Titans notes: Johnson reaches the 1,000-yard mark in win

Chris Johnson had an appreciation for what he had just accomplished.

Johnson after all had just joined Earl Campbell in 1978 and Eddie George in 1996 as the only rookie running backs in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards.

Johnson, who finished the day with 136 yards on 19 carries, is the first of the three to do so in a Tennessee Titans uniform, as the other two did so when the franchise was known as the Houston Oilers.

“It feels real good,” said Johnson, who reached the 1,000-yard plateau on his ninth carry of the game. “Those two guys are great guys, and they had real good careers in the league. To be mentioned with those guys is great.”

Johnson now has 1,094 yards this season through 13 games, 356 yards shy of Campbell’s franchise record for a rookie of 1,450 yards.

Johnson scored Tennessee’s final touchdown on a 25-yard run and at the 3-yard line held the ball back to show it to Browns defensive back Brandon McDonald, whom he outraced to the end zone on the play.

“I don’t know him. It was all in fun. I was just trying to play this game and not let it get boring and having fun out here,” Johnson said.

Missed it by that much: While Johnson reached the 100-yard mark for the game and the 1,000-yard mark for the season, his counterpart LenDale White had 100 yards on the ground as well — for a moment.

White reached 100 yards even on the Titans’ final possession of the day, a third-down run inside the Browns’ 10-yard line that set up fourth-and-2 at the two-minute warning.

But White was handed the ball again on the fourth-down play and stuffed for a 1-yard loss by Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, leaving him with 99 yards on 24 carries.

That 1-yard loss denied the Titans their third game this season of having two running backs go over 100 yards in the same game. Tennessee had accomplished the feat against both Kansas City and Detroit.

“I’m not worried about that. I’m just glad we won the ballgame,” White said.

Lights out: The Titans walked into their locker room at halftime and found darkness. The same electrical problem that kept most of the north end zone scoreboard out in the game (The score, game clock and play clock power came on in the second quarter), had the lights out in the locker room.

A few lights burned in the postgame as well, apparently running off emergency generators.

“I didn’t even really pay any attention. I thought they were just trying to get the mood right,” defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth joked.

Added tight end Bo Scaife, “Like some of the guys said, ‘I grew up without lights.’ A couple of guys said that. It is what it is. We knew it was daylight outside, so that’s all that matters.”

Cold shower: Titans coach Jeff Fisher didn’t get a Gatorade bath on the sideline in the waning minutes of the game, but instead had cold water dumped on him by linebacker Keith Bulluck and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.

“Me and Keith, I think with like two minutes left, we decided to do it, and I figured it’d be good,” Haynesworth said.

Best ever: Return man Chris Carr was one tackler away from breaking his first NFL punt return touchdown. As it was, Carr had to settle for a career-best 44-yard return. Chris Johnson scored on the next play with a 25-yard touchdown run.

Carr broke into the open field and eluded Cleveland punter Dave Zastudil, only to be caught after his cutback.

“I saw the punter’s angle, and I figured once I cut back on him, I could make him miss,” Carr said. “But usually when you cut back like that the pursuit is going to come back and cut you down. I was hoping he didn’t take a great angle, but he did, and I was disappointed because I wanted to get in the end zone really bad.”

Sloppy: The Titans turned the ball over three times Sunday on a pair of Kerry Collins interceptions by Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson and a LenDale White fumble.

The Titans also were plagued by a season-high 131 yards on 13 penalties, a number of which were personal fouls as part of the physical style by the two teams. The Browns had eight penalties for 68 yards.

“There’s nothing perfect in December. It was just physical football,” tight end Alge Crumpler said. “We have big things at stake. It was probably one of the most physical battles we faced, even though we put up some pretty decent numbers.”

The Titans had 390 yards total offense, despite the mistakes.

Johnson said his shoulder-length dreadlocks were pulled a couple of times during the game.

“Those guys on the Cleveland Browns, they have a lot of pride,” linebacker Keith Bulluck said. “Even talking to them after the game, a lot of them are upset just at how the way their season went. They weren’t necessarily going out there to start fights and pick fights just because they were losing. They are competitive, and it’s football, and things like that happen all the time.”

Collection: As caps and shirts depicting the Titans’ AFC South championship were being passed out on the field and in the locker room, it was, pardon the pun, old hat to cornerback Nick Harper, who won four AFC South titles and a Super Bowl as an Indianapolis Colt before coming to the Titans last year.

“I’ve won so many that I never wear the hats,” Harper said. “So I just collect them and throw them in the closet and one day I’ll have a trophy case and put all that up there for the grandkids to see.”

Injuries: Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch watched the end of the game from the sideline after his groin tightened up again. Vanden Bosch originally sustained the injury Oct. 5 in Baltimore and was seemingly past the injury after returning and finishing the game against the New York Jets on Nov. 23.

“It just got sore,” Vanden Bosch said. “The game got to the point where I felt like I could rest and hopefully just give it a little bit more time to get fully healthy.”

Vanden Bosch said he doesn’t expect to miss any time.