Sports Desk
From the Scene’s desk at McCabe Pub
The panelists at the Scene Sports Desk recognize that one game proves nothing in the NFL. Not that it deterred them in the slightest from attempting all night Monday to distill meaning from the much-anticipated Titans-Raiders game. (And not that their efforts brought them anything more meaningful than a buzz.) A few conclusions were hard to miss. For one, though Sunday night’s officiating crew should be working games between the Rhein Fire and Barcelona Dragons, sometimes it’s best to accept the charity of zebras and smile. The Titans certainly had the right to complain over the premature ejection of Robaire Smith, who appeared not to realize he was making contact with a ref who had bumped him from behind. The resulting penalty turned fourth-and-23 into an Oakland touchdown. But the Raiders had even more cause to kvetch. The refs credited Derrick Mason with a TD when there was a greater likelihood of intelligent life in Memphis than of Mason landing both feet in bounds. Earlier, the zebras robbed Oakland of a score when they ruled the whistle had blown before Rod Woodson stripped the ball from the Titans’ Erron Kinney. Both teams deserved to win, and so did neither. The field stank with penalties—28 of them for 284 yards. One in every five plays ended with a flag. It was uglier than waking up next to Bocephus. In prison. A couple of things we didn’t learn. With all due respect (get out your measuring spoons) to agent Drew Rosenhaus, we don’t know whether the Titans will have the 1999 Freak of the unstoppable speed rush or the less productive Freak of more recent vintage. On Sunday, Kearse recorded a sack but only two tackles. The Titans sacked Rich Gannon four times, but only after the Raiders QB had enough time to listen to half the new Warren Zevon CD on his helmet headset and only because the secondary kept everyone covered. Speaking of the secondary, the Titans’ cobbled-together defensive backfield gave up only a couple of big plays and forced the Raiders to throw mostly underneath. Still, their fastest receiver, Jerry Porter, stayed on the sidelines. This wasn’t the corps that torched the Titans twice last year. We don’t know whether Eddie George can still break defenses. But the question now seems irrelevant. If there was any doubt that the offense revolves around Steve McNair, Sunday’s play selection should have ended it. Eddie supports Steve. That’s why the Titans have no fullback. They use George for show and McNair for dough. (George’s most effective play Sunday was a pass reception.) And that leaves one huge question: After this year, when salary cap considerations loom again, can the Titans run their McNair-centric offense just as effectively with Robert Holcombe and forego the expense of Eddie? Is nothing sacred? Stay tuned.
—Randy Horick
