Well, at least that's over with...
And it started so well. The Norm Chow era officially began with the Tennessee Titans taking the ball crisply, efficiently downfield for an opening drive of the season touchdown and then....well, three and a half quarters of what we saw in the pre-season--poor tackling, penalties at the exact wrong time and turnovers. Two red zone turnovers, an opportunistic Pittsburgh defense and a defense that got ripped for close to 200 yards rushing. It all adds up to a 34-7 opening day loss for the Titans.
I think any talk about contending for the playoffs this year may have to be tabled.
No matter how the coaching staff and the team may try to spin it, this is still going to be a rebuilding year. And to start off the season with games against the Steelers, Ravens, Colts and Rams would be next to impossible for a team that had the experience the Titans lack. I have a feeling it could be a long year...
And next week, we get the Ravens, one of our most hated rivals. I keep hoping we can maybe start making the Coliseum a place of intimidation such as we had in 99 and 2000...in fact, the Ravens were the first visiting team to win a game in the Coliseum. I can't think of a better way to start dominating at home again than by beating Ray Lewis and the bunch at home next Sunday. But in order to do that, we have to stop making stupid mistakes.
UPDATE (2:51 p.m. CST): Well, at least one of my two teams pulled out an opening day win--the Washington Redskins beat the Chicago Bears 9-7 at home to kick off the 2005 season. Looking at the scoring summary, it seems the Redskins won with field goals and defense...not a huge shock since our defense is going to be one of the best in the NFL. But to not crack the end zone once in the game worries me...especially since we play my most hated team in all of football next week, the Dallas Cowboys.
I'm not going to worry about that right now...we're 1-0. Worrying about the Cowboys can at least wait until Tuesday or so....
UPDATING AGAIN (3:18 CST): Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for their big win this afternoon over the Carolina Panthers, 23-20. The game may have been the best one of the afternoon (so far). As much as I hated to see this game on here instead of FOX choosing to show my beloved Redskins hosting the Bears, I was happy to see the Saints pull out a win and maybe give their fans something to smile about for a few minutes.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 9/11/2005 02:41:00 PM |
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