NASHVILLE — They may be the defending Super Bowl champions, but the New Orleans Saints looked much more like the Ain’ts — as in the Not Theres — Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans inside LP Field.
With Saints quarterback Drew Brees and 18 of his fellow starters never leaving the bench, the Titans used a touchdown pass from starting quarterback Vince Young and a late scoring barrage from the third-teamers to overcome the New Orleans reserves 27-24.
“It appeared that both teams were staying kind of basic and just playing, but it was some good football,” said Titans coach Jeff Fisher. “It was good to get [Chattanooga High graduate] Tony Brown back. Overall, we made some plays.”
The Titans complete the preseason with a 2-2 record while New Orleans finishes 2-2.
The Saints had a sound reason for resting the vast majority of their starters. They open the regular season this coming Thursday against the Minnesota Vikings, while the Titans don’t begin play until three days later against Oakland.
Of course, the Titans sat at least six starters and removed most of the others by early in the second period.
Among those who did play, reserve running back Javon Ringer — subbing for Chris Johnson — may have made the most noise, running for 64 yards on four carries, including a 47-yard jaunt in which he broke at least four tackles.
“The O-line had some good blocks and Ringer did a good job running,” said Young, who completed 4 of 7 passes for 24 yards, including a 7-yard scoring strike to tight end Bo Scaife.
“The touchdown was just a great call by Coach, and Bo made a nice catch.”
Even with the home field and personnel advantages, it wasn’t a perfect night for the Titans. The Saints’ lone touchdown came on a blocked punt midway through the second quarter.
But rookie running back LeGarrette Blount bulled over from the 1-yard line on the first play of the final period to put the Titans in front 20-13.
The score was set up by third-team quarterback Chris Simms — older brother of University of Tennessee starter Matt Simms — 41-yard pass to rookie wideout Marc Mariani, who starred for Montana in last December’s NCAA I-AA national title game at Finley Stadium.
“We’ve been working hard all camp,” Young said. “Now it’s time to get to work and get ready for the regular season.”
Mark Wiedmer started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press on Valentine’s Day of 1983. At the time, he had to get an advance from his boss to buy a Valentine gift for his wife. Mark was hired as a graphic artist but quickly moved to sports, where he oversaw prep football for a time, won the “Pick’ em” box in 1985 and took over the UTC basketball beat the following year. By 1990, he was ...
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