Notes from Titans-Rams

SAturday night the Titans rolled the Rams 34-13 in their first preseason game. The defense shut the Rams down and force a 3 and out then the offense took the field. When VY was the QB, the Titans looked much like it did last year; drive stalls inside the 5, and the Titans get no points. If it was a regular season game, Bironas gets his first points of the season. The Rams then drove down and kicked a field goal. The next Titans series was another replay of last year, VY getting nothing done in the passing game and John Vaughn had to make a 48-yarder. Vince Young did a dipsy do to half the Rams defense, running for 35 yards on a scramble then on the very next play Young held the ball too long and is sacked. Ouch! Would have been good time to throw the ball away, but we know how enticing running lanes are to Young. So the line for VY from Saturday night: 3/6 for 17 yards, 1 rush for 35 yards, 1 sack and 3 points on the board. Yup, a replay of last year. Of course Fisher was raving about VY's night:

"I thought Vince was under control. He showed what we can do. He recognized man coverage, he's going to take the ball off and run and he did." --- Titans Coach Jeff Fisher on quarterback Vince Young's progress.

The papers on Sunday were gushing about the Titans rushing for 340 yards against the Rams. Rookie Chris Johnson scored a 66-yard TD that showed off his speed. He finished the night with 77 yards rushing on 6 carries, sounds great until you take away the TD then his numbers are pretty pitiful, 5 rushes for 11 yards. LenWhale White was 6 for 33, a much better average and a much better night overall. He showed that he will get the bulk of the carries while Johnson provides the speed the Titans have never had at the position. Will this translate into more points? With "Field Goal Fisher? as the coach, it only has when the defense was terrible, and the Titans defense is not terrible. Expect more of the same from the Titans, a little offense and good, maybe great defense.

The biggest loser Saturday night? The lousy condition of the turf at LP Field. The only use the field has seen in 8 months is two concerts, one in May and one in July. Concerts can tear up a field but not when the field is covered and only a limited number of people are allowed on the field for the concert. The grass already looks stressed and the Titans ground crew had put down sand, something teams do in the late season to save the field, not in the preseason. I've heard all the excuses about how hard it si to grow grass in Nashville, how the climate is wrong to grow grass etc. BS, complete BS, if you have a crew who knows what they are doing and, here is the big if, the owner spends the money to have a great field the Titans should have a great field but we have the green piece of crap LP Field. By October the field will be little more than green dirt, it looks like the field is in New England not the Southeast. A disgrace.