One Postgame Take

The exorcism of JaMarcus Russell was supposed to herald a new era on offense. Alas, the new era is on indefinite hold after today's bumbling performance against the Titans.

The numbers just don't reveal how inept our offense looked at times today, particularly in the first half. The pressure on Campbell was hellacious. Does that let our receivers off the hook for their collective invisibility? Thankfully, McFadden and Miller acted as a relief valve that allowed us to occasionally move the ball downfield. Unfortunately, many of our strides were made long after the game was decided, at a point when the Titans looked disinterested.

The overall upside is that McFadden looked sharp, Miller did his part and Campbell used his legs several times to avoid added trouble. I get the feeling this won't be the last time he has to run for his life.

Before this game, I said that offensive line and wide receiver were two big areas of concern. Well, I remain concerned.

If you think about it, what is our offense, in terms of personnel? It's basically the same as last year, minus Justin Fargas, with a little more inexperience along the line, and a different quarterback who may or may not have an edge on Gradkowski in the ability department. Calibrate your expectations accordingly.

As for our defense, well, it was deja vu all over again as well. Yes, I know that Chris Johnson is a beast. But this was a time to make a statement against the league's best, and we didn't. Not only did we give up more than 200 total rushing yards again, we got gashed by the all-too-familiar big run, a 76-yarder by Johnson for a touchdown.

That wasn't a run defense today. It was a rerun defense.

I also question the call to kick a field goal on 4th and 1 while down 24-3 right before the end of the half. I guess you have to get points where you can get them at that juncture. Still, it just struck me as unecessarily timid.

Anyhow, here we are at 0-1. The crystal ball just got cloudier, and the climb to .500 just got a little harder. Our record should be 1-1 after next week's game against the lowly Rams. But "should" has become a perilous word in the Nation.