Titans Knew What Was Coming On Final Pick

November 27th, 2011

Josh Freeman’s 16th interception of the season late in the fourth quarter against the Titans today felt a lot like many others.

It was a needlessly forced throw into Kellen Winslow, followed by Freeman saying in his postgame news conference that it was a bit of a “miscommunication.” Hmm, Joe’s heard that song before.

But it was clear communication for the Titans, so reports The Tennesseean. Titans linebacker Colin McCarthy, who plucked the ball in the middle of the field, said he was ready for what was coming.

“It’s a play we saw all week in practice,” McCarthy said. “When they needed it, we knew they’d try the shake route. (Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray) had a great call and put me in a great situation to make the play.”

How’s that for a kick in the groin. (Here’s the video replay.) A rookie backup linebacker and the Titans’ defensive coordinator won a critical mental game with the Bucs’ offensive coordinator and the Bucs’ franchise quarterback.

29 Responses to “Titans Knew What Was Coming On Final Pick”

  1. RastaMon Says:

    Rudd….

  2. RastaMon Says:

    Ruud…
    kinda like Lynch in the SB….sluggo…sluggo…

  3. macabee Says:

    The plays are quite predictable. On the goal line when Mike williams lined up on the left side, I right away knew the slant was coming. Luckily, we made it!

  4. Thomas 2.2 Says:

    I had a coach teach me that interception are ALWAYS the fault of the quarterback bc when, how and to whom the ball is delivered is controlled by the qb.

    Of course pressure, tips etc have a role, but the point was too establish accountability for picks where it needs to be and to make clear that the qb has a chance to ensure that virtually every passing play has the potential NOT to be a negative play like an interception. You can throw it away, pull it down or swallow it.

  5. thibs5599 Says:

    I know you hate ESPN joe but Pat Yasinskas had an article last week which you probably saw saying Freeman to Winslow = Trouble. That is INT is the 8th one freeman has thrown to Winslow, half of all his pics. I felt like freeman wasnt even under pressure, you can see in the replay Benn is standing there 6 or 7 yards down field jumping around waiting for the ball with nobody around. I think all that off season work that freeman and winslow put in together has honestly hurt freeman, he is just way to confident or nervous or whatever and thinks winslow is the best thing since sliced bread. WINSLOW is not ROB GRONKOWSKI OR JASON WITTEN OR JIMMY GRAHAM he will not go up and win a physical battle and tends to not be clutch. i said after the bears game and ill say it again for all the positive things winsow does he does just as much negative things as well. Lets get a TE who can block and catch, would love to see more of stocker

  6. eric Says:

    Well since Rah has the 31st ranked defense, who has been outsmarting him?

    Put another way who, prey tell, has he been outsmarting?

    Olson the scapegoat doesn’t work IMO, even to save the beloved rah.

  7. Patrick Says:

    @thibs5599

    Winslow is the least of our problems! You take him away, we have no passing game at all. He’s been our only consistent receiver for the last 3 years.

  8. snook Says:

    Nothing to do with Ruud.

    The Bucs offense is the definition of predictable.

  9. thibs5599 Says:

    you take winslow away freeman doesnt force it to him every time we need a big play. I know its more on freeman i guess i should be upset with him instead of winslow. just frustrated as all of you are as well. Freeman is young but this is his second season as a starter and third in the league we cant use the young line on him forever

  10. CC Says:

    Freeman statistically is one of the worst QB in the league. In the first quarter we get into the red zone and throw on first down incomplete. Second down complete to Benn for a minus 2 yards. Third down incomplete. And then kick a field goal. Why the f**k don’t we run the damn ball. Freeman sucked today as he has for most of this year. Either hes not what we thought or he is not getting the proper coaching. Right now Im leaning toward the latter.

  11. passthebuc Says:

    Years ago i complained about a design flaw in a piece of large earth moving equipment. I owned 2 equipment dealerships. The head engineer told me he was the design engineer and a grad of MIT and i did not know what i was talking about. He said” we have tested this in the design room and it works every time”

    Your offensive and defensive screams may work on paper, but against an opponent that thinks, it lacks substantially.

  12. Jerry Says:

    Every team in this league has this offense figured out. Olson just plain sucks. He needs to go.

  13. Patrick Says:

    At the very least, we need to fire Olsen this offseason

  14. Hawaiian Buc Says:

    Make no mistake with me Eric, I am not using Olsen as a scapegoat. However, his playcalling and personnel decisions are questionable at best. We are so predictable on offense it is ridiculous. Everything we ran today looks exactly the same as the crap we’ve been doing since week 1. Where’s the creativity? Open up the damn playbook!!! Throw the damn deep ball every so often. I don’t give a damn if it’s intercepted! We are throwing interceptions every game anyway, at least an INT on a deep ball will be like a punt (which we will be doing after a series of penalties anyway). Every time I see Lumpkin in the game, I want to ram my head through the wall.

    I don’t think Olsen has done a very good job at all this year, but the exact same could be said for Raheem. Raheem is the head coach, so he (deservedly) gets the biggest portion of the blame. I like Raheem as a coach and still think he has a chance to turn things around, but I can’t deny that fact. If I were Raheem and he’s not fired, I would get a new OC. That’s not blaming Olsen, that’s just trying to save his own job, because Olsen has not been doing the job. If I’m Dominik, I’m probably doing the same with Raheem as the DC. He hasn’t done enough to deserve to have both jobs (maybe not enough to even have one). Dominik needs to start looking after his job as well, because there are still gaping holes on this team, and he has had 3 years to fix that.

  15. steve Says:

    The offense would be so much better if Blount would get the ball more. He is our best player by far and he seems to always make a positive play. Get Lumpkin out of the game on third down and put Blount in and at the very worst Freeman checks it down to Blount and he carries three defenders for a first down

  16. BucsItaly Says:

    Just get Rah and Olson out of here…
    :-/

  17. Gavster Says:

    I’m starting to question if Freeman is truly the franchise qb. I’ll give him next season but his play/demeanor is startin to fill me with doubt

  18. Fear The Glow Says:

    Our offense is predictable?

    Get outta here!!!

    Our defense is terrible?

    Get outta here!!!

    Remember when we got away with a terrible offense and a predictable defense? Oh boy..those were the days!

  19. nick Says:

    we got robbed by the refs today plain and simple

  20. Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:

    No one has mentioned our special teams which are suddenly starting to stink up the joint. The return for a TD yesterday? No touchbacks that I can rememenber. The less than stellar punting? Titans didnt seem to have problems yesterday.

  21. TJ Says:

    This team needs to be looked at hard . #1 Coaching has failed Domminicks plan ( Glaziers hired Morris cause he was suppouse to be like TOmlin, he is the complete oppisite he does not watch what he says . Tomlin was a great defensive cord but when he go to pittsburg he let the vet Def cord (Dick Lebou) do his job . Have you ever ? Tomlins team effort ? No Tomlins team get fined for hitting to hard while are team gets suspended and fined for smoking pot or for having shot outs with there mama s. Think about are team Hate to say thiss Winslow is not a elite Te he does not block , Benn would be 3 or 4 WR on a good team in the NFL DOnal Penn is good but looks like he is gaining his weight back ( cant tell you how many time he has been knocked down Faine stays hurt and has not made one differance at all .Zutah is average so is trueblood. Claybourne is the only gem on D-line .Price MCcoy stay hurt . Mason Foster is too small to play middle LB geno Hayes too inconisentent . I would love to see who would have singed Quincy black to what we signed him too cause he does nothing whatsoever . Talib is good but he has anger issues clearly. Jackson can he be trusted ? Jones quit during the Texans game . Laslty Blount can be great but who is his back up ? If blount caught that laset pass that came up short he would have gotten the 1 st down

  22. Captain Stagger Says:

    Joe, are you saying our coach and OC got out smarted by a rookie linebacker? How could you say that, I know you have seen a Raheem press conference, he is the epitome of intelligence………

    Youngry is cute when my 3 year old says it…….does Belichek make up words?

  23. Buc Neckid Says:

    If anybody thinks that this idea of “building through the Draft”
    is only motivated by a “sound franchise building philosophy” they are just not seeing the Bigger Picture.
    The Glazers are not spending ANY money on the BUCS in any manner.
    The hiring of Rah was a fiscal decision as much as anything as
    the Glazers were/are still on the hook for Gruden’s Salary until this year.
    And if I recall correctly, the new CBA ensures that there is not a Salary Floor that the Glazers have to spend above on Players for another two years.
    I would hope to at least see some sort of sacrificial goat / offering made to us Fans / Potential Ticket Purchasers in the hiring of a new Offensive Coordinator and an Additional Defensive Coach (if not a Coordinator) to assist Rah’s work load.
    Glazers Business Plan is Clearly “Operating on the Cheap”
    So either hang on tight Bucs Fans or jump off the bandwagon as this my friends is Bucs Football for another couple of years.

  24. Blubber Price Says:

    Summary of this thread:
    Our offense is too predictable. Start handing off to Blount every play instead.

    Oh , the irony…

    So , tell me ; who is this great offensive coordinator we can bring in who specializes in working with slow stone-handed WR’s who can’t get open ?

  25. NickinMelbourne Says:

    190 yards rushing to the worst rushing team in the NFL. Way to dial it up Raheem. Nice job as Defensive Coordinator because it looked pathetic. So 3 years in with an awful defense and instead of looking at our defensive Head Coach some are calling for him to get a Defensive Coordinator to prop him up?? No thanks, this whole coaching staff needs to take a hike. Top to bottom we can do better. Dominick and the Glazers have their hands in it too with no free agency but no doubt about it coaching cost us. Why after driving the ball several times into Titan territory and Blount running wild all day do we see 3 consecutive passes and 3 and out? Please give us a real coaching staff to mentor these players.

  26. Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:

    It’s either Jim Bates or Jon Gruden’s fault.

  27. SlikNikdaRULA Says:

    The Titans knew what was coming. Before that was the Bears and Urlacher. The Packers had that play snuffed out too. Three words: Change-it-up. Or what we used to yell at Mike Shula back in the day…”Turn the page!!!!”

  28. stimpy Says:

    okay so we fire Olsen and Rah.

    Who do we bring in?

  29. lovethepewter Says:

    Whatever, this kid got burnt and Josh under threw him. He looked so surprised when the ball hit him in the chest. “Huh, whats this? Wait, what? Oh, its the ball”