Titans/Packers

The Titans beat the Packers last night at beautiful Lambeau Field 23-21. Note to LP Field grounds crew, that is how a field should look, grass is lush, green and not a hint of sand flying when the players were running, making cuts or getting tackled.

VY went 13-of-27 passing for 134 yards with a quarterback rating of 62.9; he also gained 57 yards on three rushing attempts.

To put it nicely, Young and the first-team offense were inconsistent. Although they were able to drive the ball down the field on the Packers mostly 2nd string defense, no TDs.
They had two scoring drives of at least 72 yards, and drove the ball into the red zone on four times and piled up 281 yards in the first half. Sounds pretty good until you throw in the pesky little fact that the 1st team offense again failed to score a TD on 7 first half possessions. On those 4 trips to the red zone, the Titans scored 3 FGs.
That means the first-team offense went 0-for-the-preseason in touchdowns in 19 possessions over four games and produced just five field goals. Field Goal Fisher can spout off about how they weren't game-planning like they would for a regular-season game but the fact remains, the offense hasn't been able to grasp the limited playbook they have used in the preseason. What is going to happen when they do put in a full game plan?

And now the reality: Their good work on Thursday night was primarily against Green Bay's backups. Fisher said a regular season game against Green Bay on Nov. 2 influenced some of the play calling.
"We're disappointed we couldn't get the ball in the end zone, but when you play a preseason opponent in the regular season you have to be selective about what you do, as they were. So you just let guys play. The hardest thing to do is get the ball in the end zone when you are not game planning,'' Fisher said. "Preseason is over. You guys can write about it all the way to the opener if you want. It's OK with me.''

Field Goal Fisher again doing a great impression of Baghdad Bob.

While the Nashville papers had good things to say about the Titans last night, the Green Bay Gazette had a different take;

"On the flip side, Thompson and McCarthy had to be encouraged by the play of their backup defense against the Titans, whose quarterback, Vince Young, though a sublime scrambler, has a major problem with throwing accuracy and touch (13-for-27 for 134 yards)". In Thursday night's final exhibition game, a 23-21 loss to Tennessee at Lambeau Field, five of the team's 11 first-team defenders didn't play.
Three-fourths of the secondary — strong safety Atari Bigby and cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson — sat out as a precautionary measure. That's expected in the final preseason tune-up. All three will likely rejoin free safety Nick Collins against the Vikings.
The remaining two absences, defensive tackle Ryan Pickett and linebacker A.J. Hawk, appear to be more unpredictable and meaningful.

Let's not forget poor Aaron Rodgers who played only one series, actually just one play. A 68-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to receiver Greg Jennings on the game’s first snap. It came on a go route down the right sideline on which the Titans were playing a zone, and safety Michael Griffin either took a horrible angle on the ball or whiffed when he went for the interception.“I thought about putting them back out there,” McCarthy said of his starting offense, “but our No. 1 priority for the first group was to come out of the game healthy. We felt like our body of work to this point was enough information to answer the questions that we have. This game for us in particular was about evaluation of a number of our (other) players.”

Even against a 2nd string defense, VY and the Titans offense can't score TDs, Field Goal Fisher wanted to see his 1st string work into the 2nd half and they did, unfortunately they did their best work against the Packers 3rd string.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/PKR01/80828147/1058

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/SPORTS01/808290412