Bironas!

Well, the Titans managed to pull out a heart attack-incudcing, last-second win over the Texans today. I'm going to give the Titans their first report card from here at TWISIB.

Offense: C+
Backup QB Kerry Collins had a good day, going 25 for 42, 280 yards, and no interceptions. He also strung together a nice drive with less than a minute to go, putting the team in field goal range for the ultimate Bironas game-winner.

Special Teams: B
Decent overall. Hentrich continues to be one of the best punters in the league, and newcomer Michael Griffin shows lots of potential as a kick returner.

Defense: A+ (first 70% of game), F- (last 30%).
This one has me stumped. After putting on a clinic the first half (plus the first couple minutes of the third quarter), they gave up a whopping 29 fourth-quarter points. Here's the rundown of the the Texans' first 2 1/2 quarters:

1st Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Net Yards	Result
12:30	0:45	HST 24	2	-1	Fumble
10:50	0:59	HST 14	3	1	Punt
08:03	2:25	HST 42	5	11	Interception
00:52	1:52	HST 17	3	1	Punt

2nd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Net Yards	Result
11:46	1:41	HST 18	3	8	Punt
05:36	1:37	HST 25	3	-1	Punt
01:06	0:21	HST 21	1	13	Fumble

3rd Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Net Yards	Result
15:00	0:52	HST 20	3	5	Interception
10:53	1:28	HST 20	3	5	Punt

Solid. Any team would be proud to have a defense show up like that. And then the last quarter came along. After scoring almost immediately, here's what the Texans did:

4th Quarter
Start Time	Time Poss	Drive Began	# of Plays	Net Yards	Result
12:08	3:53	HST 2	7	98	Touchdown
04:30	0:16	HST 12	1	0	Interception
03:47	2:10	HST 25	12	75	Touchdown
01:37	0:40	HST 34	3	66	Touchdown

Awful. Just flat-out awful. The inexperience of the secondary was definitely visible, as Texans backup QB Sage Rosenfels(!) lit up the Titans for 290 yards and 4 TDs. This left the Titans down by a point with :57 left in the game. Thankfully, we had this guy:



Rob Bironas: A+++
See also "the only reason we won this game. " Bironas scored 26 total points, and set a new NFL record for most field goals in a single game (a perfect 8/8).

So there you have it folks-the whole ugly thing. Hats off to Bironas for being a truly clutch player today. As for the defense, shame on you. No more taking a nap in the 4th quarter. A 32 to 7 lead should not turn into a near cardiac arrest over the course of 15 minutes of playing time. You nearly killed Tim. Seriously. At any rate, a win is a win, but jeez-no more like this, OK? Onward.

That's all, folks.

In case you didn't notice, the Cubs' season came to an end this past Saturday. Don't much know what to say about it. Rich Hill was pretty bad, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs in 3 complete innings. The offense was flat-out awful for the most part. Seven total hits and five walks somehow only added up to one lousy run. And that's not mentioning the four occurrences of those dreaded letters: GIDP. The good news is that the Cubs still managed to go from dead last in the NL Central to first in the course of a season. The bad news should be pretty obvious. Until April rolls around again, I guess I'll just quietly be rooting for the Red Sox to go the distance this year.

That being said, you'll see all the sports-related talk around these parts shift to the hometown favorites-the Tennessee Titans and the Nashville Predators. Both of those teams, by the way, had excellent weekends. The Titans' defense looked solid against the Atlanta Falcons, and the Preds looked dominant in their first two games of the season. Onward. Go Titans, and go Preds!

Don't Panic. Yet.

Well, Cub fans, last night was a tough one. The Cubs lost to the Diamondbacks, 3-1, in Game 1 of the NLDS.There's already a lot of controversy swirling around Lou Piniella's decision to pull Carlos Zambrano after the 6th inning. His replacement, Carlos Marmol, almost immediately gave up the go-ahead home run, ultimately resulting in a loss.

So the question of the day is this: Should Lou have pulled Z when he did?
I can't say with certainty, but I tend to think I agree. Here's why.

1. Z was already up to 85 pitches or so. You want to have him rested up if the series goes to 4 or 5 games.
2. Marmol is hands-down the Cubs' best reliever. Coming into last night's game, he had 96Ks over 69.1 IP, plus a 1.43 ERA.

The other thing worth noting is that a two-run lead, even in late innings, shouldn't have been insurmountable. The bottom line is that the Cubs offense looked downright awful. When your 1-4 hitters collectively muster 1 hit, and your leadoff man goes 0-5, that's a problem. When the team's LOB = 9, that's a problem. Piniella made a reasonable decision, the offense just showed that they weren't up to the task.

All that being said, tonight's game is (and I hate to use this term) a must-win. I feel good OK about this one. Ted Lilly, who has been looking very good his last couple of starts, takes the mound tonight. This combined with some run support should (hopefully) equal a tied series going back to Chicago on Saturday. Onward. Go Cubs!

AC 00 62 99

The playoffs start tonight. Time to reset the "calendar" to AC 00 00 00. Go Cubs.