SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Dawgs By Nature

NFL Kickoff Open Thread - Titans vs. Steelers

Tonight at 8:30 PM, the NFL Season kicks off when the Tennessee Titans travel to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last year, the Titans got the better of the Steelers in the regular season, and RB LenDale White threw a terrible towel to the ground before stomping on it. It was expected that the Steelers would have their chance at revenge against the Titans in the playoffs, but that never came to be. The Titans were upset by the Baltimore Ravens, and the Steelers ended up winning the Super Bowl.

One of these two powerhouse teams will start the season at 0-1, giving the other team a huge advantage early on in the season for the race to the best record in the conference. Can the Titans survive without Albert Haynesworth? Can the Steelers find traction in their ground game with Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall?

On top of all of that, if the Steelers lose, the Browns will have the rare opportunity to say the are half a game ahead of the Steelers! [/sarcasm]

For Titans coverage, head to Music City Miracles.

For Steelers coverage, head to Behind the Steel Curtain.

NOTE: This is an open game thread for the Titans vs. Steelers game. We'll rarely do open threads for games that aren't Browns-related, but contests such as this one are the exception. If you're watching the game tonight and want to express your celebration every time Ben Roethlisberger throws a pick, let us know!

0 recs  |  353 comments

Comments

I bleed brown and orange, but I never get tired of watching Troy Polamalu play.

If there’s anything worse than a dominant Steelers defender, its one that came U$C.
>.<

my long time ex-girlfriend was a steelers fan and was in love in polamalu….so obviously i hate him. i hope lendale white or alge crumpler concusses him

i hope lendale white or alge crumpler concusses EATS him

Fixed.

hahha….i’ll take either one

Vikes fan question

Heard Shaun Rodgers is banged up. Will he go this week? And if so..100%? That guy=our Pat Williams.

Our guy is greater than Pat Williams. Don’t fool yourself.

Shaun Rogers is getting the LT preseason treatment.

He doesn’t need to play in pointless games. He will be full go Sunday. Good luck blocking him with a newbie center.

Hes fine. And better than Pat Williams

Tonight should be an awesome game.
I hope Veggiburger falls on his big pumkin head and has an horrible night.

I love a good towel stomping anyday. Patron White is gonna run all over that defense (I hope.)

I’m excited for some football!
Go Titans! (Second favorite NFL team since the Eddie George era)
[Quite a distant second behind Cleveland though, of course.]

i am a bandwagon 2nd-favorite-team-guy…seriously, switch up every year or two…least you are guaranteed some scuccess…last year i followed the cardinals when warner won the the preseason qb derby, i rode em to the superbowl

now they drafted beanie, so i’m lookin forward to following them agian

They are also my second favorite team because they are close to me.

How do you survive in Kentucky with only the Cardinals?

Jeff Fisher is my football hero, so I do root for the Titans.

So far tonight I have these thoughts;

1. I don’t like the b lack eyed peas. Don’t have a real good reason.
2. Nothing is more lame than the “Terrible Towel”.
3. Jon Dwyer from GT is a beast. I thought the Paul Johnson triple option was going to be shaky at best, but GT is killing people with it. Count me in for Dwyer in a Browns jersey next year.

Black Eyed Peas suck ass.

I started the Dwyer bandwagon, and you are welcome on.

I only liked I Gotta Feeling. Then hated it when I found out there is no bass line.

Their other back looked very good tonight as well.

This game intro is disgusting.

Ah Man! And we gotta listen to Collinsworth too? Gunna be a long night.

Bengals + Steelers in one night? Shoot me.

And he also killed Madden 10 for me. His voice should have given that game a 0/10 rating.

“You know that old bathrobe that you’ve got? You love it, your wife hates it, but you always know what its going to give you. That’s what this guy is…”

Honestly, they make it out like the Steelers invented football

That is what the NFL Network would love you to believe.

Big Ben chokes on 3rd down with a WIDE OPEN wide reciever.

With Wallaces speed that should have been an easy TD

It doesnt matter. He is a proven winner.

*Weiner. He is a proven Weiner…Burger.

I was just mocking the steeler fans

Casey Hampton needs a bigger helmet. That one makes him look like the pillbury dough boy.

And does Polamalu look even more intimidating with a revo speed?

Not after that penalty.

Can I retract that statement?

Nah, he still looks like a muppet.

If he makes an interception I hope the Titans know it’s legal to use hair to tackle a runner.

Edge had that happen once, then he cut his dreds.

There should be a rule on super long hair. You know, safety issues.

No there shouldn’t. Players know the risk.

Somone is going to be tackled by their long hair and snap their neck.

And then they will die. Carson Palmer told me that. (I am kidding of course.)

Dude. People horsecollared up to 2006 and no one ever died of a broken neck in the NFL directly related to a horsecollar or hair tackle.

Darnit! They didn’t go for the hair! And there was a ton of interference on that catch.

I was kidding about the comment that Carson Palmer made about someone dying in the NFL.

I know Haha. I’m just serious.

Do we haev any long hair guys besides Veikune?

No. We respect the fact that we know what a Barber is. Veikune is just beast.

And Cribbs if he keeps his dreds in.

Oh yeah. And Lawson

Our returners love their dreds.

The Steelers line still sucks

It’s even worse and now they’re tackling there own runners! (Heath Miller)

Where is Ben’s god-like play making ability?

Extending a play means nothing if it still ends in a sack.

It’s the blonde locks, they’re sucking his ability away.

HE IS A WINNER!!!!!!

Not tonight, I hope.

Steeler’s line is porous tonight. They can’t run the ball, and 2 sacks on 3rd down already.

Ben is gonna be Favred in about three years at this rate.

Damn I hope I don’t have to sit through “Big Ben Watch” during the off-season football talk 3 years from now.

First bad pass by Collins. Hopefully the Titans defense stays strong.

It doesn’t take an NFL quarterback to know not to just toss it up in Troy’s direction.

What was he thinking?

“I’m Kerry Collins and I can suck so badly that they still won’t even think of putting VY in. I feel like bombing tonight”

Nice. But I don’t think Young is the answer. He’s a decent backup though.

Young=Texas Overrated. Just like McCoy is going to be.

Young was the one of the top 5 College QBs you will ever see. he is also a non-factor in teh NFL.

And right back the other way. Big Ben is obviously the third best QB in the league, right?

This is exactly what I meant about Big Ben not being elite. He has made some really bad throws tonight.

By from what I’ve seen so far…. I’m glad w play Pitt twice, and not Tenn this year.

Taylor Mays or Eric Berry next year for the Browns, please

Miller just got teabagged!

Willie Parker looks a step slow.

Behind the steel curtain says he is getting the boot after this year.

Why not with such a solid young back like Mendenhall (sp) waiting in the works.

/sarcasm

I think that Mendenhall is going to be a bust. He reminds me of William Green. Runs soft.

Dude. He busted last year. The glue they got holding him together won’t last long.

I’m willing to give him a pass for last year because he was hurt, but I still think he is nothing special.

Nope. Juice has all the juice in Illinois.

We may have just seen his only +10 yard carry for weeks. Ohhh, and it gets called back.

Suprised to not see an uproar of ignorant Steeler fans.

I’d like to see the trolls stick to their own blog.

I know the Titans have a very good defense, but I think the Steelers are going to have a hard time running the ball this year. Their line looks questionable at best.

This makes me feel better about the Browns chances this year in taking one from the Steelers.

Sorry if I’m posting too much but I’m trying to make up for past threads.

Al is pissed he has to spend the night with Cris.

How does he still have a job? The guy’s voice sounds like he is constantly wasted, yet unfortunately for us he isn’t, because it’d be a lot more entertaining than his normal dry commentary.

I wish Lou Holtz had his own show. He cracks me up every time he is on ESPN.

His lisp makes me want to throw up though.

Harsh. He cant help it

I can’t help it either. I have a lisp too but It’s just much.

Maybe he can’t help it, but he shouldn’t be on TV

I love him. He is a great coach you have to admit

Irish bias.

He is a Hall of Fame coach.

Still. I go to Kent and I don’t think THAT highly of him.

The best is when he gets totally jacked up and you can’t understand a word he says. Plus I think there is a small chance he will punch Mark May on air. I can only hope.

(Crosses Fingers!) They do hate each other on screen though. It’s amazing.

Mark May hasnt picked Notre Dame to win a game in a few years. Does everyone else hate him or is it just ND fans

He’s realistic. (Sorry, I love being negative toward ND. But my Holtz comments are completly unbiased.)

Whenever he picks a game wrong he always just makes tons of excuses instead of admitting he was wrong.

Like last week he praised Nevada before the game and then talked about how they were week after it was over. Thats just one example

And if you wanna make fun of my Irish, I have plenty to say about Kent.

…Like how Holtz graduated from Kent? Ohhhhhhh!

I completely agree. That’s why it’s fun when he yells out Holtz and it blows up in his face.

Mark May is the biggest USC homer this side of Colin Cowherd.

You need to drink more often, Genuine LOL, way after the fact on this one.

C’mon Titans. Put some points up!

That is two Personal Fouls and one waved off P.I on Polamalu. Looking good so far Hair Boy.

Of course I want Tennessee to win, but I can’t help but enjoy watching Pitt play good football, because I see them more as rivals than enemies. Is there something wrong with me?

Yes. You should hate the Steelers.

What’s your definition of rival and enemy?

Rival being someone I deeply respect. I respect Pittsburgh because of how well they run their organisation, and their continuity. Does that make me feel better when we lose to them? H*** no! But I respect them. Rivals you want at their best because it makes it that much better when you finally beat them.

Enemies are people I can’t respect. People or teams that act like a bunch of stuck up jerks. For some reason I put New England into this category….

Cheating tends to have that effect

I disagree with your definition of rival.

How so?

I respect them. But I don’t love them like you seem to.

I don’t love them, I just respect them and enjoy watching solid football for a change. >.>

And this has nothing to do with me owning their DEF in my fantasy league…

Nice.

Though truth be told I’m starting BAL’s defense agaisnt KC this week instead.

PITT and BAL defense on the same team? Damn, who were you drafting with? They need to join my money league!

Lol. Just some guys who got together on this one site b/c they love NFL football. But almost none of them were there live.

Wow. That’s all I can say.

2 failed FGs. LAME

Very lame. I’m starting Rob B. in two of my fantasy leagues. Damn it.

Funny thing is, I actually have Pitt’s defense in both of those leagues as well.

It’s funny how their defense seems worse than last year’s so far.

Well it’s a win – win scenario when you have them on your fantasy team.
Pitt D does well: fantasy points!
Pitt D does bad: PITT DOES BAD!

Ouch. Tripod fail.

Ouch. I didn’t understand that comment until I refreshed. Then it took the picture away.

Haha, I just copied and pasted the image URL in my browser. Nice.

Titans may get that back. It looked like a Steeler kicked it. Bad time to go to commercial.

This game us hauling ass. Only been on for an hour.

Low scoring.

Its the 28 to 34 games that take 2.5 hours per half.

Tainted Buckeye. So sad.

I couldn’t agree more. Such a terrible person now.

Ugh! Colllinsworth shut up! My ears are bleeding!

There we go Titans!

Wow. Now its 7 to 7.

He was wide open!
TOUCHDOWN!!

Did anyone see how Gage was acting like he was gonna give the ball to the Steelers fan but yanked it away at the last second? I loved it!

That… was… amazing.

Nice INT return

I just like the fact it was intercepted. Go Tomlin for calling a Hail Mary!

Cheap picks on Big Ben’s stats are still I.N.T.s in the box score.

This isn’t defending Ben but I think recievers should start getting charged for INTs if they directly caused it.

I sort of agree, A LOT of picks are caused just because a WR can’t catch and ends up popping it up for grabs for the defense.

Damn Finnigan SOOOOOO close.

HAHA I didn’t know Troy got hurt.

Wow. Buy a brand spanking new helmet and get hurt for a completely different reason. MADDEN CURSE!

Hahahaha, I had almost forgot about the Madden Curse. Uh oh, one done, one to go.

Watch out Larry Fitz!

The Fitzgerald part is discouraging.

Larry might be spared. It may only go for one guy, and it went for the longest hair.

Larry’s hair would be longer if it wasnt in braids

It looks like he has a pretty serious knee injury.

I am genuinly concerned. For a steeler, he has a heart of Gold.

I don’t like the Steelers or Polamalu, but I would never wish for someone to get hurt.

Except for Art Modell.

I hope it’s the curse! Never Fails

The curse killed Alexander’s career, Vince Young’s career, McNabb’s fanbase and put Michael Vick in jail. Madden you’ve done enough.

Oh and ripped Favre’s rotator cuff.

I thought McNabb got hurt that year?

He did. Then his fanbase was killed.

The Ray Lewis year (Madden 2005) is very questionable. But 9/10 isn’t bad.

Madden made him shoot someone. 10/10

Yes, but he got away with it, and still plays football to this day. Vick got 2+ years for dog fighting. I stand by 9/10.

How is that not a flag? He hit him after an obvious fair catch?

It’s called paying off the refs.

Yeah, really. Everyone was just standing around.

Looked like a good fair catch to me? And it seemed every other defender saw it…

Did everybody else go to bed? I feel like this thread is a one ringed circus.

Finally caught up after being behind about a half hour initially. Very competitive game thus far; hate to see Polamalu go out with the injury though.

Finnegan did call that fair catch way too early too.

Woah. Better late than never. Have you understood all the commotion in the thread thus far? It’s scattered everywhere.

Yep, I quickly skimmed it for about five minutes. I was pleased to see so many comments when I arrived.

Mainly me. Game threads get me so hyped up. Apologies for slowing the bandwidth with my excessive talking.

The more comments the better. Unless you’re acting like a douche or something, of course ;)

Ouch. That hurt. And I wasn’t alone on that!

I prefer Mr. Douche, thank you.

Way too many illegal formations in this game. That’s what the preseason was supposed to filter out, although many of them are coming due to players trying to get an edge on blocking.

It’ll probably be about 5 months until we spot seeing replays of the Holmes SB catch regularly.

[EDIT]spot stop seeing

There have been two The Catch’s in the last two SBs. A little much?

Damn bold print.

Ha, I was wondering why the emphasis was on that.

It’s ok. I barely noticed. haha

I love entertaining and exciting Super Bowls. It’s the excessive replays they shove down our throats that bother me.

Bironas finally made one!!!

Fisher not going for a fake there was more surprising perhaps.

Yeah, 5 fantasy points. Could have been 11 or 12 :(

LOL I bet you’re livid.

Indubitably. I drafted him as the first overall kicker for a reason.

Still higher than anyone who would’ve had Jeff Reed as their kicker.

If anyone gets a chance check out this article on Madden.

Especially point 3…

Your link didn’t work, I hid it and here is the correct one:

Link to Madden article

It always kicks the numbers out of the link but thank you.

Whoa, Romeo on one of those stupid Coors Light commercials?

The olds ones weren’t that bad. But, I’ve got to admit, the thought of Romeo getting any kind of royalties for something he did while employed by the Browns isn’t a comforting thought.

Getting Shaun Rodgers deserves a beer.

Those are awesome commercials. Basically making fun of coach-speak and Crennel was aweseom at it.

Can you give me a link for that

lmao, did you guys just see the Romeo Crennel commercial? Not as funny as some of them, but didn’t expect to see him there.

BANG! Jevon Kearse with the clear shot on Roethlisberger.

Then the bastard follows it up with a first down again.

His play is as moody as the woman who sued him. (Too soon?)

It’s never too soon for a Steelers joke!

I think we’ll be seeing A LOT of Holmes this season.

It’s better than Ward’s dumbass smile.

Mewelde Moore is going to be the starter in Pittsburgh before the end of the year.

Heck no, he isn’t fast or big enough.

Pitt only has 32 rushing yards. Their line is pathetic.

Look at these guys! Zero blocking tonight.

I wanna see Collinsworth say that the Steelers are over all improved from last season again and then let him get sacked in the mouth by Javon Kearse because he was commentating behind the Steelers O – Line.

No back + no line = no rushing yards. I’m sure their really missing the Bus right about now, so many short yardage opportunities wasted.

You didn’t hear? Bettis is in Washington now.

I saw that. Somebody gets fired for that right?

Hahahaha, only their baseball team could put that to shame

What’s their name again?

Oh yeah, the Natinals.

I heard the company that did that was fired and then signed by the Redskins. Oops. (Kidding of course.)

I’m really hoping it was just someone committed to their hilarious sense of humor, and willing to put his job on the line for a practical joke of epic proportions.

Man, I kept on imagining what would’ve happened if the Steelers snapped that ball. At some points, the Titans looked so shaky I think they could’ve been a step behind on the receivers.

Double header Mondays? Hell yes! I love football.

He was a great Buckeye, but damn AJ Hawk is ugly.

Looks or play ability?

Looks. He was just in a commercial

So is his wife.

OUCH! Isn’t that Quinn’s sister?

No. Quinn married Hawk’s sister right?

I honestly don’t remember now. You might be right.

It’s one or the other obviously. It was a big deal in the bowl game when she split the jerseys.

Quinns sister married Hawk

No, Hawk married Quinn’s sister.

Evening all

Dont beat the Steelers up to bad.. ole lady loves em…wont let her read this much or i wont get laid tonite…lol

10 up..just might get lucky tonight

If the Titans aren’t careful, they are going to give the ball right back

GREAT Steelers might get lucky AGAIN!!!!

i look for overtime… great way to start the season

if Steelers win…i get lucky !!!!

They better pass, ‘cause they can’t run.

Hmmm…bad punt.

Where’s a scoreboard when you need one?

big ben is dangerous on two minute drill

Love Finnegan’s tackle on Ward.

Finnegan is a violent tackler. Love that guy

I can’t watch. Hate seeing Steeler success. Gunna go outside and smoke.

listening to it on Sirius

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SUck it Hines!!!!!

Please tell me he’s still smiling!

He looks like he is about to cry

Hahahaha! YES! Yes he is!

Where is that smile now???

you gotta be shitin me !!!!!!

HOLY CRAP! What a strip! On HINES. I love it!

and Ward to boot ??

lookin at OVERTIME guys… Titans cant hang

Too bad Brownies year decided to go smoke.

He probably felt a disturbance in the force.

yep… he’ll kick his-self..lol

See, I leave the room and good things happen.

So leave again.

I knew YOU were gunna say that.

I want him to break his own jaw for that.

QB sneak ? great call…. NOT

It worked out in the end. Well so far……..

Am I the only person that likes college OT better?

I thought it was universally known. College OT is a MUCH better system. I can’t understand why it hasn’t been changed yet…

Because everyone likes seeing NFL players who didn’t know you could end a game as a tie…McNabb.

Well, it didn’t take long for them to bring that up.

Haha.Me and Al are buddies. I’m actually the one in his earpiece.

whoops… here come da Steelers

gotta agree with Bernie… College OT better deal

ahhh S.B. McNabb dont know no better…lol

Get Them Framed

Make the third one our blog picture!!

Thanks you so much for that!

how do you post pics on here? html code?

Click the tree and put in the URL.

At least Ward doesn’t have that shit eating grin on is face anymore.

Why leave the flats that wide open with 7 back?

looks alittle peeved huh ?

Damn GUYS…. the ole lady seen that… now Mr. Happy may be lonley tonight !!!

Still running the ball? I thought they had learned their lesson by now.

Parker should park it.

She thinks i hang out with riff-raff now

Righttt. The Browns fans are the Riff – Raff.

Poor Ward -—————————————>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hahahaha, nice. Quick work too.

Haha. It’s too bad the avatar size in comments isn’t a tad bigger in cases like this.

Come on Chris. Blog picture!

If the Steelers would’ve lost; wouldn’t seem right since they won.

It’s definitely going to be great for the preview post come Steeler week though!

Damn, risky pass.

yep !!!.. she is a diehard Steelers fan

A feel a little sorry for you, but I guess it happens.

My girlfriend doesn’t know the first thing about football but yells when I yell so I’m all right. Haha.

Darn it, I think that completion to Wallace will do it.

They can pull one of those last second play-clock timeouts right?

She tolorates my Brown slant cause we work for Jamal… and he was really nice to her when we first met him…

Once again, Pro football’s overtime works.

Well, good game anyway.

Look on the bright side. Ward almost cried.

Look on the bright side. Ward almost cried did cry.

well… at least Mr. Happy will celebrate !!!.. lol

Titans were the better team tonight.

Your avatar tends to agree.

Coin tosses are a b****.

well.. all i can say is…come on Oct 18th….. will be in Pburgh… well be the ones with me wearin Browns jersey and her swingin that silly towel..lol

Hey guys...we put your picture of Ward on the front page of SBNation

http://www.sbnation.com/2009/9/10/1024096/nfl-season-is-finally-upon-us

Just caught that; awesome :-D Would’ve felt a lot sweeter had the Steelers actually lost. I finally saw Ward crack a brief smile during the post game interview. Besides that, it was one of the longest stretches I can think of that the smirk was completely absent…

It sure was sweet while it lasted.

I f’ing hate HATE HATE!!! NFL overtime it is such total BS.

Put 8 minutes on the clock and play it out. The dynamic of sudden death is such total luck and the dynamic of HS/college OT is such total NOT football.

I’d be pissed if I were a Tennessee fan.

I like sudden death. If the Titans didn’t play their corners 10 yards off the ball in overtime, they would have had a shot.

I just don’t get any NFL defense that does that, and it happens so often. One style works so well all game, and then when you get into a “okay, we CAN’T allow a score on this drive” mentality, it all goes to hell.

But that’s half the point. The reason you change your coverage in OT is because the rules of the game change in OT.

It always happens in the two-minute drills too.

Coaches are so scared of being beaten deep and losing on one long pass, they allow an offense to complete 8 yard passes all the way down the field.

I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened. All game, whenever the Steelers decided to pass, they moved the ball with ease. It wasn’t just the final drive. But they kept going back to the run, ending up in third and 11, and having their drives stall. At the end of the game, they gave up on the run entirely, and moved the ball with ease — just as they had all game.

Frankly, neither team could run the ball all game, and both were moving through the air. Whichever team abandoned the run first deserved to win.

Santonio Holmes looked really good, he could be in for a breakout.

Well all.. it was nice spending some time with ya’ll tonight… till next time…GO BROWNS

KERRY COLLINS

Kerry Collins may be the luckiest QB in history.

How he got the starting job for a team with such a good O Line is the stuff that the dreams of bad QBs is made of.

Blame Vince Young for being a pretty below average quarterback.

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Dawgs By Nature to post a comment.