SUMMARY: Saints QB Todd Bouman tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Lance Moore with 3:30 left as the Saints rallied for a 19-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans. The game was the first for Saints RB Reggie Bush who had six carries for 59 yards including a 44-yard scamper on a broken play. Titans QB Vince Young was 4-of-11 for 56 yards and ran four times for 28 yards. WR Roydell Williams dropped a perfect Young pass which would have been a big gainer. Titans RB Chris Brown had nine carries for 47 yards which included a 21-yard run. K Rob Bironas had a big night with three field goals and numerous deep kickoffs. Rookie RB LenDale White did not dress for the game due to an incident earlier in the week. DT Randy Starks also did not play because of being charged Saturday with misdemeanor domestic assault.

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Vince got much needed reps in NFL game action. Came out of it (apparently) healthy.

Sounded like most of our starters played well.

We lost a meaningless game.

Let's move on to the next one.

only one td given up and in the fourth quarter at that. not bad. too many big plays though.

although i would like to see us put more points up.

we can thank Bironas and Roydell for keeping 10 points off the board

That shank by Bironas was due to a poor snap Hentrich received. Bironas was actually one of the bright spots for the Titans tonight.

:rolleyes:

56 yards, who ever kicks them?

Bironas didn't cost us anything. Williams drop is another story but no guarantee we would have even scored if he caught it

i have to say i was not impressed with reynaldo at all(sorry gunny)

hater :ha:

Hit the nail right on the head Bigtitan.... too many big plays. Although after those big plays our red-zone defense played very well. If my memory serves me right they had like 5 red-zone posessions and scored only 1 td. pretty good

When the starters were in, the Titans played pretty well on offense, defense, and special teams. Special teams especially were a standout (except for the high snap on the 56 yarder). For the first time in quite a while I feel good about the Titan's chances to make a decent run. Volek looked really sharp in his reads, throws, evasion etc. His numbers were misleading because of some dropped balls:irked: It seems like we are constantly almost making big passing plays. Almost because the receiver drops the ball(both literally and figuratively). The good news is that our receiving corps looks the best it has since Mason left. Perhaps the Titans can find a cure for dropitis, open up a great passing game, and make room for Brown, Henry, and maybe even White to gash the opposition on the ground. Stranger things have happened. For the most part I am heartened by what I saw tonight.:))

I'd have loved to se Bennett catch that deep ball from Volek, I was hoping they allowed him to throw the deep one.
Volek was solid, VY threw like a rookie (but ran well), recievers was average, running game was ok. Starting defense looked agressive and hard hitting (even Woolfolk did good), good coverage on ST.
For now, it looks better than expected.

apparently Woolfolks INTs don't matter either.

I also thought Odom looked good, both playing the end but also inside. Hill was our weakpoint today for the starting defence, no question.

Didn't really see much out of Sirmon, Bulluck, Hope or Thompson.

I have to admit to being a little disappointed. It seems like more of the same as last year (and maybe it has to do with second stringers and I am reading to much into a preseason game). The Titans have a great first half and then they come out completely flat, it is like the second half adjustments are just not there. They just looked inept the whole second half, add to that VY getting hurt (or almost getting hurt) in a meaningless game, Starks getting arrested pre game, and more penalty action from Pacman. Well, I won't get too upset until the regular season starts but I am not happy.

..(and maybe it has to do with second stringers and I am reading to much into a preseason game).
There you go.

There you go.
I know, I know.
I just had such high hopes and the Titans just didn't live up to them last night. I haven't given up, I am just lowering my expectations until they give me a reason not to.

Edit to add: I mean Schwartz is still D Coord.....

I liked LaBoy's sack, got to him well.

Overall I liked the D-Line in the 1st half, so there's hope there.

Chris looked back to form..

I liked LaBoy's sack, got to him well.

Overall I liked the D-Line in the 1st half, so there's hope there.

He should be sending a thank you note to KVB for that one, his pressure opposite meant the QB had nowhere to go.

Brown played really well he needs to keep that up

I saw that Brown had alot of carries that seemed to not go far at all. Take away that one long play and his average dips to well under 4 yds a carry. I kept seeing brown trying and failing to get yardage by running inside. Nobody leave his agent a voicemail quite yet.

Also, Travis Henry scored a TD and I'm surprised it was not reveiwed. He hardly stomped in through a nice hole with authority. I was begining to fear a 12 yd fg attempt just before the score. We didn't even look impressive when we were scoring.

Also I would like to add that I think Brown would have been turned back and drilled into the dirt until the referree blew the whistle.

I saw that Brown had alot of carries that seemed to not go far at all. Take away that one long play and his average dips to well under 4 yds a carry. I kept seeing brown trying and failing to get yardage by running inside. Nobody leave his agent a voicemail quite yet.



Well, I hate to bring the discussion in here, but I guess I have to. The following are the runningback stats ignoring their longest run of the day:
C. Brown: 8 for 26, 3.25 avg.
T. Henry: 9 for 14, 1.56 avg.
R. Bush: 5 for 15, 3 avg.

Sure, these are preseason stats, but no question Brown was the best runningback out there today, based on average.

Why leave out their longest run? That makes no sense in evaluating them.

Bironas didn't cost us anything.

why's that ? that shank kept 3 points off the board
... now check the final score ....:yes:

i have to say i was not impressed with reynaldo at all(sorry gunny)


I agree. Ya, he tackled the receivers, but the CB's real job is to make sure the receiver never gets the ball. ADAM JONES WAS A MONSTER. He might earn his nickname this year.:yes:

why's that ? that shank kept 3 points off the board
... now check the final score ....:yes:


it was from 56 yds!!! not many teams will even attempt from that distance plus as stated in another thread it was a bad snap.

Why leave out their longest run? That makes no sense in evaluating them.

Because BP brought up that if take away Brown's longest run, his average dips below 4. If you include their longest run it looks like this:

C. Brown: 9 for 47, 5.2 avg.
T. Henry: 10 for 23, 2.3 avg.
R. Bush: 6 for 59, 9.8 avg.

Bush obviously becomes the best back of the game, but Brown is still head and shoulders above Henry in production.

Because BP brought up that if take away Brown's longest run, his average dips below 4.
But his longest run wasn't taken away during the game, so BP your point makes no sense.

why's that ? that shank kept 3 points off the board
... now check the final score ....:yes:

It was from 56 yards!!

Teams from time to time will "attempt" a 56 yarder (usually towards to end of a half or a game) but rarely "expect" to make them.

But, it's a bonus when they do.

No kicker should be expected to make a kick from more than a maximum than 53 yards away. But, shouldn't always be expected from those distances.

SH-- HAPPENS!! :grrr:

Why leave out their longest run? That makes no sense in evaluating them.
in statistics that is known as an outlier. (I think) ... long runs, just one, can really skew and average, that's all. If you discard the longest run it can give a clearer picture of the typical carry. Look, if you think Brown looked great out there and was really kicking butt... good for you. I didn't really see that but I'll concede that I was very impaired. Maybe his production can be furthered studied with a breakdown of his touches and it can be shown on paper that he's a beast. All I'm saying is I didn't see a beast last night. I saw a guy that carried often for 1 maybe 2 yards and had a really nice long run.

Odom looked pretty good. Let's not just make it a every year preseason thing Antwain :lol: Is LaBoy a little dinged? But he was also giving Jamal Brown some fits too when he got in.

Mahelona looked very good to me too. You can see the quickness, and he'll be a run stuffing upgrade over Long.

The guys catching the ball need better gloves perhaps? :irked:

Reynaldo and Andre looked pretty bad :hmm: Pac looked very good.

I thought Bell looked pretty good, as did Amano.

I'm gonna watch the game again to see if my 1st impressions match my final ones :lol:

i Look, if you think Brown looked great out there and was really kicking butt... good for you.
And I said that, where?

But his longest run wasn't taken away during the game, so BP your point makes no sense.
I don't mean taken away by penalty, I just mean taken off the table.

If I had carries of 50, 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3 my average would be 8.57 yards...

So now I'm a back that gets 8 yards everytime I touch the ball??? Because of my wicked average? oh yeah, 85% of the time I carry for 2.5 yards because I'm a beast with my eight and a half yard average. Throwing out an outlier is a very common practice in statisical anaylsis. I was in no way making any reference to negated plays due to penalty. i.e. Pacman's return that went to mid feild but was called back to inside the Titans 10 for an illegal block to the back.

8.5 yards per carry?
That's Gunny-like production... :whoop:

I don't mean taken away by penalty, I just mean taken off the table.


I know what you meant.

And I said that, where?
that part about whether you thought Brown was on fire, (like Soxcat will likely say... :lol:) was adressed to anyone. If anything I guess I was directing that to titansfan10. It's not like you and I are PM'ing over this topic. Others are saying Brown was looking real good. I was unimpressed. I was not overly impressed with Vince Young either and you guys know how much I "likes me some Vince" ... Still just the same... from the stats I'm seeing he looks better on paper. I'm going to see if I can find his carry totals.. per carry... I know he had carries for practically nothing and that is what my selective memory is recalling for me.

I know what you meant.
you need to quit screwing with me. :lol:

I do think that Pacman Jones was the star last night.

I thought Bell looked pretty good, as did Amano.


Our right side was beastly in the first part of the game, credit to Bell and Amano for that.

Because BP brought up that if take away Brown's longest run, his average dips below 4. If you include their longest run it looks like this:

C. Brown: 9 for 47, 5.2 avg.
T. Henry: 10 for 23, 2.3 avg.
R. Bush: 6 for 59, 9.8 avg.

Bush obviously becomes the best back of the game, but Brown is still head and shoulders above Henry in production.

I don't necessarily agree.

I do agree that Brown is faster through the hole and much more likely to rip off a 10+ yard run.

But a few of Henry's carries were tough, short runs inside the five (the first to convert a first down, then a no-gain from the 1, then a 1-yd TD), where YPC was not the point, and it's an area where Brown was not particularly strong last year...and I thought Henry also did a good job on one play just to get back to the line of scrimmage after the blocking broke down. IMO, that's the kind of play where Brown is more likely to get dropped for a loss.

I mostly liked what Henry did last night, and I think it complements Brown pretty well.

it was from 56 yds!!! not many teams will even attempt from that distance plus as stated in another thread it was a bad snap.

the point is .....

you said he didn't cost us anything

my point is that a missed FG (regardless of it's length or snap) is 3 points lost

i'm not picking on Bironas, I think he's a great Kickoff guy

.and I thought Henry also did a good job on one play just to get back to the line of scrimmage after the blocking broke down.

Well Brown doesn't get to use the excuse of poor blocking (see debate in another thread) so I won't extend that courtesy to Henry either. But you're right his goalline run(s) should probably not factor into the equation, but they don't really change his performance that much.

And just to get all the numbers out in the open, here are their respective runs:
Brown: 4, 2, 2, 3, 1, 5, 7, 21, 2
Henry: 0, 2, 9, 2, 3, 0, 1, 0, 5, 1

Just because they were playing behind the same line doesn't mean every play was blocked equally well.

What I think Henry does better than Brown is continue after first contact. It's why I think he can be a better short-yardage back for them.

Of course, White may ultimately be the best at that, with more big-play ability than Henry has.

i'm not picking on Bironas, I think he's a great Kickoff guy


He's showing himself to be a pretty good FG kicker, too. It's not like he had any problem with the other three kicks, when the snaps were not way too high. Even the 48-yarder was pretty much right down the center with room to spare.

It was a bad snap, and bad snaps lead directly to bad kicks. Especially when the kicker has to go for real distance and can't afford to have a hitch in his approach waiting for the holder to bring the ball back down.

Even Amato seemed to take the blame as they were coming off the field, when he slapped hands with Bironas.

Eddie George announced the game. Or the replay on NFL network has him as as the color guy. It is being replayed right now.

that part about whether you thought Brown was on fire, (like Soxcat will likely say... :lol:) was adressed to anyone. If anything I guess I was directing that to titansfan10. It's not like you and I are PM'ing over this topic. Others are saying Brown was looking real good. I was unimpressed. I was not overly impressed with Vince Young either and you guys know how much I "likes me some Vince" ... Still just the same... from the stats I'm seeing he looks better on paper. I'm going to see if I can find his carry totals.. per carry... I know he had carries for practically nothing and that is what my selective memory is recalling for me.

Brown played fairly well. I'm not sure what fans expect? Brown carried on the first 4 plays the Titans ran and had runs of 4,2,2 and 3 before Voleks incomplete pass that resulted in their first punt. Browns 2nd run was a converted 2nd and 1 play after a 5 yard offsides play by the defense.

The next time the Titans had the ball Brown ran for 1 and 5 yards which left a reasonable 3rd and 4. Volek then had two complete passes before Brown's final two runs of 7 and 21 yards. In less than one quarter of play Brown had almost 50 yards rushing and we have fans saying they were not "overly impressed". I guess averaging over 5.0 yards per carry and being on pace for a 200 yard game isn't enough for some fans.

I do think that Pacman Jones was the star last night.

Agreed.

In regular season we will see if Brown can finish a game. If he can have 150+ yards and thirty carries that will be enough. He can't and he won't and that's why we have all these backs that will run by committee. Also, I was unimpressed by Brown. I was not "overly impressed" with Vince Young. One day, I would like the RB of this team to be high atop the fantasy draft lists, the Envy of half the leagues fans. That would be enough for me. Or maybe a twelve win season. I don't think I'd moan and fuss about our starting rb if we were coming off a 12 win season. That might be enough to get me off the "End the Chris Brown Era" party train. :lol:

One day, I would like the RB of this team to be high atop the fantasy draft lists, the Envy of half the leagues fans. That would be enough for me. Or maybe a twelve win season.

You want to be the envy of half the league's fans? A tewlve win season would take care of that.

At it'd be more than sufficient for me, right now. :rolleyes:

How about winning a championship? That's all that matters to me, NO, KC and SD can keep their fantasy runningbacks, I just want to win, and I believe Brown gives us a better a chance of that than any of the other runningbacks on our roster right now.

I don't necessarily agree.

I do agree that Brown is faster through the hole and much more likely to rip off a 10+ yard run.

But a few of Henry's carries were tough, short runs inside the five (the first to convert a first down, then a no-gain from the 1, then a 1-yd TD), where YPC was not the point, and it's an area where Brown was not particularly strong last year...and I thought Henry also did a good job on one play just to get back to the line of scrimmage after the blocking broke down. IMO, that's the kind of play where Brown is more likely to get dropped for a loss.

I mostly liked what Henry did last night, and I think it complements Brown pretty well.

Wow that makes about 3 of us :lol:

I thought Chris played pretty well. Same old Chris really. Not getting a lot of yards after contact despite being 10 lbs heavier (I don't think he'll ever be a power runner), but he still does things well.

He's got great vision and can slip through small creases. Excellent blocker. He's not a very quick footed guy, but he has a great burst. Let's say he's a 5 speed transmission. 1st gear is ok. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th have great acceleration. 5th is ok like 1st, he doesn't have elite speed.

He's a really unique back, and I like what he brings especially with the styles of the other backs. I think we have to be willing to use each guy to their strengths most of the time and we'll have a good group of RB's imo....for awhile anyway.

I thought Brown did pretty good last night.

What concerned me most was when he came out after his 8th run and he was winded and looked hurt again.
He wasn't hurt, and did manage to return, but questions of his durability still exist.

I actually found myself thinking last night that Henry really does have his fire back. I'm going to count as 4, that Henry complemented Brown well. I would actually like to see a longer period where Henry goes against first team. Part of the issue is getting into that rhythm. Lendale is the X factor. Depending how he plays, he could make one of these guys expendable, for all we know.

Brown looked a little slow footed at first. Henry, and especially Payton, looked quicker. You can tell the added flexibility is helping Payton. I'm pretty sure he's not in danger. You never know, but he looks like he's perfectly fine as a 3rd RB. Not sure if Ganther can catch him. Ganther looked decent at first -- against trash. We'll see more of him.

And Fleming is going to have to return with some fire of his own.

There was alot to like in the game last night, but I was still concerned with alot of the dink and dunk type play calls. Lots of short timing-type passes. I like that a couple longer balls were thrown in and we had opportunity to gash the defense (but we didn't). Last year our offense was plagued with short gaining plays when we needed bigger plays, and it seems there's a lot of dink and dunk still on the menu. I also don't think Volek is particularly good at those types of short pass plays.

Agree that Reynaldo was getting picked on. Keon Raymond didn't show up well (at least I think he was getting beat several times including the TD).\

Special teams looked real good. I like that they had Pac back on punts. BTW, is it me or does he sortof have a tendency to trip up himself on kick/punt returns? He tripped himself up last night, and I recall some of that last year too.

Brown looked a little slow footed at first.

agree. Brown seemed hesitant initially. I couldn't tell if he was waiting for blocks to develop or just hesitant though.

I also wanted to mention that I noticed Jacob Bell with some key block on some of Brown's runs over the right. On Browns longest one he pulled around the right side and sealed off the alleyway. On another of the longer runs unless I was mistaken he was out in front of the play running interference.

I actually found myself thinking last night that Henry really does have his fire back.

Seems that way.

I think he'll have a much better year.

Payton, looked quicker. You can tell the added flexibility is helping Payton. I'm pretty sure he's not in danger. You never know, but he looks like he's perfectly fine as a 3rd RB.

I think Payton is in a lot of danger, but he may have done enough last year and may do enough in preseason that if he ends up the odd man out here, he will get a look elsewhere.

Payton was on the bubble last year, and with the addition of White behind Brown and Henry this year, it makes it harder for him to stick again.

I'm among those who believe it when the Titans say they are not actively seeking to rid themselves of any of the top three (Brown/Henry/White). Too many different questions about each of them to feel confident in picking just two to go with, IMO.

Injuries between now and September may change things, but I'll be pretty surprised (though not entirely shocked) if Payton manages to keep his spot.

I agree at this point there appears to be plenty of carries for an oft injured 3rd down back (CB), an ex-probowler pot head (TH) and a spittin' mad rookie (LW)

seriously I agree plenty of reasons to keep all three and see were they all land going forward

Brown looked like he usually does- patient, bouncing to the outside looking for a lane to burst through. He found a couple.

Props to Henry. He looked REALLY solid on his runs. He mostly got up the middle calls- with 7-8 in the box. He earned his yardage and he was laying wood. MUCH stronger. He did break a nice one. Kept the handle on the ball also.

Woolfolk, Hill and Raymond had disappointing "coverage" games. Woolfold had 1 meaningless "hail mary" INT and had one that would have ended a scoring drive bounce off his stomach later in the game:irked: Bush put grass stains on his jock gettting outside. He did make a few solid tackles.

I thought overall, our first teams put in a reassuring, solid performance. Hope, Givens, Thornton and Mawae all looked good. There is a BIG drop, however, in the quality of our 2nd string defense. Hopefully, we won't have too many injuries.

After the hard two weeks of practice it appeared to me that some of the guys looked a little sluggish. Both Brown and Henry didn't appear quite as explosive as I thought they would be. Still, both runners were effective against the first team defense despite our OL not being 100%.

I was most upset with Woolfolk's missed int. He made a nice play to get to the ball and should have made the catch, especially concidering he is a fromer WR. Although Woolfolk didn't have a great game he played well enough that I could see him getting some reps over Hill if Hill doesn't improve. Hill was also one of those guys who looked a little sluggish. Maybe some of these guys will ge a little more fresh for the next game.

Pacman was definately a man out there. They hardly threw to his side and when they did he was in postion every time. The only reason he will not get a bunch of picks this year IMO is because teams will stay away from him.

why's that ? that shank kept 3 points off the board
... now check the final score ....:yes:
That was not Bironas' fault. The snap was high, which set off a chain of events leading to the shank.