ESPN NFL

HOUSTON -- These were two different teams from the ones that met in Week 2.

They produced a different result, as the Titans got a fourth win in a row and dropped Houston to 5-5.

Chris Johnson said he wanted to top 200 yards against the Texans. As the game ended he looked perfectly content to settle for 151 and a 20-17 win.

It’s a win that may have achieved Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck's stated goal of destroying the Texans' playoff aspirations.

Seven teams now rank ahead of Houston, which blew its chance to get to two games over .500 and fell into third place in the AFC South behind undefeated Indianapolis and 6-4 Jacksonville.

It was a slugfest and a nail-biter with a fair share of personal fouls and controversy. Antonio Smith took a swing at Kevin Mawae on the ground. Tim Bulman tried to trip Vince Young. John Busing got called for a phantom horsecollar tackle of Chris Johnson.

And as the Texans examine consecutive losses to Indy and Tennessee, they’ll be left looking at two left-leaning field goals.

Kris Brown missed from 42 yards in Indy with a chance to force overtime two weeks ago. He missed again after a bye week, this time from 47, missing out on a chance to force overtime at Reliant Stadium on the final play.

Everything, it seems, is difficult for the Texans when it matters the most. The Titans, meanwhile, surely can’t help but think about how different things would be if they’d found a way to start 1-5 instead of 0-6.

HOUSTON -- Kris Brown missed a 42-yarder wide left at the end of the Texans' last game that could have forced overtime. He just missed a 49-yarder wide right that could have given the Texans a lead against the Titans.

This one had plenty of distance, but slid to the right.

Not ideal work from a guy known for his ability to connect from long distance.

Titans kicker Rob Bironas also has a big leg.

After Vince Young keyed a drive with two great third-down runs, Bironas hit from 50 to give the Titans a 17-14 lead.

HOUSTON -- Some halftime thoughts from Texans-Titans, which is tied 14-14.

• Boy, the Titans' option plays with Vince Young and Chris Johnson running together are electric. Does it lose some of that juice if they run it much more? Has to be tempting for Mike Heimerdinger to call more. The play calling has been a nice and effective mix, I think.
• Loyalty is nice, but should have some limits, too. Rod Hood was playing great in place of Nick Harper. Harper was ready to return from a broken forearm, and coach Jeff Fisher gave him his job back. As a reward, he got to see Andre Johnson run right past Harper for a 12-yard touchdown on a fade. I suspect the Texans are big fans of Fisher’s loyalty.
• At the end of the first quarter and going into the two-minute warning, Young and Jeff Fisher both seemed unaware of where the clock stood. The Titans burned a timeout in the first situation. Young walked to the sideline with palms up in the second, then put his arm around Fisher when he arrived for their talk. Houston could have managed the clock better just before the half when more aggressive play calling might have given them a chance at a long field goal attempt for Kris Brown.
• Houston had done largely good work containing Johnson up until a 36-yard run on Tennessee’s second scoring drive. On that run, he bounced off Brian Cushing and skipped to allow Zac Diles to fly by. I’d bet outside of that Houston was pretty happy with their defensive effort against him, and that’s saying something when the guy is averaging 6.6 yards a carry and not hurting you too badly.
• James Casey isn’t going to replace Owen Daniels, but he offers an intriguing and flexible piece for Matt Schaub. I’d like to see the Texans try to get him increasingly involved in what they are doing.
• Fullback Vonta Leach is a valued blocker and special-teamer and the Texans were surely relieved his injury was merely a knee bruise and he was back in short order.
• Too much Chris Brown. He's got twice as many carries as Steve Slaton, six to three, and is half as dynamic, at best.

HOUSTON -- The Texans let it be known this week that Steve Slaton would be back as their starting running back.

But it’s Chris Brown who’s gotten a big share of the work for them so far and is a more physical option.

The Titans are playing defenses that prioritize stopping Andre Johnson, who hurt them badly in the first meeting.

The Texans are playing defenses that prioritize stopping Chris Johnson, who hurt them badly in the first meeting.

So will Brown or Slaton be able to prompt Tennessee to add a defender to the box? Or will Vince Young make the Texans pay for leaving corners singled up?

Or both?

Or neither?

The answers may tell the story of this game, currently knotted at 7-7.

HOUSTON -- That was an odd timeout by Jeff Fisher with just a second left on the first quarter clock. He could have simply let it run out and gotten the break between quarters.

Vince Young was unhappy, and barked at Kenny Britt, the rookie receiver who had been lined up wide right in the formation.

The Titans came out of the timeout and ran a nice option play on which Young pitched to Chris Johnson, who gained 17 yards.

Will the lost timeout come back to haunt Fisher?

HOUSTON -- Goal-line runs haven’t been a strength for the Texans this season. They just went up 7-0 on the Titans with a little third-and-goal creativity.

Credit the bye week. Credit coach Gary Kubiak and his coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Credit Matt Schaub and Steve Slaton for execution and the blockers ahead of them for helping make it work.

Out off the shotgun, Schaub waited for the rush, then flipped an underhanded pass to Slaton cutting across. Dave Ball had him, but got dragged into the end zone.

Now the Texans have the Titans pinned deep in their own end.

HOUSTON -- Is this the biggest game in Houston Texans history?

A case can certainly be made that it is. Just like their last game, a narrow loss at Indy was. Just like, win or lose tonight, the rematch Sunday against the Colts will be.

That’s life as an expansion franchise in the playoff conversation this deep into the season for the first time.

And while Gary Kubiak, coach of a 5-4 team, downplays it a bit, he likes it too.

“I think it’s positive that we’re here in the back half of the season and talking about playing in some big games,” he said. “That obviously hasn’t been the case around here in the early stages of this franchise. We’ve got a long, long way to go and we’ve got seven football games left. So much changes in this league week-to-week. We know each one is a very pivotal game for our football team. That’s what you what to be in. Heck, that’s why you’re part of this business.”

The New York Jets' season has gotten away from them, but at least they're not the Cleveland Browns.

Jets receiver Braylon Edwards arrived in a Week 5 trade with the Browns. He wasn't able to enjoy the atmosphere when the Jets started 3-0. He personally has gone 1-9 in his two stops this season.

"I think frustration lies in the fact that I know what is here," Edwards said. "I know what this team has. Coming from Cleveland, where -- I love those guys to death over there, the players -- but they are not a good team right now. They are not in a good situation.

"So leaving that situation, I knew what it was like to be in a bad situation. Coming here, I saw a team that was focused, playing well together, coached by a great man and have a lot of role players and coaches. There is a lot of positive energy in here."

The Browns lost all four of the games Edwards played in. The Jets have gone from a No. 5 position in ESPN's Power Rankings to losing five out of their six games since the trade.

Edwards has 17 receptions for 281 yards and two touchdowns for the Jets. The New England Patriots held him to one catch for 10 yards Sunday in Gillette Stadium. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez completed three times as many passes to Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden.

"We have the potential to be a good team, but potential is nothing without reality," Edwards said. "We haven't met that potential since I've been here. We've been up and down and inconsistent. That is why we lose.

"What we have to do, it gets repetitive. I’ve been making this speech for five years for me. We have to find a way to come out and finish games. Start fast, maintain and then finish. We have to find a way to do that.

"It has to happen now. It had to happen last week, it didn’t. Who knows what will happen these next six games. We need to take it a game at a time. We have Carolina coming up and that’s our focus. We have to get it together somehow."

We all know the Saints, who don’t exactly have a storied history, are off to the best start in franchise history. They’re 10-0 and that already ties them for the fourth-most wins in a season in franchise history

They’ve got a huge game coming up next Monday with New England, and getting to 11-0 would make them the first NFC team to reach that mark since the 1991 Washington Redskins. And we must point out Washington won the Super Bowl that season.

With six regular-season games to go and plenty of room for the Saints to keep climbing, here’s a look at the best seasons in team history.

Here are seven notes and observations from an awful Week 11 in the AFC North:

Drew Hallowell/Getty ImagesThe Steelers should take a long look at free agent quarterback Jeff Garcia.


• If I’m the Pittsburgh Steelers, the first free agent I’m calling this week is quarterback Jeff Garcia. With the status of Ben Roethlisberger (head) up in the air this week and backup Charlie Batch out for the rest of the regular season, the Steelers need a veteran replacement. Although chances are slim that someone can come in and start right away against the Baltimore Ravens, if anyone has a chance, it’s Garcia. It will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles this if Roethlisberger isn't healthy enough to return. Would the Steelers really go with Dennis Dixon in a crucial game?
• If Pittsburgh isn’t convinced that drastic changes need to be made ASAP on special teams, I’m not sure they ever will be this season. Pittsburgh has allowed four kickoff returns for touchdowns and two in the past two weeks. These are huge blows in a game. Kansas City Chiefs tailback Jamaal Charles took the opening kickoff to the house in their overtime win over Pittsburgh Sunday, and that play gave Kansas City all the confidence it needed to hang in there and eventually pull off the upset. The Steelers have a wealth of talent, and it's time to take some of those backups and replace them with better players.
• We are getting a lot of e-mails in our AFC North inbox from Cleveland Browns fans regarding the frantic finish in a loss to the Detroit Lions. But the referees got this one right. Cleveland defensive back Hank Poteat clearly committed pass interference on the Hail Mary. Yes, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford hurt his shoulder with no timeouts, but above all else a game cannot end on a penalty. Another huge mistake was Browns head coach Eric Mangini calling a timeout for an explanation, which allowed Stafford to return and throw the game-winning touchdown. Who knows if an ice cold Daunte Culpepper could have come in and successfully executed that play in the clutch?
• Here is a question for the Cincinnati Bengals: Why is Andre Caldwell returning kickoffs? It's been clear all season that Caldwell is not very good in that role. He dances too much and doesn't hit the hole or run a straight line. Caldwell burned the Bengals again on a kick return with a late fumble that set up the Oakland Raiders' game-winning field goal Sunday. Rookie tailback Bernard Scott was coming into his own in that role following a big touchdown return against the Steelers, and Scott should have been the player returning the final kick despite a lot of carries at tailback. Caldwell is a solid receiver but it's time to give that kickoff return experiment a rest.
• The Bengals also could not rush the passer against Oakland. Journeyman quarterback Bruce Gradkowski threw 31 times and Cincinnati had zero sacks. The Bengals also continued their season-long trend of not defending the tight ends. Oakland tight end Zach Miller led the Raiders with five catches for 65 yards. When you can't pressure the quarterback and constantly leave the middle of the field open that usually results in a loss.
• The replay of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco’s final interception in a loss the Indianapolis Colts looks like he just decided to throw into triple coverage. But Flacco said he was fooled and never saw Indianapolis linebacker Gary Brackett drop on the backside. Brackett made a heady play by briefly engaging with an offensive lineman and then dropping into the spot where Ravens tailback Ray Rice was heading. According to Brackett, Baltimore ran the play earlier and he recognized the route. Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron also said afterwards that he was fooled by Bracket's decision not to rush the quarterback.
• Let me finish by saying this was the worst weekend of football that I can recall in nearly two seasons covering the division. Three AFC North teams lost to awful opponents in sloppy fashion, and the one possible upset in the division was foiled by poor play in the red zone. I know it's just one Sunday, but group performances like this lead me to believe the AFC North is not as good as I once thought heading down the stretch of the regular season.