Blue Collar Muse

I have to admit, I kept thinking that the Titans of old might show up this afternoon as slowly but surely I watched the Houston Texans come back. Seemingly unstoppable, they put up 29 unanswered 4th quarter points to erase the 32-7 lead the Titans enjoyed after 3 full quarters. But the Titans of the last half of last year and so far this year seem a different team.

The Texans, led by backup QB Sage Rosenfels, who took over after a couple of brutal Titans tackles banged up starter Matt Schaub, refused to believe they had to lose. Playing the 4th quarter in front of practically empty home town stands, the Texans scored 4 touchdowns, converted a two point try and recovered TWO on-side kicks after the first successful recovery was negated by two penalties! It was possibly one of the finest quarters of offensive football I’ve seen in a while.

The Titans seemed to lose all of the momentum and drive they enjoyed for the first 3 quarters. Once again, they dominated their opponent on both sides of the ball. The Titans held the Texans to merely 2 first downs and less than 25 yards of total offense during the first half while forcing 6 turnovers from a Texan team that seemed unable to find their way more than 2 yards at a time. They did have a touchdown but it was a defensive score on a pretty blitz to Kerry Collins’ blind side. He never saw it coming and the Texans’ exciting 2nd year linebacker and 2006 team leading tackler (156 tackles), DeMeco Ryans #59, scored what the TV announcers declared a trifecta - he forced the fumble, recovered it and took it in for the score. That made the score 7-3 Texans. After that, it was all Titans and everyone except for the Texans gave up and headed for the house.

Meanwhile, the main story of game was unfolding slowly. Rob Bironas, the Titans’ kicker was quietly heading toward the record books. While the Titans offense’ dominated the hapless 1st half Texans’ defense, they couldn’t quite put a stake in their heart. Despite multiple trips into and close to the Red Zone, they could only come away with 1 2nd quarter touchdown and 1 3rd quarter touchdown. Bironas on the other hand was on fire. He tied the Titans team record 5 field goals in one game just before halftime and added a sixth in the 3rd quarter and an NFL record tying 7th field goal in a single game early in the 4th quarter. Bironas’ 4th quarter record tying kick was the lone bright spot lost in an avalanche of Texans’ touchdowns. But it set the stage for the finale.

After the Texans recovered the onside kick, with not quite 4 minutes left to play, Rosenfels marched the Texans down the field in a hair less than 3 minutes for their 4th touchdown, a beautiful 53 yard bomb that perfectly split Titans DBs Nick Harper and Calvin Lowry for the score. After the PAT put the Texans up 36-35 with barely a minute left to play, to say the air was taken out of the Titans’ sails would have been understandable. It would also have been wrong.

Cold as ice, Tennessee backup QB and 13 year veteran, Kerry Collins, stepped onto the field. Looking as if he had all the time in the world and not a mere 60+ seconds, Collins went to work from the Titans 20 yard line. In just over 30 seconds, Collins and his receivers took the ball from the Titans 20 to the Texans 17 yard line on a sweet 46 yard pass play that Roydell Williams almost took to the house for the win. Coach Fisher opted to let the clock run down to 2 seconds and go to Bironas for the FG and a 38-36 victory. In a move that surprised no one, Texans coach Gary Kubiak tried to psych Bironas by calling a time out just before the snap. But Bironas took it all in stride and with .02 on the clock, watched the ball all the way through the uprights as he threw his hands in the air. Bironas’s final FG gave him an astonishing 8 FGs on the day, not only a game winner for the Titans but a new NFL record as well. The previous record of 7 in a game had been held jointly by 4 NFL kickers.

I’m glad we won. We go to 4 and 2 for the year and come off a brutal start to our schedule where we played 4 of our first 6 games on the road. We get 3 in a row at home now. But I’m glad I got to see what I tune in every week to see - an incredible football game. Today was exceptional. The Texans have nothing to be ashamed of. They played an incredible game. As did my Titans.

But as exciting as it was, it’s over. Next week we get the Raiders at home. Having been a Raiders fan for over 30 years prior to the Titans coming to town, the two Titans-Raiders matchups we’ve had since then have been difficult. But I’ll be pulling for Vince and the boys, sorry Scott! Sorry, too, to my internet buddy, Eric, from The Tygrrr Express. You guys are going down. The Titans will make the playoffs this year. I don’t know about getting past Indy and New England to make it to the big show. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Dreaming of a Super Bowl win anyway …

Blue Collar Muse

Popularity: 29% [?]

I ran across this link a couple of weeks ago and failed to save it properly at the time. I found it again, finally! It’s from Patrick Ruffini and concerns a possible inflation of traffic numbers by up to 60% at The DailyKos.

Much of the post is techno-talk or geek-speak concerning how Patrick arrived at the numbers he uses. But I was able to follow it for the most part. Others out there will be able to see and understand the rationale much more easily and clearly than I. Why link to a post that I don’t fully understand? Good question …

If a popular site is, either accidently or intentionally inflating its numbers, that impacts all of us. Truthful and trustworthy numbers are integral to good faith bargaining in ad rates, banner impressions and so forth. It also holds import for the value of statements concerning a site’s influence and credibility when commenting on the issues of the day. Making oneself seem more valuable or influential than you are is deceptive if intentional. If accidental, then ‘fess up, fix the issue and keep on growing and promoting your site until the success is real.

So it is precisely because I don’t understand all the points Ruffini makes that I’m posting this. I’m looking for folks that know more about such things than I do to examine Patrick’s information and conclusions and give it a thumbs up or down. If any of you have an an opinion on the matter and some insight into the numbers Patrick offers, I’d love to hear from you in ‘Comments’.

Hoping, along with the rest of the technologically challenged, that any explanations will be in English …

Blue Collar Muse

Popularity: 30% [?]