Titan Thunder or Giant Blunder?

By Chris Lambos


After committing a host of mistakes at home against the defense-oriented Pittsburgh Steelers last week, the Tennessee Titans traveled to New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ to rumble with a mistake-prone New York Giants squad. I use the word 'rumble' because from the overly aggressive play displayed by the likes of Cortland Finnegan and other Titans defenders during the first quarter, you would think they were auditioning for a Broadway matinee of 'West Side Story' - sans switchblades.

But what might have been construed as 'physically negative' on the TV screen proved to be 'mentally positive' on the field for the visitors. From that point on, it seemed that the New York Giants had been rattled - The Titans were in their heads, and NY logged enough turnovers on the stat sheets to prove it.

Speaking of stats, at first glance, you would think that the Titans were slain by the Giants. For instance, the Titans finished the day with 271 yards or total offense vs. the 471 yards compiled by New York. The Giants ran 20% more offensive plays in the contest. The Titans averaged 3.9 yards per rush where the Giants averaged 5.4. Eli Manning threw for 386 yards compared to Vince Young's 118. Such numbers usually spell 'victory' in the Land of the Giants.

But it was the costly mistakes committed by the Giants that set the tone and the outcome of this event. Manning threw two 1st Qtr. interceptions, one when the team was down to the Titans 2 yard line, which Jason McCourty caught in the end zone for a touchback.

New York RB Amhad Bradshaw had a fumble to his credit plus was guilty of a chop block in the Giants end zone which resulted in a safety. Topping off the gaffes were 2 missed field goals by Lawrence Tynes.

With all that was going wrong for the Giants, it's was difficult to tell what was going right for the Titans. As mentioned, VY threw for 118 yards. He did throw a 13-yard TD strike to Kenny Britt at the 7:55 mark of the 3rd Qtr. No interceptions might be Young's best stat of the day.

The running game was a huge part of the Titans offensive strategy as Chris Johnson rushed 37 times in the game for 125 yards and 2 TDs. He now has 301 yards on the season and needs 2199 yards to reach his 2500 yard goal. CJ will need to average 157 yards per game for the remainder of the season to get there.

After the game, I found myself wondering: "Did the Titans earn this victory or was it served to them on a 'giant blue' platter?"

Week 4 finds the Titans at home against the (1-2) Denver Broncos, who's quarterback Kyle Orton threw for 476 yards today.

What did we learn from this game?
Chris Johnson has become Tennessee's franchise player - the designation no longer applies to Vince Young.

Michael McDonald Opens New Season Pop Series With The Nashville Symphony

Resident Conductor Albert-George Schram led the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in an energetic and lively performance tonight, launching this season's Bank of America Pops Series. The evening began with the orchestra's lively presentation of Dvorak's Carnival. The ten minute overture, composed in 1892, includes a stirring march, a peaceful interlude of strings and woodwinds and an overriding movement punctuated by moments of dramatic percussion. The orchestra closed the first hour with a moving rendition of Leonard Bernstein's Westside Story overture, bringing the audience out of the nineteenth century and into the age of pop music.

Special guest artist, seventies rock icon, Michael McDonald, opened the evenings second hour with "Love Letters," a 1960 'era orchestra ballad. Although McDonald is a five time Grammy winning songwriter, his performance tonight included many tunes composed by other writers. He said the songs he chose are "the ones I can remember where I was when I first heard them." Not only were the songs meaningful to McDonald, they also showcased his wide range of vocal styles and he easily adapted his soulful baritone to suit the various genres. He romantically crooned Brenda Lee's "Someday", powerfully belted out Aretha Franklin's "Aint No Way" and rocked his way through The Band's "Rag Mama Rag." In answer to the crowds resounding cry of encore he delighted the audience with a rocking rendition of Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell." Following tonight's performance one fan said that "his voice is as smooth and rich as it ever was."

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center suffered serious damage during the flood in early May. Repairs on the building are expected to continue through December and the Bank of America Pop Series concerts will be held inside the Allen Arena at David Libscomb University until the Schermerhorn reopens. Upcoming performances of this season eight-part Pop Series include Gershwin “Here to Stay” (October 14-16, 2010), an evening highlighting George Gershwin’s most popular tunes, including his song collaborations with brother Ira; Jewel (November 11-13, 2010), featuring the singer-songwriter performing her pop and country hits of the past two decades; Peter Cetera (January 13-15, 2011), presenting the legendary lead-singer of the group Chicago and successful solo artist; Broadway Rocks! (February 24-26, 2011), a collection of high-energy rock and pop songs originally featured on the Broadway stage; The Sound of Philadelphia (March 31, April 1-2, 2011), featuring the dynamic group Spectrum in a look back at the signature sound of Philadelphia soul as created during the 1970s; Michael Cavanaugh Sings the Music of Bill Joel (May 5-7, 2011), an evening with the GRAMMY-nominated star of Billy Joel’s Broadway musical Movin’ Out; and Lorrie Morgan (May 26-28.

Titans Got 'Cursed' Out

Tennessee Titans fullback Ahmard Hall (45) leaps over Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons (94) in the first quarter of an NFL football game on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn

By Chris Lambos
9/19/2010

As you might guess from the headline, the Titans suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers this afternoon by a score of 19-11 at LP Field. Today's spectators were as rowdy and ready to go as any crowd I've seen gather there in quite some time, however soon after Rob Bironas booted the football on the kickoff, fear silenced the Titans faithful as Steelers WR Antonio Brown took the ball 89 yards to the house. The kickoff was actually fielded by veteran RB Mewelde Moore at the 3-yard line, but he advanced it to the 8 where he handed off to Brown on a reverse. The kickoff return goes down in the books as a 97-yard TD.

What fear could silence an undefeated team at home so early in a football contest?

Well, some of the less confident Titans fans might tell you the game was lost after the initial kickoff return, and some will tell you it was any combination of interceptions and/or fumbles at certain points of the game, but there are many fans dressed in black and gold and a growing number wearing the blue and white that will tell you that this game was lost in the 4th Qtr. of Week 16, December 21, 2008.

What happened on that day? The Titans had to beat the Steelers in order to secure a home field advantage during the playoffs. They stomped Pittsburgh 31-14, but it's what else they stomped that has negatively affected the Titans in many ways since that victory. A few players stomped on the Steeler's sacred 'terrible towel' and grinded it into the turf with their cleats. Now, I don't have time to tell you what a terrible towel is, so if you don't know, please visit Wikipedia after reading this post. History has proven that when this towel is disrespected in any fashion by opposing teams, those opponents become vulnerable to:

The Curse of The Terrible Towel

How hearty of a hex are we talking about? Well, the Titans went on to lose Week 17 to the Colts 23-0 and lost their first Divisional playoff game to the Ravens 13-10.

For those of you who don't believe in curses, the Titans lost this game because of turnovers and mistakes. Yes, the Steelers defense is as tough as they come and they consistantly add enough pressure to throw any offense off-course. Even with run-stopping Casey Hampton out of the lineup, Pittsburgh removed any hope of Chris Johnson having a 100-yard outing by stuffing all aspects of the running game. Whether it be Johnson behind FB Hall, or VY/CJ option right or left, they gave the Titans absolutely zilch to work with 99% of the afternoon. To his credit, CJ reeled off an 85 yard TD run at the 4:11 mark of the 2nd Qtr, but it was called back on a holding penalty (THIS, my friends, is the point in the game where the Titans really started to fall apart).

When the Steeler 'D' was not zeroing in on Johnson, who finished the day with 34 rushing yards on 16 attempts (a dismal 2.1 yards per carry average), they were wreaking havoc on the Titans passing game. OLB James Harrison was creating all sorts of problems for Vince Young, who stank up the joint with his 7 of 9 for 66 yards passing and 2 interceptions. Harrison made 3 sacks on the day and forced 2 fumbles. He was a big factor in the '7-turnover' Titans performance. All-Pro SS Troy Palamalu help set the tone early by picking off a VY pass in the Steelers end zone at the 5:53 mark of the 1st Qtr. Timmons and Woodley also deserve recognition is this forceful defensive effort

After Young committed his last turnover late in the 3rd Qtr, veteran backup Kerry Collins was brought in to give what Jeff Fisher described as "a spark" early in the 4th. Unfortunately, there was no such flicker as Collins threw an interception on his first series. He did manage 1 touchdown this afternoon, but there just wasn't enough time to play catch-up.

You may be wondering why I have not mentioned anything about the Steelers offense. Well, there is really not a lot to report other than RB Rashard Mendenhall rushing for 69 yards on 23 carries. No other player on offense racked up more than 28 yards...including 2 QBs. Speaking of QBs, Ben Roethlisberger is still serving a 4 game suspension and Byron Leftwich was cut to make salary cap room for defensive line reinforcements, so inexperienced Dennis Dixon got the starting call. Early in the game, Dixon went down with a sprained knee, leaving 4th string QB Charlie Batch to run the Steeler offense for most of the game. Batch completed just 5 of 11 passes for 25 yards, 0 TDs 0 Int. (Like I said, not much to report on that side of the ball).

Next week, the Titans travel to the Meadowlands (actually New Meadowlands Stadium) to take on the NY Giants. This should be a high scoring affair as CJ looks to make up lost yardage on his journey to his 2500 yard rushing mark and both Vince Young and Eli Manning will be trying to shake off the 'Week 3 Funk' they both contracted.

What did we learn from this game?

Keep your feet to yourselves!

Extreme Makeover Nashville Episode To Air November 7

Commenting on the state of the art facility provided by ABC and the Extreme Makeover crew, Headmaster Sweatt said, "It is very cool that Nashville's premier pre-school is in Antioch. What a blessing for our community."


Two days after the Extreme Makeover "Reveal" Lighthouse School Headmaster Bryan Sweatt sits on the steps of the new pre-school with his son Kobe and two neighborhood children.

Last week the Extreme Makeover crew worked round the clock with more than fifteen hundred local volunteers to rebuild the flooded out Lighthouse Christian Pre school. At the same time Lighthouse School headmaster Bryan Sweatt and his family enjoyed a "sta-cation" courtesy of the show. Nashville is a popular tourist destination and producers of the show sent the Sweatt family on a week long Nashville adventure to promote and showcase the city. The family was filmed enjoying some of Nashville's finest entertainment and amenities.

Their "sta-cation" adventures included a back stage visit to the Grand Ole Opry ,personal serenades by some of country music's biggest stars and a Sunday afternoon visit to LP Field where they witnessed the Ttitan's win over last years Super Bowl champions, the New Orlean's Saints.

The Nashville episode of Extreme Makeover will on November 7th and will include appearances by the TSU marching band, Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders, Congressman Cooper, and Nashville Mayor, Karl Dean.

Titans 'Shine' in Season Opener

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young reacts in the first half of their NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders

By Chris Lambos
Sunday, September 12, 2010


So, was it just me or did you have a feeling by looking at today's weather forecast that the Titans were going to chalk one up in the win column? I'm not sure what the connection is between meteorology and professional sports, but when I stepped outside this morning, I could feel a massive high pressure system forming over LP Field.

Under mostly 'Titan Blue' skies, the chance of any afternoon 0-6 start soon dissipated as the Tennessee Titans beat the visiting Oakland Raiders 38-13 in their 2010 season debut. If I can be so expedient as to sum up today's performance with one word, I would throw 'balance' out there. The Titans could pass, catch, run, tackle, blitz (yes, blitz), sack, intercept...by far one of their best performances in recent memory.

Take Vince Young for instance: He showed poise in the pocket and managed the ball quite well in his 40th start as an NFL quarterback. His numbers for the day were13 of 17 passes for 154 yards and 2 TDs. Sounds mediocre to you? Think again! VY logged a 142.8 passing rating with those stats (the highest passing rating of his career). Young's contribution to this week's highlight reel includes a play action fake rollout pass, hooking up with Nate Washington for a 56-yard TD at the 1:38 mark of the 1st Qtr. Young's other touchdown was a 1-yard toss to fellow Longhorn Bo Scaife early in the 4th Qtr.

Then there was Chris Johnson. After a slow start in the first 1.5 quarters of play, CJ started to gradually build up steam, culminating with a 76-yard scamper to pay dirt late in the first half. Johnson finished the day with 142 yards rushing on 27 carries and 2 TDs. For those of you who are closely following CJ's trek to 2500, he was off 5 yards from the 147 ypg average needed to reach his mark. He now needs just 2358 yards to complete the journey. Good luck, CJ!

As a team, the Titans rolled up 345 yards of total offense - 205 of those being on the ground.

On the other side of the ball, the Titan 'D' that coins itself the 'no-names' is making quite a name for itself just 4 Qtrs. into the season. They kept pressure on QB Jason Campbell and the rest of the Raiders offense 'til the final horn. All offseason additions along the defensive front and linebacker corps (Babin, Witherspoon and Morgan) registered a sack. The team had a total of 4 sacks for the afternoon.

Campbell ended up completing 22 of 37 passes for 180 yards and a TD but threw an interception late in the 3rd Qtr to Chris Hope at the Oakland 35 yard line. Hope returned it 32 yards down to the Oakland 3, setting up a Titan TD in the opening minutes of the 4th Qtr.

Oakland RB Michael Bush is nursing an injury, so former Arkansas Razorback Darren McFadden carried the load for the Raiders, leading the team not only in rushing (95 yards on 18 carries) but in receiving as well (6 catches for 55 yards and a TD).

So what's next for the Titans? The schedule suddenly becomes turbulent as they find themselves hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers next week. They also pack their bags and travel to New York (Giants) and Dallas in upcoming weeks. But if the Titans shine as bright in the next 3 weeks as the Sun did on LP Field this afternoon, I'm prepared to give you a 15-Week extended forecast that will turn even Al Roker's barometer 'blue'!

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THIS GAME?

Titans Defensive Coordinator Chuck Cecil now knows that 'Blitz' is not a cheap beer.

Former President Bill Clinton Joins "I Like Mike" Rally at Hall of Fame Park

President Bill Clinton, Hall of Fame Park, Nashville Tennessee September 9, 2010

In spite of the threat of rain thousands of Democratic Party supporters gathered in Nashville's Hall of Fame Park last night to hear President Bill Clinton endorse their gubernatorial candidate, Mike McWherter.

WE LIKE MIKE!

The Golden Age Of Couture, Frist Art Center, Ends September 12

The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947–1957 is an exhibition that transports visitors to the most glamorous fashion houses of Paris and London in the years after WWII. This exhibition was organized by the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London, which possesses one of the finest costume collections in the world. Following record breaking attendance at its launch in London and its subsequent presentations in Australia, Hong Kong and Canada, The Golden Age of Couture continues its international tour at the Frist Center, the exhibition’s only venue in the United States, before traveling to Museums Sheffield in 2011.