Mark WiedmerIf the Tennessee Titans make the playoffs, Titans Nation should hope for rain. Maybe sleet. Even snow. Anything that makes a good playing surface a mess, because their team can win ugly with the best of them.
For proof, just return to Sunday, to a cold and rainy MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where Tennessee faced a must-win game against the New York Giants if it hoped to keep alive its fragile playoff hopes.
With no room for error, the Titans looked every bit the part of a team more than capable of reaching its second straight postseason by dominating the New Yorkers 17-0 in a performance featuring two dynamics rarely on display in today’s NFL – defense and a ground game.
With former Alabama great and 2015 Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry rushing for 170 yards and two touchdowns and the defense delivering the franchise’s first shutout since Christmas Day 2000, the Titans won for a third straight week.
“Getting a shutout in this league is tough,” said first-year Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who actually called a late timeout to make sure his defense knew how long it had been since the team blanked the Dallas Cowboys 31-0. “That’s partly why I wanted to call a timeout, just to make sure we had our bearings straight.”