No rest for us wicked no-lifers, on to the next. The Tampa Bay announce crew of the usually-entertaining Chris Meyers and the detestable John Lynch will have the call.
Titans kick off and the Bucs start at their 20 with Luke McCown at QB. First pass is laughably five yards behind the receiver, who probably ran the wrong pattern, and incomplete. Short run, and Tampa's already in familiar 3rd-and-8 ground. Drop by Hankton and the Bucs have already settled into their dreadful preseason constant-3-and-out routine.
Kerry Collins gets a big cheer from the home crowd. Pitch right to Chris Johnson for 2 out to the 42. Play action to Bo Scaife for 20. 3-yard pass to Alge Crumpler. Pitchback left to Johnson, but Sabby Piscitelli strings it out nicely. It'll be 3rd-and-3. Collins takes a short drop and hits Kenny Britt for a first down at the 25. Ronde Barber then trips up Johnson around left end for a 3-yard loss. Collins throws a what-the-hell? pass into essentially triple coverage of Nate Washington in the end zone, and Piscitelli picks it off easily.
So Collins is already in postseason form.
From the 20, Mr. August, Earnest Graham, up the middle for 2. McCown to Kellen Winslow for 4. Huh, it's third down again. Empty backfield, and McCown hits Brian Clark for 4, but the ball comes loose and is called a fumble. Lynch is correct; Clark's hip is down before the ball comes out. Bucs coach Raheem Morris challenges the play. The year I graduated high school, he graduated... kindergarten.
Ed Hochuli takes about a month reviewing the play but gets the call right. Did he say "the side of the receiver's ass was on the ground"? Sure sounded like it.
Bucs from their 32. Do they dare string together back-to-back first downs? McCown to rapist Jerramy Stevens for 8, followed by McCown scrambling around right end for 4. Another first down! The Titans avenge that by swamping Graham for -3. David Thornton slams Graham again at the 40. 3rd-and-14. McCown throws an I-surrender dumpoff to Graham, but Cortland Finnegan sticks him and knocks the ball out. Thornton picks up what IS a fumble this time and runs it back to the Buc 32.
Britt plays the ball wrong on a go route in the end zone for an incompletion. Looked like the ball surprised him. Titans gain 4 on a run and then Collins fires a pass into the ground incomplete. May have been meant for Washington. Rob Bironas hits from 36 to get something out of the turnover for Tennessee.
Tennessee 3, Tampa Bay 0.
After Meyers and Lynch talk up rookie Sammie Stroughter for a minute and a half, what does he do with the next kickoff? It goes right through his hands at the back line of the end zone. Fortunately for him, he recovers it for a touchback. Can everybody settle down about Stroughter for a minute? (I'm lookin' at YOU, footballguys.com.) He's a freakin' SEVENTH round pick, after all.
NFL Network must have liked that muffed return so much, they replayed it. Hey, a Tampa preseason game's going to be painful enough without you guys screwing around.
Derrick Ward enters the game for the first time and churns out 7 yards. He splits right and empties the backfield on third-and-2. Tony Brown sacks McCown, forces a fumble and William Hayes scoops it and brings it back for a TD. Oh, that Tampa Bay offense.
But wait, Brown dragged McCown down by the facemask, so none of that will count. Bucs get a first down at the 34. McCown has to scramble again for 9. Ward converts the first down with a 3-yard run up the middle. Javon Kearse blows up an attempted rollout pass and McCown has to throw it away. Then Ward runs right into Kearse for a yard loss. McCown gets time on 3rd down but can't find an open receiver and has to throw yet another pass away. Dirk Johnson to punt.
Titans start at their 9. Johnson gets 5 on a couple of runs and Collins hits Scaife with a quick pass for a first down at the 22 as the quarter expires.
End of first quarter: Tennessee 3, Tampa Bay 0.
A player with a stupid name, "Stylez" White, starts the quarter with a fine play, dropping off the d-line as Collins tries to throw short for Johnson, tipping the ball and grabbing it for an INT as he's on the way to the ground. Tampa gets the ball in prime field position.
Never freaking mind, that's really Greg White, whose choice of a stupid name change I will ignore every bit as much as I ignore Chad Johnson's twenty-times-as-stupid name.
Byron Leftwich at the helm now for the Bucs. Brian Clark tips his first pass up and Tennessee nearly intercepts it. But, whew! the next throw is a beauty. Leftwich pump-fakes and GUNS it to Clark at the goal line for a 24-yard TD. Bucs cash in on the turnover. Former Jets second-round draft pick Mike Nugent hits the PAT for Tampa Bay.
WHAT DO I SAY ABOUT DRAFTING KICKERS? DOES ANYONE EVER LISTEN?
Tampa Bay 7, Tennessee 3.
Collins stays in for the Titans. He goes deep for Washington but too long and out of bounds. Coverage sack on 2nd down. Collins has a long time throw but is flushed and dropped at the 10 by GREG White. 3rd-20. Here's a tackle for the books; Johnson is taken down on the we-give-up handoff by: Black and White (Quincy and GREG) for a 5-yard loss.
Dexter Jackson returns the punt to the Titan 42, but a teammate has to fall on his fumble at the end. And now here's something else you don't see every day. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen it. Craig Stevens committed a hold in the end zone on the punt, and that means Tampa just got a safety.
Tampa Bay 9, Tennessee 3.
Titans free-kick now from their 20. Tennessee trying to destroy my theory that if you're ever sick enough to bet on a preseason game, you should pick the two teams that played in the Hall of Fame game the next week. Worked in the Bills-Bears game.
And after all that, the Bucs are still starting near midfield. Leftwich overthrows Maurice Stovall deep. Catch-and-run by Ward for 7. Bucs must not be real sentimental about Warrick Dunn; Ward's wearing his old number 28. Leftwich looks for Stovall up the sideline on third down but Demarcus Faggins has him blanketed. Time to punt.
New Titans backfield: Crazy Vince Young and Slim? Lendale White. They don't get far off their starting point at the 10, with Young having to throw away a screen pass the Bucs obviously knew was coming; Young had about five of them bearing right down on him.
Penalty on the punt return moves Tampa back to their 29. Illegal formation makes it 1st-and-15. New RB Clifton Smith up the middle for 6 and then 10 more off the left side. 8-yard completion to Smith. Smith, who has a lot of moves and a good eye for his blocks, bobs and weaves for another first down, out to midfield. So what does Tampa do next? Take the ball away from Smith. Leftwich rolls left but winds up firing incomplete. Leftwich is next hit as he throws and TE John Gilmore can't come up with it. Lynch is complaining about a low hit on Leftwich. Well, a cheap-shot artist like him ought to know. Leftwich is limping a little and calls timeout.
What's with TV hiring all these cheap-shot artists? NBC's going to have worthless piece of shit Rodney Harrison as one of the 15,000 people in its studio on Sunday nights. Even if Lynch (who is) or Harrison does a good job as an analyst, what's the message being sent?
Leftwich stays in, and ends up getting dragged down for a 17-yard loss that should have been blown dead much, much sooner. Punt ho!
Young goes deep for Britt, who's wide open downfield for about 38 down to the Buc 30. He easily got inside of Torrie Cox. Britt wears #18, which means that Meyers has mistaken Nate Washington for him at least twice, including that misplay in the end zone earlier. Young finds Britt again at the 20 for another first down. Britt spun out of an ankle tackle by Cox and dove for the first down. Lynch stupidly calls that "a good tackle" by Cox. Will Allen knocks his own block off sticking Chris Henry for no gain. Ahmard Hall drops a pass in the flat. 3rd-and-11 from the 20. Tampa gets another sack, with Louis Holmes nailing Young as he tries to scramble. A poor shotgun snap completely threw off the timing of the play for Tennessee. Bironas salvages the drive with a 40-yard FG.
Tampa Bay 9, Tennessee 6.
Time for soda #10.
Penalty on the return starts Tampa at the 18. Smith bangs out 8 more yards before Leftwich's fastball goes off Cortez (Rhymes With Plankton) Hankton's hands. 1-2-3-kick. Young will go back to work after the 2:00 warning.
10 up the sideline to Jared Cook. Titans pick up the blitz but Young hits Cook for only a couple. The Bucs flush him on 2nd down and force a poor sideline throw for Britt. 3rd-8. Another poor shotgun snap; Young barely can grab it and then throws a crazy pitchout to White from his knees. It's way past White, who actually kicks it out of bounds, a penalty the Bucs end up declining because it's not a spot foul. Not very good 2:00 offense, that. Then again, maybe stupid freaking Liverpool could use White, since they lost to worthless Spurs YET AGAIN to open the 09/10 EPL season on a sour note.
Leftwich guides the Bucs from their 27 with 1:12 left. 9 to Stovall, then a drop by Kareem Huggins. Huggins screws up on 3rd down and isn't there to take the inside handoff from Leftwich, who just chucks it deep down the sideline in the direction of a receiver. He gets slammed but good after the throw by Kevin Vickerson, and that's roughing on Tennessee. Byron slow to get up from that powerslam. A couple of completions get Tampa down to the Titan 33. Bucs use their last timeout with :02 left. Nugent cat scratches a 50-yarder in at the halftime gun.
Halftime score: Tampa Bay 12, Tennessee 6.
Poor return, and a penalty, start Tennessee in a hole at their 8. Young to Cook for 12 off a bootleg. Nice hesitation run by Henry for 8-9 more. He does it again off a draw for about 6 more. Kyle Arrington stuffs another Henry draw for -3. Young pumps, then scrambles out to the 40, leaving 3rd and about 3. Young beats a blitz by hitting hot read Lavelle Hawkins for another 12. First down in Tampa territory. Play action right and rollout left with a throw to Cook for 11. Holmes tips the next pass incomplete, nearly intercepted it. Chris Henry drops a screen; 3rd-and-10 now. Young steps out of trouble and appears to have all the room to run he wants, but he actually pulls up and flies one to Britt, WIDE open behind the secondary down the far sideline for a 37-yard TD. Surprisingly good play from Young, and Britt is really having a fine game tonight.
Tennessee 13, Tampa Bay 12.
Josh Freeman taking over at QB for Tampa, from their 24. Huggins darts over the left side for 7. Lynch says Freeman has such a baby face, he looks like he's 18 years old. Yeah, he's 21. He gets the first down with a plunge. Freeman's first pass is behind Mario Urrutia and incomplete. Urrutia appears to be twice the size of the DB covering him right now. 7 to Gilmore (I think), then a nice pass to Patrick Carter on an out route for 8 more. Ball at midfield. Huggins bursts through the line for 18-19. Freeman tries to escape pressure but Sen'Derrick Marks sacks him for a 5-yard loss. Marks beat Xavier Fulton, the former Illini lineman. Tampa can't progress from there, but Nugent will get to try another 50-yarder. He hooks it left.
Tennessee takes over all the way up at the 40. Titans have switched to Patrick Ramsey at QB. Quick out to Cook for 5. Henry for 4 off right tackle. Titans get a mulligan and a 1st down. Actually, Ramsey rolls right and hits that stupid naked bootleg screen to the TE Matthew Mulligan for "one". Spot was pretty friendly, but it's first and 10. Javon Ringer enters the game with a 5-yard run up the middle, and Ramsey hits Britt with a quick pass for another first down. From the 36, Ringer slips Adam Hayward in the backfield, makes a sharp cut inside right tackle and bolts upfield for a TD. Tampa got caught overplaying that, plus Ringer made a dynamite move.
Tennessee 20, Tampa Bay 12.
Ball at the Tampa 24. Freeman to Stroughter for 10 to end the third quarter.
End of third quarter: Tennessee 20, Tampa Bay 12.
After a facemask on Urrutia puts Tampa in a 1st-and-21 hole, Ryan Mouton jumps another sideline curl route, typical victimization of a rookie QB, and runs it back for a TD, and the Titans have blown open what was a close game.
Looks like I'm going to be 2-for-2 on my PRESEASON LOCKS after all.
Tennessee 27, Tampa Bay 12.
Freeman runs out of trouble and hits Stroughter upfield for about 20; nice play. 1st-10 at the 42. Three handoffs to Huggins help get them down to the Titan 39. Mitch King engulfs Huggins on 3rd-and-2, though. Bucs go for it, after a timeout. Quick out for Stroughter is broken up by Tanard Davis, and Tennessee will get it back.
Play gets chippy(er) now after a late hit by a Titan o-lineman. 2nd-24, Kyle Arrington strips a long pass away from Hawkins, who has been a disappointment in the pros. I liked him going into last year's draft, too. Delay handoff to Ringer for 6. Poor punt sets the Bucs up at the 40.
Josh Johnson enters for Tampa at QB and is greeted by a drop by Urrutia. Some cuts just make themselves, don't they? Johnson gets the first down with an 11-yard gun to Stroughter. On 3rd-and-5 from the Titan 43, wow, look at Josh Johnson go. Quarterback draw sucks most of the Titan defense in, and he outruns the Titans who do manage to chase him pretty handily for a 43-yard TD.
Down 27-18, the Bucs are going for two, which is fine, provided they go for two again if they succeed here and score another TD. No tie games in preseason, thank you very much. Ryan Purvis makes a nice catch over a defender in the far corner of the end zone for the conversion. Sweet throw by Johnson as well.
Tennessee 27, Tampa Bay 20.
NFL Network excises 4:20 from this re-broadcast and we return at the 2:00 warning. And they could have left that off, too, because all Tennessee's doing is falling on the ball. Guess they ran it down the Bucs' throats and Tampa never got the ball back. Anticlimatic end to a much more interesting Tampa Bay preseason game than usual.
Final score: Tennessee 27, Tampa Bay 20.
MVP: Kenny Britt, 89 yards and a TD on five catches. The Titans have lacked a quality receiving game for a very long time, but they're showing some promise with Nate Washington and Britt.
What did we learn: Tampa Bay is abandoning the Tampa-2 defense; what the hell are we supposed to call it? The -2? Leftwich is their best option at QB, even though he was only 6-14 tonight. McCown looked lousy, and Freeman is still very much a rookie. Then again, Freeman's pretty much where Joe Flacco was for Baltimore this time last year. Piscitelli stood out on defense, along with GREG White. Ringer's presence gives the Titans a chance to have a dangerous three-headed attack like the Giants have had. He's proving to be a steal. Vince Young rebounded from last week and got a better grip on the QB2 job. And they may finally have a receiver or two worth writing home about around there.
Up next: I still gotta finish that darn Cowboys-Raiders game; after that, I'll try to get some of Redskins-Ravens in tomorrow.
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