Tuesday, December 05, 2000
Titans in TD drought
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans can't seem to find the end zone. The defending AFC champions haven't scored a touchdown in seven quarters, a stretch that includes a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kicker Al Del Greco has been their top scorer the past two weeks.
“We love Al to death, but we don't want to see him on the field that many times anymore,” quarterback Steve McNair said Monday.
The Titans beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday 15-13 victory, and Del Greco kicked five field goals, including a 50-yarder as time expired.
The Titans rolled up 331 yards total offense while holding the ball for 38 minutes, 42 seconds. They had separate drives of 15, 15 and 12 plays before settling for field goals, and they got to the Philadelphia 26 or closer four different times.
“It's just a block here, a misread here and there,” McNair said. “The guys are fighting hard in the red zone. Unfortunately, we just missed some opportunities.”
The Titans talked about their problems after watching the game tape, and McNair said the work began immediately on fixing those mistakes.
“We got to have it cured the next three, four weeks,” McNair said. “We emphasized that. We want to have a good taste in our mouths going into the playoffs. To do that, we have to score points.”
Del Greco has scored 100 of the Titans' 256 points this season. Defense and special teams have added 24 more.
Tennessee ranks ahead of only Cincinnati, San Diego, New England and Baltimore in the AFC for the percentage of touchdowns scored for every trip inside an opponents' 20 with 18 TDs on 44 visits.
Coach Jeff Fisher noted that the Titans came very close to touchdowns Sunday. Receiver Chris Sanders couldn't close his hands on a probable TD pass, and running back Eddie George was grabbed by a linebacker while trying to catch a pass near the goal line, which the back judge missed.
“There's a few areas there obviously that we're not excelling in,” Fisher said. “If we were, then some of these games wouldn't be as close as they are.”
Yet the Titans can clinch a playoff berth Sunday by beating the Bengals (3-10), who have the league's 22nd-ranked defense. They also are tied with the Oakland Raiders and the Miami Dolphins for homefield advantage through the playoffs, but the Dolphins hold the tiebreaker with an 8-2 record in conference games.
The Titans think the way they played against the Eagles and pulled out the victory at the end was just what they needed to get themselves back on track after losing two of their previous three games.
“Some of that magic is back,” defensive tackle Jason Fisk said.
Del Greco's five field goals Sunday was a career high, but he had missed an extra point and a field goal in a 24-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 22, and a field goal that could have put the Titans ahead in a 16-13 loss to Jacksonville on Nov. 26.
“I'd much rather win by 24 or 28 points one week,” Del Greco said. “That would be nice.”
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Titans in TD drought
