounds. When I looked at the replay, I knew there wasn’t significant evidence to show I didn’t step out of bounds. I thought for sure I had a touchdown.”

“The information that I got from the box is the heel wasn’t down,” Fisher told reporters later. “They were adamant about the heel never touched. We’ll look at it. It was good for us to overcome.”

Quarterback Vince Young continued to impress this week. The word “poise” has been used to describe his play as of late. His passing accuracy has been excellent since he got his opportunity to start in front of Kerry Collins, and partly due to the team’s dismal 0-6 start to the season. 12 for 19 for 172 yards, and a rushing TD, Young appears comfortable in the pocket, and in situations where his receivers are covered, he’s been able to make plays on his own to advance the ball. “We always believe in each other,” said Young. “I’m just trying to get the team to get better and better. I want to earn their confidence back, and earn my coach’s confidence. So I’m just trying to play one game at a time. It’s not all about Vince. It’s about all of us. We’re doing a great job, period.”

The Titan defense swarmed the 49ers, coming up with 4 sacks, and 4 turnovers, including interceptions from Rod Hood, Courtland Finnegan, and Chris Hope. Finnegan’s was a pick-6, returning it 39 yards for a TD, and a 34-20 Tennessee lead in the 4^th quarter.

“This is more what we are about,” linebacker Keith Bulluck said. “Once we slipped up it was like one of those movies where people have the freefall. No one wanted our season to go that way. But we have more football to play, and we’re going to play it on out and see what happens.”

Two in a row may not sound like much ( and granted, it isn’t…) , but to say that this team has struggled early in the season, is like saying the limbless Black Knight in Monty Python’s “Holy Grail” merely had a flesh wound…it doesn’t even really seem like the same team…

” I don’t know what the difference is,” added center Kevin Mawae. “I really can’t explain it other than now we are finding ways to win. We’re not doing anything different game-plan wise, we’re just making plays when we have to. Nobody’s talking about the first six games anymore. They’re talking about the next game, and where we go from here.”

Quite a change from just 2 weeks ago, but I guess that’s what a 2-game winning streak can do for you. See you in Nashville, where the Titans host Terrell Owens and the Buffalo Bills…

On a snowy, blustery afternoon in Foxboro, Massachusetts only two weeks ago, the Titans of Tennessee absorbed a shellacking equaled only once in their professional franchise history. A humiliating 59-0 dismantling at the hands of the New England Patriots, essentially summing up their mistake-riddled season in a neat, albeit disturbing, little package. Turnovers, sloppy play, poor execution, and general lackadaisical performance, more forgettable than memorable - at least that’s how I felt about it, and I only had to watch.

Well, what a difference a week makes. Or more to the point, a bye week.

This Sunday afternoon in Nashville, at home in front of another faithful, sellout crowd at LP Field, the Titans looked more like the 13-3 team of 2008 that opened their season 10-0, rather than the 0-6 winless 2009 version we were forced to watch self-destruct in New England 2 weeks ago, routing Jacksonville 30-13.

Some things appeared the same, such as running back Chris Johnson running wild, this time over the Jaguars, with 2 rushing touchdowns, piling up more than 200 yards on the day. While his counterpart, the Jag’s Maurice Jones-Drew, also had a productive day, gaining over 170 yards, also with 2 TDs. In fact combined, they scored 4 rushing touchdowns 50 yards or longer; the first time that’s happened in the history of the NFL.

Other things had a slightly different appearance, as QB Vince Young took over the starting job from Veteran Kerry Collins (at the behest of Titan’s owner Bud Adams), and - don’t look now, but VY looked like a genuine NFL quarterback. 15 of 18 for 125 yards, and ran 10 times for 32 yards, Young was crisp and precise, making good decisions with the football. “The year off has helped me a whole lot”, Young said.

Taking his time, reading the defense. Going through his progressions, looking for the open receiver, looking for his checkdowns. Then, with no place to safely throw the football, he pulled it down, and did what the folks who drafted him, drafted him to do - he made plays with his legs. Third and 8? Nobody open downfield? Need eight yards for a first down? Vince got them ten, all by himself.

“This is the first start he’s had where he has not had a sack or interception, and I think it shows - we’re hoping that shows - that he has learned from this experience,” Coach Fisher told reporters on Monday. “He has learned to take what’s there, take the checkdown, get rid of the ball or take off when it’s time to go take off. We’ve said all along he was developing.”

Owner Bud Adams must consider how - or even if - Young will fit into the teams plans for beyond this season. The quarterback is due a $4.25 million bonus in March of 2010, and will count more than $14 million against the teams’ 2010-2011 salary cap as well.

“We didn’t have any drops. We ran the football,” Fisher continued, “we got some turnovers, and that is what I’ve been saying all along. We need to continue with that. If the team can do that, and he plays like he played, we’ll win some games.”

The Titans go West to face the San Francisco 49ers next. They’ve got the second ranked rushing defense, so Johnson and White will have their work cut out for them. And Vince Young? He’s now walking the walk after a solid performance against Jacksonville, when Tennessee needed him to come through. “I have been waiting for this. I am definitely more mature, definitely more comfortable in the offense,” said Young. “I am very confident. I just want to go out there and take care of my responsibilities as a quarterback, and get a win.”

With the return of DB Vincent Fuller and Courtland Finnegan, the defensive secondary is creating problems once again for opposing QBs, and allowing the D-line to apply significant pressure on the pass rush - something that the Titan’s were sorely missing in their absence.

Sure seems like a long way from the frozen tundra of Gillette Stadium a couple of weeks ago…what a difference a bye week makes.

Fortunately, this Halloween finds the Texans all dressed up as winners with a 4-3 record, and Sunday’s performance will go a long way toward finding out if they can at last finish the season as winners, without the need for costumes.  For only the second time in their eight seasons, Houston boasts a 4-3 record heading into the eighth week.  However, given their history in past Novembers, they have lots of reasons to fear a letdown.

 The only previous time the Texans worked their way to a 4-3 record was in 2004.  They followed that with three straight losses.  Houston has posted a winning record in November only once, and that was in 2007 when they went 2-1 with a bye week mixed in.  As a matter of fact, in the previous seven seasons, the Texans have managed to lose 3 or more games in November in five of those years.  That history, combined with the remaining 2009 schedule, makes this Sunday’s game a pivotal and perhaps vital point in the season.

 A November 1^st victory against the Buffalo Bills would get the Texans off on the right foot in a month that has traditionally been very spooky for them.  A victory this Sunday would mark the first time the team has ever risen to 5-3, and although they have been two games over .500 before (in 2007 when they won their first two games), they have never done so this late in a season.  A win this weekend means a rare three-game win streak, and a better shot at the elusive winning season, one with a chance at a play-off berth.

 A loss this Sunday to a struggling Buffalo team would mean an increase in the steep incline of the hill they already have to climb to get into the playoffs, compliments of their three early-season losses.  A loss would leave them smelling the foul stench of Novembers past, with two games against the 6-0 Indianapolis Colts scheduled in November, and no rational person would expect Houston to beat Indy twice in any year, let alone in a year in which thus far the Colts seem to be at their best.  Yes, Houston does get a bye week and a chance to play the winless Titans at home in November.  But, I, for one, still do not believe that the Titans are as bad as their record indicates, and they will surely be looking to repay Houston for their earlier loss at home this year.

 What’s more, a loss on November 1^st  means the Texans will have to finish the rest of the schedule with a 5-3 record or better, something else they have only done once in their history, if they are finally to pull off a winning season.  Losing to the Bills would also very likely mean a long shot at any playoff hopes, which some will argue already is the case.  Currently though, the Texans are truly in decent position for a playoff run with nine of the 16 teams in the AFC having worse records than theirs.  Only three teams in the AFC have scored more points than the Texans to this point in the year. 

 The Texans have already beaten Cincinnati, the AFC North leader at 5-2, and despite two upcoming games against Indy in November, Houston has a pretty favorable schedule with home games against the Titans and Seahawks and road games against the Jaguars, Rams, and Dolphins.  They do have to finish the season with a home game against New England, which with the way things are going will be a meaningful game for both teams.  A win over the Bills this week and a 5-3 finish to the year would leave them 10-6.  A loss this Sunday would make it necessary to go 6-2 in their last eight games just to reach ten wins.

 Any Texans’ fan who watched the opening game against the Jets and several of the subsequent games in the early 2009 season had to be feeling the many horrors of Houston seasons past, although much of this year’s woes were surprisingly from the defense.  In the first 18 quarters of play, they gave up a total of 113 points, for a 6.3 per quarter average.  They were soundly beaten by the Jets and run over by the Jaguars, uncharacteristically losing home games at an alarming rate.  Up until the Arizona game on October 11^th, they had at least been able to score on offense despite a serious lack of a running game, but the defense remained alarmingly porous.

 Then came the tale of two halves.  They got blanked a painfully resounding 21-0 in the first half against the Cardinals.  They were definitely down, and many fans thought they were surely out, just like so many futile seasons before.  Ah, but something astounding happened in the locker room that day, something which would prove that this team was not like the teams of the past.  The defense and the offense came out of that half-time together, on the same page, refusing to give up.  Sure, they went on to a 28-21 loss, but the offense put up 21 points in that half alone and the defense didn’t allow a single score in the half, against last year’s NFC Champions.  (For those of you who don’t remember, the additional seven points by Arizona came from a Matt Schaub interception returned for a TD.)

 Since then, the Texans have put together back-to-back victories over the likes of Cincinnati and San Francisco.  Remember the 6.3 points per quarter the Texans had been giving up?  Well, over the ten quarters since the opening of the second half in Arizona, they have been giving up only 3.8 per quarter while the offense over the last six games has scored an average of 6.7 points per quarter or a nice 26.7 per game—that is definitely a winning combination.  Although they started off the year looking like ghosts of Halloweens past, the image of the present is far more comforting and assuring.  Here’s hoping the haunting past was left behind in that Arizona locker room and the glimpses of the future will hold a victory over the 3-4 Bills this weekend, en route to at least a 10-6 season.

Tennessee running back Chris Johnson gained 128 yards on the ground, having a productive day in New England against the Patriots - and the snow - on this Sunday afternoon. That’s the good news. The bad news is, there’s a lot of bad news.

With Courtland Finnegan a scratch for the game, and a generally injury decimated secondary; Tennessee was unable to put any real pressure on Tom Brady. That said, one could hope that the Titan’s quarterback and offense could maybe score a few points, in an attempt to compensate. Well, let’s put it this way, there were a lot of NFL records broken on this day, and those broken by Tennessee should best be forgotten as fast as a snowball melts in…..well, let’s say the deep South for now…

Here it is… 59-0. Yup, you read that right. New England handed the Titans the largest NFL shutout since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970…On December 4, 1976, the Rams beat the Falcons 59-0… The last time there was a defeat of this magnitude, it was the Houston Oilers crushed by the Cincinnati Bengals, 61-7. That was 1989. The Titans wore the same throw back uniforms, with unfortunately, similar results.

The anemic QB duo of Kerry Collins and Vince Young completed 2 passes to their receivers, and two passes to New England, with 2 interceptions. 2 for 14 for minus 7 yards. Collins finished the day with a passer rating of 4.9. The fact that the Titans seemingly couldn’t do anything right in the first half didn’t help matters. Running back LenDale White fumbled, which led to a New England TD. Kerry Collins fumbled the snap, which led to a New England TD. Collins threw an interception, which led to…well, you get the idea. Let’s not bore you with the Patriots’ records

Suffice to say they set new team marks for total yards (619) and points, and Brady set a new NFL record with 5 touchdown passes in one quarter ( 5), and New England scored on nine consecutive possessions.

This one is going to sting for at least two weeks - Tennessee’s at their bye week. Head Coach Jeff Fisher in his post-game press conference said he’d thankfully never been a part of a loss like this. “I can assure you one thing, it’s not going to happen again,” Fisher told reporters. “I guess our bye week comes at a good time to start over and look at everything we’re doing. I’m disappointed obviously, and embarrassed to say the least. We played a good football team, but that wasn’t us out there…we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

After an extra week to figure out how to win again, Tennessee welcomes Jacksonville to LP Field, followed by a trip out West to face the 49ers. Fisher has intimated that he may “tweak” his roster during the bye week. With the 0-6 start and the weight of the 59-0 shutout still burdening Fisher, Titan’s owner Bud Adams said that the Coach’s job is safe through the end of the season, but would make no promises beyond that time. Adams founded the team in 1960, and the 86 year old owner says he’s never seen his team play this badly. “Right now, it’s as bad as I’ve seen it, and that’s a long time,” said Adams. “I’ve never had a team start out like this. We had the best record in the NFL last year. I can’t understand it.” When asked about Head Coach Jeff Fisher’s job security, Adams said, “If we end up losing every game or don’t look better, I’d have to look at that pretty hard, you know what I mean? The way it is going, I don’t know if we’ll win any games, and that is unheard of in the National Football League.”

Hmmmm…there was this one team from Detroit last year….

The story goes…

A Titan’s Fan meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, and St. Peter says, “You can have a choice - right here, right now. Would you like to go to Heaven, or Hell…?”

The Fan thinks for a moment, then replies, “can I at least take a look at Hell before I make up my mind?”

St. Peter thinks for a moment, and then nods, escorting the Fan to an express elevator nearby. The Fan steps into the elevator, and is instantly whisked away. Down, down, down he went, until the very bottom floor was reached. As the doors slowly opened, the Fan was amazed to see a barren, frozen wasteland. Ice and snow covered everything in sight, and frigid temperatures chilled the Fan to the bone so quickly, that he jumped back into the elevator, and headed back to the top floor.

As the elevator doors opened again, the Fan walks quickly back to St. Peter, who is waiting patiently by the Pearly Gates. “Well…”, bellowed St. Peter, expecting an answer form the Fan. “St. Peter”, replied the Fan, ” I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a barren, frozen wasteland! I expected fire and brimstone and gnashing of teeth, but everything was frozen!”

St. Peter lifts his finger to his chin and says quietly… “Hmmmmm…looks like the Titan’s won a game…”

No, these guys are not part of the Tennessee Titan’s 53-man roster, but if the Titans don’t snap out of their current slump, these fans might have a shot at making the team.  What’s gotten into the Titans from Tennessee? Just a year removed, the best record is the league, after an impressive 10-0 start, the NFL franchise residing in Nashville also resides in the cellar of their division. Winless, and publicly scratching their collective heads from the owner on down, there’s a sense that - nevermind playoffs, what do we have to do to win a game?

Succumbing to Pittsburgh, the Jets, the Texans and the lowly, formerly-winless-Jaguars, things will not get any easier with Indianapolis and the New England Patriots on tap before the bye week. And the hits just keep on comin’….

Starting quarterback Kerry Collins struggled against Jacksonville, finishing the day 29 of 48 for 284 yards, threw for a touchdown, ran for a touchdown - but also threw 2 interceptions. And even though Collins has struggled along with the rest of the team, Head Coach Jeff Fisher is not ( publicly) even considering handing the team over to backup QB Vince Young. Collins claims he’s impervious to the calls for Young, but with 5TDs and 6INTs  and a QB rating of 68.9 in 4 games, those chants will only grow louder unless things quickly improve for him.

Tennessee’s running game is a bright spot, due primarily to Chris Johnson. 69 carries for 437 yards and a 6.3 yard average, having broken one for 91, and scored twice. The other half of last year’s “Smash and Dash” backfield tandem, LenDale White, has contributed 23 carries for 82 yards, getting significantly fewer opportunities that Johnson.

The defense is currently leading opponents in combined tackles, as well as total sacks. 5^th-year defensive tackle Tony Brown, playing in the same spot as former Titan Albert Haynesworth, leads the team with 2 sacks, and tenth year linebacker Keith Bulluck has 20 solo tackles and 10 assists. “I guess people are maybe waiting around for someone else to do it first instead of all 53 coming together and winning as a team,” said Bulluck this week. “There’s no “I” in team, but there’s plenty of individuals on a football team. When those individuals come together for the same cause, that is the nature of this team. But right now as individuals we haven’t come together yet.”

” There has to be an attitude change,” center Kevin Mawae told reporters this week. “We can’t just walk out there and throw our helmets on the field and say,’we went 13-3 last year and we’re the baddest dudes in town’, because right now, we’re 0-4. Our record shows we’re one of the worst teams in the league right now.”

The Colts and Patriots lie in wait for the Titans now, and then a bye week. Beyond that is a re-match with Jacksonville, road trips to San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Houston, with Buffalo, St. Louis, and Arizona making the trip to Nashville. There’s been speculation that Tennessee could come out of the bye ripping off perhaps 5 or six in a row…but defensive end Javon Kearse is taking a slightly more conservative view. “This season is getting away from us. We don’t need any talk about no Playoffs or no Super Bowls or anything like that. We need to worry about winning one game and going from there. We are embarrassed. We’re better than this.”

By the looks of things in the stands, the fans feel Kearse’s pain. And without some answers to the challenges and issues facing the Titan’s to this point, salvaging the season may be more elusive than they think.

In Gary Kubiak’s postgame news conference, he described the way he is currently feeling as “Not very good.” Surely, he intended that as the understatement of the year after what fans witnessed in Houston on Sunday. The Texans let a team in the form of the Jacksonville Jaguars come
into their house and put up 31 points. We are talking about a Jaguars team that had previously struggled to post a combined 29 points in their first two games.

 Last week, against the Titans, the Texans handed out 31 points as well, but since it was the first victory of the year, and an unexpected one at that, most everyone seemed willing to look beyond the defensive woes. So, after the first three games of the new season, the Texans have the worst defense in the league. They are giving up an average of 436.3 yards per game, 204.7 by way of the run game, and they have only 2 official sacks to their credit.

 Sure, if you care to get in the sort of debate about who is the worst of the worst, you would make mention about how our northern foes, the Cowboys, have given up more total yards than the Texans and are the only team with fewer sacks—0. However, with the Cowboys playing the Panthers tonight, their average is likely to improve after their third game in both of those categories. On the other hand, the Texans are on the bottom rung in the AFC in almost every defensive category. Only the Cleveland Browns have given up more points so far, and they are winless.

 Certainly, as fans, we have a tendency to want to lighten the blow, so we might point out how the Texans share the 17^th spot in passing defense (when it comes to yards allowed) with the Ravens, but then again, who needs to pass when the Texans are giving up over 200 rushing yards per game. No, folks, this is just plain ugly, and it looks so familiar in Houston that it’s hard to imagine how things are going to get any better.

 Right now, this looks like the same team as last year, only quite worse on defense. Still, you cannot fairly blame this all on the defense, particularly this last loss. The second half of the game proved to be lame on the offensive front too, as they settled for just three points in response to Jacksonville’s 14. Of course, there was the final, fatal fumble too. I know there is a strong tendency to blame the whole loss on that one play, that single mistake by one player, but as Kubiak also said in the press conference, “It’s not about one guy.”

 After all, who expects a team to win regularly if the defense is giving up 31 points to the other guys. Sure, the Texans pulled out the victory in Tennessee despite giving up as many, but that is certainly no long-term winning strategy. The Texans offense has scored 65 points in the first three games—in the AFC, that outdoes all but three teams. It’s those 86 total points on defense that hold the key to failure. Oh, and of course, if the Texans had scored the tying points on that run, what expectations would there have been that the defense would have been able to keep the Jaguars out of field goal range for the win?

 Another question that comes to mind here and now, is: how can the Texans defense be so bad after adding so much seeming talent in the offseason? From reading the blogs out there today, I was actually surprised to see that not everyone was simply calling for Frank Bush’s head. Some want Kubiak’s head too. Yet, there are lots of viewpoints being exchanged, including the notion that perhaps the “talent” acquired is not all that talented, or a gentler-minded one implying that the rookies just need some more time to learn. And, of course, Kubiak himself pointed to, who else, but himself. He talked about how an unnamed player missed containment on the big Maurice Jones-Drew TD, how there was poor secondary tackling, and how players missed gap assignments. Of course, there is some truth to all of the above.

 What I saw was a team still unable to pressure the quarterback, unable to cover the middle of the field in the secondary on third and long, and unable to tackle pretty much anywhere on the field. I saw a defense that I did not expect to see again after last year, a defense that leaves the offense in bad situations frequently, the sort of situations in which a single mistake by a running back crushes any chance of winning.

 After watching the offseason moves by the Texans, I, like most Houston fans, was excitedly optimistic about the future. Now, after watching four preseason and three regular season games, I am incredibly apprehensive. The team most definitely improved the talent level of the defense over that of any previous year. So, when I ask myself, “How is it that the defensive unit can still be in reverse, how is it that they can still look like they did last year?” My search for answers leads me directly to the coaches. First and foremost, Frank Bush. The easy and tempting conclusion here is that because Kubiak promoted from within the defensive unit last year, then it’s no wonder things look similar. And, that, in turn, puts this defensive debacle squarely on the head coach’s shoulders.

 Oddly, that’s where things begin to look up for the Texans and their fans. Kubiak is not calling out individuals, he is not mentioning any name other than his own. As a matter of fact, he tries to assure us that “Frank will do fine.” Kubiak is playing the same class-act as he did last year when they got off to the abysmal 0-4 start. He is sticking by his team, his staff, his players. That is something that still makes me delighted to be a fan of the Texans, but I do have to admit, he and his team are genuinely testing my faith in them so far.

 More good news comes in the fashion of the awful Oakland Raiders coming to our town next week. They have only scored 36 points in three games. If we cannot stop them, then we are going to need some kind of apocalyptic changes. In the meantime, it seems fair to give both the rookie players and the rookie coaches a momentary reprieve. A win over the Raiders puts us back upright at 2-2 with lots of football ahead. If you’ve seen any of their games this year, you know that Russell is not much of a throwing QB, so the game plan should be easy, right? Just try not to think about how they ended our shot at a 6-0 final run last year when they outplayed us on both sides of the ball, and Russell had a far better game than Schaub. Another defensive letdown this week will be devastating to the team and the fans. While showing up as a true team, like many of us still believe they can, will go a long way toward helping everyone forget the past.