What a difference a home game makes. It was good to be back! Even more fun with the crowd dressing up getting into the Halloween spirit. The constant cheer from the crowd had to help lift the boys!
Into the first quarter good pressure was applied by the Texans throwing the Titans first few conversions attempts off. Good early yards were gained by Dameon Pierce (#31) and Brandin Cooks (#13) with the aid of Davis Mills (#10) plays. After a messy back end of the quarter, it was a nice turn of events for the ball to be stripped and turned over to our boys thanks to Tremon Smith (#1) with perfect placement. Surely a glimmer of hope for more to come even with those complete plays few and far between.
The boys charged into the second quarter with an exciting early interception by Steven Nelson (#21) which was followed by an easy push up of yards, bringing well needed momentum encouraging the boys to take the lead with a 42 yard field goal by the always on point Ka’imi Fairbairn (#7).
Unfortunately, this is where the buck stopped...Our defensive side struggled to make little impact and gave the Titans plenty of time to make clean complete plays. Their quarterback appeared untouchable due to an extremely strong front line. Let’s not forget the Titans unstoppable Derrick Henry (#22) scoring an effortless touchdown and stealing the lead. I thought we had a chance until this beast of a man joined the game.
We had a great opening third quarter play between Mills and Jordan (#9), but unfortunately that’s as far as it went. Cameron Johnston (#11), our home grown boy, was brought on to give the boys some breathing room with several great punts; that’s about all we achieved this quarter (yikes!).
On a side note, so happy to see a female ref on the field (Equality!).
Titans put more distance between us with Henry (#22) making another easy touchdown, just running through our boys. Man he is hard to take down! It looked like our boys were being dragged behind a centaur.
A nice complete throw and catch which even the commentators had to acknowledge between Mills and Howard (#83) brought a glimmer of hope with the potential to utilise out tight ends for some more risky plays…
I was a bit nervous with our boys trailing by eleven heading into the fourth quarter with the Titans’ Henry storming through our boys whenever he was in play. Our only hope was someone finding his Achilles heel!
We hit strong with Pierce having a few good breakaways; unfortunately the pivotal ones were called back due to holding. We shifted things back to a kicking game; it was all we could do at this point to create a little breathing room.
Literally as the clock is winding down an incredible run and throw by Mills with an unbelievable catch by Cooks giving us prime positioning to make something happen. It did lead to Pierce securing our first touchdown of the match with excellent execution by all boys in field of play. However, all a little too late with 23 seconds remaining on the clock. Titans took a knee with 10 seconds left on the clock, and it was clear this game was over.
Final score Titans 17 to Texans 10.
Not a bad effort when you look at the final outcome, however the few good plays were heavily outweighed by the Titans’ well-oiled machine, I mean team.
I just can’t argue with the commentators throwing around the term domination during their wrap up. As they said, we just don’t have enough play makers and unfortunately this teamed with Mills inexperience makes it hard for us to get out on top.
I know Coach Lovie is moving his chess pieces throughout the season, but it’s starting to look like a sorrowful end for the Bulls.
Let’s jump over and check out how the rest of my forecast played out for the week;
Ravens Beat Buccaneers 27 – 22 (A Win)
Broncos Beat Jaguars 21 - 17
Dolphins Beat Lions 31 – 27 (A Win)
Falcons Beat Panthers 37-34 (A Win)
Vikings Beat Cardinals 34-26 (A Win)
Cowboys Beat Bears 49-29 (A Win)
Saints Beat Raiders 24-0
Eagles Beat Steelers 35 – 13 (A Win)
Patriots Beat Jets 22-17
Titans Beat Texans (Outplayed) 17-10
Seahawks Beat Giants 27-13
Commanders Beat Colts 17-16
49ers Beat Rams 31- 14
Bills Beat Packers 27-17 (A Win)
Browns Beat Bengals 32-13
Just like my beloved Texans, I am struggling to create something outstanding with my tipping. Let’s hope the season upsets have calmed down for next week and we get over the 50/50 mark.
Keep it together.
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