NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A day later, Titans fans are undoubtedly still having a tough time coming to grips with Sunday's 35-33 loss to the Colts.
The failed two-point conversion run by fullback Jalston Fowler in the final minute has generated the most conversation.
Why didn't it work? Was it the right call?
Left guard Byron Bell said to blame him.
"Put it all on me. Don't put it on anybody else. If I do a better job on that, we get in the end zone. I'm not going to point any fingers at anybody. You can point it at me and on my shoulders,'' Bell said.
"I thought that was a great call. I thought it was a phenomenal call. That's what you want to run down there. We just have to win at the line of scrimmage. At the end of the day, we have to get in there, and we didn't."
One play after Fowler scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left to make it 35-33, the Titans lined up in the same formation and handed the ball to Fowler again. The second time, he was stuffed.
While Bell took the blame after the game, the film suggests it was hardly on him. Bell took care of the defender across from him, driving him into the ground. The play was blown up because of a nice play by Colts linebacker Bjoern Werner, who managed to get off a block and force a Titan into the hole that was supposed to be there for Fowler to run through. The Titans also failed to execute the play as well as they did on the play before.
"It's a good play,'' Titans center Brian Schwenke said. "It's one of those plays where if you block it up right, and you come off the ball harder than they come off the ball, there should be an opening for the back."
Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team opted to run the ball there in part, because the team wants to establish an identity.
On the season, Fowler is 2-of-2 on 3rd-and-one plays. He ran for two yards on a 3rd-and-one play in the second quarter.
Fowler also picked up three yards on a 4th-and-one play in the third quarter against the Colts.
"If it works, it's a good call. If it doesn't, it's not,'' Whisenhunt said. "We felt confident in the play. We felt confident in the guy running it. That's why we ran.
"It's a play where we are trying to establish our identity there, that we are a physical football team and we know that we can get it in. And we didn't."
