Kerry Collins, Titans Triumph in Battle of Battered Quarterbacks

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It was billed as a nationally televised divisional clash between two rivals armed with two of the best running backs in the NFL. But a pair of first-half hits reduced Monday night's Tennessee-Jacksonville showdown to a duel of backup quarterbacks.

The Titans had one. The Jaguars didn't.

Truth be told, the same could have been said about the game's starters.

Whatever the case, the confluence of events paved the way for the Titans to flatten the turnover-prone and not-ready-for-prime-time Jaguars, 30-3, before a soldout, teal-draped EverBank Stadium crowd that came to watch their team seek relevancy on a national stage.

"Not the night of football we were looking for," Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said.

Not the night of football executives at ESPN were looking for either, what with the Yankees and Rangers going at it on another network. Then again, the Rangers won a blowout in that one, also, managing to tally more than double the number the Jags put on the scoreboard, despite Jacksonville knocking Titans starter quarterback Vince Young out of the game early and holding Chris Johnson to just 44 yards through three quarters.

For the Titans (4-2), it was 37-year-old Kerry Collins to the rescue again.

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"That's why Kerry's here," Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said. "We're very, very fortunate to have two very talented quarterbacks. When one goes down, the other steps up and goes."

The outcome moved the Titans into a three-way tie with Indianapolis and Houston atop the AFC South. The Jags are a game behind at 3-3. OK, stop laughing. Remember, the Jags beat the Colts two weekends ago, dropping Indy to 0-2 in division play and helping make the AFC South race the wildest in the NFL.

Monday brought more intrigue, especially at the QB positions for both teams.

"This ain't his first rodeo. If you want a backup (quarterback), you want Kerry Collins."
-- Tennessee's Cortland Finnegan Young led his offense on a 79-yard touchdown march early, hitting Kenny Britt with 23-yard scoring pass, to start the game. On the Titans' second series, though, Young sprained both his knee and ankle when his left leg was awkwardly bent backward after he picked up a fumbled snap from center and was piled on by Jacksonville defenders. "Gone for the season" was how Young described his initial thoughts in the scrum. Trainers, though, cleared him to return, but only to play from the shotgun formation.

His offensive linemen probably would have been carrying him up and down the field.

"Would have been like Byron Leftwich back at Marshall," Young said.

That wasn't an option for Fisher. Not with Collins, the battle-tested, 16-year veteran, who just two years ago relieved an injured Young in Week 1 and guided the Titans to a league-best 13-3 record.

"This ain't his first rodeo," Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan said. "If you want a backup, you want Kerry Collins."

Collins finished 11 of 16 for 110 yards and a touchdown. Young and Collins combined to complete 66 percent of their throws, with no interceptions and a 123.3 pass efficiency rating.

Young was limping considerably in the postgame locker room -- and on the way to the team bus -- but neither of his injuries was immobilized or packed in ice. He never left the sideline during the game, either, staying to root on Collins and his teammates.

Though Young, for now, will be termed "day to day" heading toward next week's home date against Philadelphia, Collins staved off any notion of a quarterback controversy.

"I'm the backup. Vince is the starter," Collins said. "Period. The end."

The decisiveness of the defeat was about that emphatic, too, especially after Will Witherspoon leveled David Garrard on a blitz, sending the Jacksonville starter reeling backward, where he banged his head on the turf and suffered a concussion.

Enter backup Trent Edwards, who began the season as Buffalo's starter, only to be benched after Week 1 and released after Week 2. Together, Garrard and Edwards threw for just 189 yards and were intercepted three times. The moribund passing game rendered Jags go-to tailback Maurice Jones-Drew (17 carries, 57 yards) ineffective. Jacksonville also had a fumble inside the Tennessee 10 and went just 3-of-13 on third-down conversions.

"It was Monday night and a chance for us to go out and show what we're all about," Jones-Drew said.

And Del Rio: "We were really without a spark all night."

It was 20-0 before the Jags got on the scoreboard with a Josh Scobee field goal midway through the third quarter, but the only really interesting moments after that came following the second half's two-minute warning. That's when Del Rio -- with the Titans on offense, having run the ball six straight plays -- called back-to-back timeouts despite being down 23-3.

On fourth-and-5, Johnson -- still in the game -- zipped through the left side and raced 35 yards for a touchdown, sealing the Jags' third loss of the season by at least 25 points.

"Jack used his timeouts," a smirking Fisher said, offering a confusing (and possibly sarcastic) explanation that the network asked the teams to stop the clock. "They came over and asked me to do it. I said, 'Well, I was hoping to get a first down and kneel on it.' ... At the end of the game like that, you don't punt it or kick a field goal. You hand it off."

The last handoff gave Johnson 111 yards for the night and his eighth straight road game of more than 100 yards.

"Honestly, I have no issues with Jack the way he managed (and) handled the game at the end," Fisher said. "And I certainly don't think he'd have an issue with me handing the ball off."

Johnson certainly didn't.

"I love all the yards," Johnson said.

About as much as the Titans love all their quarterbacks.

And about as much the Jags are uncertain of theirs right now.