Week 4 – Cleveland and my 100th Game!

The weather wasn’t the best conditions, but I will take what we had considering game 4 came with a victory in Cleveland! It’s never much fun going up there because you just don’t know what mother nature is going to do. I’m glad we played there early in the season rather than late, because the elements only get worse as the cold weather moves in. I think it was about 50 degrees which was nice and cool, but the winds we swirling with gusts topping 20 mph. I was glad we had the early game as well because it poured down rain on our bus ride to the airport for our departure.

After a slow start in Jacksonville, we were able to cap off a three-game winning streak to come out ahead and win the first quarter of the season at 3-1. It’s our goal to win them all, but we really want to win each quarter. That would put us sitting pretty come playoff time with a 12-4 record at worst. Things are clicking in all phases of the game. The penalties are down, but I think we can do better there as well. After losing Kenny Britt last week, the receivers and tight ends did a great job overcoming his absence. Defense put points up on the board and the special teams core outplayed our opponents for the first time helping create positive field position for the offense and defensive units.

Not to harp on the negatives, but after a decent game, I know I for one can put up a better performance. For starters, I hope I don’t have another mis-hit kickoff this season that knuckles out of bounds for a penalty flag… Fortunately, Phil Dawson had the same. His hit earlier in the game so they sort of canceled each other out. I also go lucky on my field goal – while 3 points is 3 points, and they all look the same on paper, but I know I got away with one there. I’m still not sure what happened on that kick to create such a low trajectory but I hope to get the rest of my kicks up a bit higher and keep them all between the sticks as we go forward.

That game was a big one for me! It marked my 100th game played in the NFL. And all of them have been played for the same organization and for the same great fans of the Titans. Not only was it my 100th game, but fortunately it was my 100th consecutive start for the Titans. Congrats to Michael Roos as well! We came into this league and both started week 1 as rookies here at Tennessee. I guess it’s some kind of milestone, but I’ll celebrate that after the season is done. Right now we have to stay focused on the task at hand. And this week its is to beat the Steelers up in Pittsburgh this Sunday before we take some time off for the bye week.

I’ll catch back up with you all after we land Sunday night. It sure would be a better weekend off if we come back home with another game in the win column. Then we come back home for a 3 game stretch at LP Field. Get your Titans gear out and be ready to rock that stadium! We thrive on the energy and excitement that you bring every Sunday here at home!!!

-RB2