It may end up being nothing, but Titans coach Jeff Fisher may have put his foot in his mouth when he explained how the Titans re-signed Chris Simms on Monday.

As Fisher explained, Simms always knew that he would be re-signed on Monday. It was just a formality to waive him on Saturday (with him still being paid for the week), sign a backup punter and then reverse the move on Monday.

"We're keeping Chris around because he's important to us, not only for the immediate future but for the future," Coach Jeff Fisher said. "Chris totally understood the move, and we assured him we'd get him back under contract and we did."

The fact that the Titans had worked out a deal with Simms is no surprise--teams do things like it all the time. But by actually talking about it, Fisher has crossed a line. Dancing around the line of roster manipulation is one thing, but you don't admit it.

As a league source told Pro Football Talk:

"I'm not sure the league office is going to look very favorably upon that transaction and quote. It sure looks and sounds like a pre-existing agreement to manipulate the roster."

What may help Fisher out is that this is a very common deal, but we'll have to see if the NFL sends a fine the Titans way.

This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."

Okay, in large part, I would like to get a brain eraser out, and eradicate the last 5 minutes of the Texans-Colts game. I'm sure that backup quarterback, Sage Rosenfels would like to do the same. But we can't, so I will pretend that didn't happen and think happy thoughts, and just show you some flavor of the game you can't see on TV. (And for those of you who enjoy this sort of thing, I've also included dancing Texans cheerleaders).

Me and the Commish

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was at the game to make a donation on the NFL's behalf to Hurricane Ike relief for the region. The above picture, however, is not of me and Roger Goodell. It is Joe Cahn, the Commissioner of Tailgating.

Two things were proven in yesterday's clash of defense-first football teams. The Titans might be better than we first thought and the Ravens might be a little more scrappy than initially projected.

Tennessee outlasted Baltimore yesterday 13-10 in a game that saw four interceptions, two quarterback ratings in the low 50s and no running back or receiver eclipsing the 100-yard mark. The Ravens did what they have been doing for years while the Titans are getting used to this "simplify the offense, let the defense strut their stuff" mentality that appears to be working to perfection.

Titans center Kevin Mawae, who said he is getting really sick of all the paparazzi outside his house on a daily basis, said after the game that it was all they really needed to continue their unbeaten streak.

"I think it shows the character of this team, from the young guys to the most veteran guys," Mawae said. "It wasn't pretty, but we made the plays when we needed to and we won the game."

Hi. My name is Steph. I may be the only Houston Texan fan you know. Right now, I don't really want to write any sort of a recap of the Texans' heartbreaking and inexplicable loss to the Colts. This was the 100th game of the Texans' existence, and I believe it was the absolute worst loss, which is saying something given how many ways this team has lost over the years or even in the last month.

I was at the game, and well, I am experiencing significant post-traumatic stress. So instead of reliving it any more, I direct you to MDS's post on the subject and invite you to look at my pictorial summary of the game....

Vince Young's recovery from his knee injury apparently has gone pretty well. Just a couple of days after he returned to practice, Young will be the Titans backup quarterback this week when they face the Jaguars. And he better he ready, because Chris Simms, the only other quarterback on the roster, was waived today so that the team could pick up an insurance policy at punter.

Josh Miller was added to the roster because Craig Hentrich has had back spasms. Simms will likely return to the team next week, unless another team snaps him up because of their own quarterback issues. Because the Titans waited until Saturday to cut him, that's pretty unlikely.

Now that Young has the No. 2 QB job, it's hard to imagine that Simms will be anything better than third string the rest of the year. While Young has handled the demotion pretty well, it's hard to see how the Titans could drop him to third-string unless they pretty much announced that he would be cut in the offseason.

But while Young's now the backup, with starter Kerry Collins leading the Titans to a 4-0 start and Young's bad deicsion to threaten to quit on his team, it's hard to see him returning to starting this year unless Collins gets hurt.

Here are some strange facts to go with the Colts at Texans matchup:

Surprising yet non-surprising stat: In his career, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has a 125.4 QB rating (!) against the Texans. And you wonder why I hate watching the Texans defense.

Why the Colts are only favored by 3. Houston was 6-2 at home last year. Indy has key injuries. And most importantly, in the Colts' Super Bowl year, Gary Kubiak managed to beat the Colts with Mittens David Carr at QB, Ron Dayne at RB, little defense and a candlestick in the conservatory. This, of course, was without Colts safety Bob Sanders in the lineup. And he will be missing this week too. Check out NFL.com's Video Notebook about the Texans offense.

I don't bet, but if I did, I would stay far away from this game.

The Jacksonville Jaguars don't seem like the type of team that would be uber police-y with their fans. After all, they didn't get that upset when one fan made, um, certain gestures with thundersticks all up on national television.

But I suppose I could be wrong, as proved by the Jaguars recent decision to start revoking season tickets for fans that misbehaved.

The Jaguars announced on Wednesday the team has rescinded the tickets of Antonio Martinez, James Cotton and Shaun Perkins. All three men were arrested after police said they attacked a security guard.

According to police, the fight started after one of the men was told he wouldn't be sold any more beer.
According to the police report, Martinez tried to hit the security guard and missed, and then "the guard pushed the suspect away in self-defense but was then grabbed by Mr. Martinez and taken to the ground."

On the other hand, this is the sort of fan behavior -- starting fights because the team won't let you get drunker -- that should be abolished, so I totally back the Jags reaction.

Oh, and also, Perkins, who may or may not have a problem with drinking, decided to go all Legion of Doom on the security guard and bash him over the head with a wooden folding chair while he was laying on the ground. It's pretty safe to say that anytime you hit a security type person over the head with a chair, trouble is going to follow you. Stay classy, J-ville.

Every week I take a look at the line play in one NFL game. Check back every week for a new Between The Lines.

When the Vikings faced the Titans it was a match-up of two of the best young running backs in the game: Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson. As you would expect, that got plenty of publicity.

But if you were looking for the best matchup of the week, it was the Clash of the Titans when defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth lined up head-up against guard Steve Hutchinson. There may not be a better one-on-one line battle all year, as Haynesworth is arguably the best defensive tackle in the game, while Hutchinson has been considered the best guard in the league (with apologies to Eric Steinbach and Alan Faneca) for several years.

Occasionally FanHouse's resident referee will chime in with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report.

The most difficult calls for an official are judgment calls. Unfortunately in football that covers pretty much everything. Rarely is there a call as easy as an upper deck home run or a ball going into a hoop. This is simply the nature of officiating football. One call which carries a ton of discretion is roughing the passer, and it has been controversial for years. As Bruce Ciskie said this past week on an email chain,

"(I've seen) defensive players rushing with their arms up to try to block a pass, grazing the QB's helmet with a hand on the way by, and drawing a flag for it. I mean, it's one thing to tell these guys they can't hit the QB, but to tell them they can't try to knock a ball down because they might touch the QB's helmet is just ridiculous."

I agree. Let's take a look at some plays from this past week.

The Houston Texans are marketing the next four home games in the newspaper and online as "Texans Oktoberfest." When I first saw the Texans most road September schedule and home October schedule, I thought it might be a little rough on the team, and to tailgaters' livers.

Well, my first prediction on the tough early schedule came true, with the 0-3 start, complicated with the Hurricane Ike bye week. The health status of tailgaters' livers is up in the air. The re-arranged hurricane results in four home games in a row, so I'm guessing fans better pace themselves in the parking lots.

Typically, under Gary Kubiak, the Texans have played much better at home than on the road. They were 6-2 at home last year, and generally, as I point out in my new Houston Chronicle Texans Chick blog, have had their least competitive games on the road. Even with the Colts nicked up, this next game should be a significant challenge for the Texans given that they have only won a single game against them in their history.