Young improves, but Titans offense erratic in loss

ATLANTA - Better? Certainly.

But quarterback Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans' first-team offense still are being haunted in the preseason by the same ills that plagued them last season - touchdowns or the lack thereof.

The Titans offense produced only a 50-yard field goal from John Vaughn on their first possession in losing 17-3 to the Atlanta Falcons Friday night in the Georgia Dome.

When it was over, the Titans offense knew it has plenty to be accountable for, including a Young interception, three sacks yielded and key drops that foiled several drives.

What it added up to was just a measly field goal and more frustrations for the first-team offense, which has just six points tallied in the preseason.

“I’m not satisfied with scoring three points. We need to score more points. I’m disappointed in that,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said.

Young was 9-of-18 for 102 yards, but did have one costly interception by Chevis Jackson on a pass that was behind Brandon Jones in the middle of the field. That interception wound up leading to a Jason Elam 39-yard field goal that tied the game.

“We definitely need to get into the end zone,” Young said. “It will be a big relief for the offense and pretty much everybody.”

Tennessee’s offense was better in spurts, as it had 10 first downs with Young under center and piled up 144 yards total offense, but kept backfiring at crucial times.

One of Young’s best throws of the first half ended in a drop, as Justin Gage could not corral what would have been a 25-yard gain at the Tennessee 40-yard line inside two minutes as he turned to run with the football.

“I was just running before I caught it,” Gage said. “It was just a matter of trying to see something upfield and trying to get a gap, just going back to a lackadaisical stage of, 'I know I’m going to catch it' and just trying to make a move, and get a big play for our offense.”

Apparently the lack of execution led to a halftime blistering from offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger.

“Mostly coach Heimerdinger [was] letting us know that somebody’s got to make a play,” said receiver Justin McCareins. “We didn’t make any plays to put us in position to win the game.”

Rookie Chris Johnson, who got the start with LenDale White nursing sore ribs, said the tongue-lashing was deserved.

“You know Heimerdinger, he’ll get in your butt… We deserve it with some of the plays we made,” Johnson said. “I feel like a lot of cussing out won’t help a lot of people step up and do what they’ve got to do, but it’ll help give some people motivation. So some people really do need it.”

The situation didn’t improve much in the second half, as Kerry Collins was only 1-for-8 passing, while third-stringer Ingle Martin finished 3 of 6 for 35 yards. The Titans managed just four first downs and 71 total yards in the first half.

While the first-team defense played well, the second unit was gashed for a touchdown drive to open the third quarter from rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, the third overall pick in last April’s draft.

Ryan finished the night with 15 completions in 21 attempts for 102 yards and his 1-yard touchdown to Harry Douglas put Atlanta ahead for good, 10-3.

Atlanta capped the game with a 14-play, 90-yard march that chewed more than eight minutes of the fourth-quarter clock, sealed by Thomas Brown’s 9-yard run with 3:22 to play.

As for the Titans' situation, Fisher said correcting the flaws is something that must happen soon, as the season opener is just over two weeks away.

“As I mentioned to the team, there are going to be four or five areas where we’re going to have to buckle down and improve before we get into the regular season because we’re running out of time,” Fisher said. “Certainly, I’m not concerned about it. We’re going to identify it as a staff and move on.”

Moving on toward the end zone would be a step in the right direction.