Titans confident they can clean up mistakes before opener
NASHVILLE — The clock is ticking for the Tennessee Titans, who have had two ugly preseason losses and need to clean up what coach Mike Mularkey says are too many mistakes.
The Titans insist they’re not worried, even with the season opener against Oakland looming on Sept. 10.
“That is what the preseason is for, to get all the wrinkles out,” wide receiver Rishard Matthews said after a 19-7 loss to Chicago. “The good thing is that it is happening now and hopefully won’t happen in the season. Nobody is perfect, go out there and do what you do and (Monday) we will correct our mistakes and move forward. I look forward to KC on Thursday.”
Tight end Delanie Walker noted the Titans still have two weeks left.
“We got the Chiefs, another game that we can clean it up,” Walker said. “Hopefully we can get everything situated, set for the opener.”
And Mularkey agrees after watching tape of a loss that dropped Tennessee to 1-2. The Titans’ first-team offense didn’t score until the first play of the fourth quarter and gave up four sacks. Kicker Ryan Succop missed a 40-yard field goal wide left, and punter Brett Kern had a punt blocked for a safety with both working with a backup long snapper.
The Titans were flagged eight times for 69 yards, and left guard Quinton Spain was ejected for throwing a punch.
“We didn’t play well enough, and they did,” Mularkey said of the Bears. “Again, in this league you can’t afford to do what we did against a good team that’s playing well.”
The defense wasn’t much better, failing to stop Chicago from driving 96 yards on the Bears’ opening possession for a touchdown. Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Orakpo said the Titans have to minimize their mistakes and start games with their normal intensity.
Orakpo does want to see more consistency from a young team that opened the preseason with a 7-3 loss to the Jets followed by a 34-27 win over Carolina.
“I can’t explain it,” Orakpo said. “It’s just definitely disappointing. We preach on minimizing those mistakes because it hurts our drives, it hurts offense and defense and you know, that resulted in a loss (Sunday). The great thing about preseason is you can watch the film, dissect it and hopefully minimize those, once we open the regular season against Oakland.”
Texans dealing with Harvey
FRISCO, Texas — Tom Savage longs to hold his tiny daughter and spend some quality time with his wife.
J.J. Watt wants to do more than raise money via video on social media about 250 miles from Houston with the city swamped by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey.
While wanting simply to be home with family and friends, the Texans are instead stranded in the Dallas area. And now what was supposed to be a home preseason game against Dallas will be played at the Cowboys stadium Thursday night.
“It’s very, very tough,” said Watt, the star defensive end who posted Monday that a fundraising effort that included selfie videos had raised more than $500,000 within 24 hours. “It’s very difficult to watch, your family, your friends, your city, go through a time like this and not be there to help.”
After losing an exhibition game at New Orleans on Saturday, the Texans essentially flew over their flood-stricken city on the way to Dallas. They practiced Monday at Cowboys headquarters and were hotel hopping because of the uncertainty over what was next.
The NFL said late Monday afternoon that the exhibition game Thursday night was being moved to Arlington “due to public safety concerns resulting from the ongoing weather emergency related to Hurricane Harvey.” The statement said the league and Texans would continue to closely monitor the situation in Houston and adjust the team’s plans as necessary.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said the Texans were planning another practice at Dallas’s facility on Tuesday afternoon.
Instead of a singular focus on his first season-opening start as an NFL quarterback, Savage was in continual contact with his wife between meetings and other team activities. At least he could say he was seeing his 7-month-old daughter, Summer, in video phone chats.
“Here you kind of feel like a little handcuffed,” Savage said. “You can’t do anything, and as a father you want to be there to support her and protect her. That’s the hardest thing for all the guys. I can speak for them. We’re the fathers. We want to be out there.”
Burfict suspended five games
CINCINNATI — Linebacker Vontaze Burfict missed the first three games last season because of his hit to Antonio Brown’s head in the playoffs. He’ll miss the first five this season thanks to another rattling hit, this time during a preseason game.
The NFL has suspended the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive leader for leveling a Chiefs running back in violation of its player safety rules, the latest in Burfict’s history of hits that have drawn fines and suspensions.
Burfict hit running back Anthony Sherman in the chest this month during a pass play in which he was not the intended receiver, knocking him to the ground. The NFL has been cracking down on such hits as part of its emphasis on player safety.
Burfict was suspended for his hit to Brown’s head on an incomplete pass during a first-round playoff game in the 2015 season. The resulting personal foul moved the Steelers into field-goal range in the closing seconds for an 18-16 victory at Paul Brown Stadium.
Ragland traded to Chiefs
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Linebacker Reggie Ragland will have a chance to prove he’s better suited to play in Kansas City’s defense than Buffalo’s.
The Bills cut ties with Ragland on Monday by trading their 2016 second-round draft pick to the Chiefs. In exchange, they acquired a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft in a deal that made sense for both teams.
The Bills landed an asset in return for a player who was in jeopardy of being cut by Saturday, when teams establish their 53-player rosters. Ragland spent much of training camp working with the backups and then saw limited playing time in three preseason games.
Saints add Dorenbos
The New Orleans Saints have acquired veteran long snapper Jon Dorenbos from the Philadelphia Eagles for a seventh-round draft pick in 2019.