The Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans entered the fourth quarter Sunday knotted at 17-all. Considering what happened in the last 15 minutes of the game, Bills head coach Dick Jauron and his team might have been better served to leave early.When the dust settled, the Bills headed home with a 41-17 loss. They were also likely saddled with nightmares involving Tennessee running back Chris Johnson and the rejuvenated Titans defense.
The Bills entered the game sporting the worst run defense in the NFL. Considering what kind of stretch Johnson is having, it wasn't difficult to foresee him exploding.
He didn't disappoint. Johnson took the rock 26 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns. But that wasn't all. He also caught nine passes for 100 yards. All told, Johnson accounted for 232 of his team's 378 yards and two of its three offensive touchdowns. You simply can't say enough about how good Johnson is.
He entered the season talking about gaining 2,000 yards on the ground this year -- he's now on pace for 1,940 and has a very realistic shot at the 2K barrier, considering the Titans' have a pretty soft run-defense schedule the rest of the way, and how heavily Tennessee seems content to lean on him. He's presently playing like the best player in football, not just the best running back.
Obviously, there is no shame in not being able to stop Johnson, but the Bills gave away any chance at a comeback with two late turnovers. Trailing by 10 points with just under three minutes left, the Bills still had a glimmer of hope. Instead, Trent Edwards threw an interception to Vincent Fuller -- who proceeded to take the ball 26 yards to the house. A few plays later, with the game already decided, Ryan Fitzpatrick -- as if he didn't want Edwards to feel bad about himself -- decided to throw a pick-six of his own, this one a 31-yarder to Roderick Hood.
Aside from Johnson, the big story emerging from this game was the fact that Vince Young has given the Titans a spark. They were 0-6 with Kerry Collins heading into their bye week. They've come out of the bye a totally different team, and Young is now 3-0 as a starter in 2009 (and 21-11 in his career). His pocket awareness and ability to check down are better than they have ever been, and he's picking his spots to run quite well (he carried the ball five times for 29 yards). The Titans will look to continue their winning ways next week when they head to Houston. There might also be a bit of a revenge factor as well, as the Titans lost a 34-31 thriller to the Texans in Week 2. An FYI -- Chris Johnson had 197 rushing yards on just 16 carries in that game. Think he'll play a big role next week?
As for the Bills, they played relatively well for three quarters, but that's not good enough. Edwards found Lee Evans and Terrell Owens vertically a few times, but they need to run the football with more frequency (Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch combined for 85 yards on 17 carries), especially when someone like Johnson is doing a number on their defense. They will look to rebound in Jacksonville next week against another stud running back, Maurice Jones-Drew.


















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-15-2009 @ 8:35PM
s3slee6 said...
when will everyone start giving vince young some credit that teams have to respect his run ability.wasn't chris johnson the running back in the 1st 6 games as well.I think vince and chris a helleva dual o
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