INDIANAPOLIS -- A dejected Kendall Wright sat shirtless, talking quietly. He perked up a bit when the past tense was used in a question about himself and the Tennessee Titans receivers.
Wright lost an early fumble, Justin Hunter let a catch go off his hands that turned into an interception and Nate Washington dropped a pass at the goal line in a disastrous day for the Titans wideouts during a 41-17 loss to the Colts.
“You three were going to be the foundation of this offense, kind of the playmakers,” I started.
“We’re still going to be the foundation,” Wright said. “It’s not ‘were.’ We’re still going to be the foundation. We still have a bunch of games left and we have a lot of plays to make. I’m not getting down off this game. Justin and Nate know they can catch the ball; they’ve just got to look it all the way in. I know I can hold the ball. That’s not really the problem.
“We still have a chance to be the foundation. We still have a chance to make a lot of plays. It’s not over with after this game. We’re not hanging our heads. We know we can make plays. We’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Hunter could have easily converted a third-and-4 from near midfield. Instead he let the ball slide off his hands up into the air, and it was plucked by strong safety Mike Adams.
“I lost the ball. I took my eyes off it at the last second,” Hunter said.
Washington had what should have been an 18-yard scoring pass ricochet off his shoulder and the Titans wound up settling for a second-quarter field goal that made it 17-3 Colts.
“I was not expecting it, to be quite honest,” Washington said. “It’s a different look, different type of communication we’ve just got to get better at.”
The way the team is constructed, the way resources have been allocated, this needs to be an offensive football team. But the offense has turned it over seven times in four games. The quarterbacks have been sacked 11 times when pass protection should be a given, considering the investment in the offensive line. The run game is producing 5 yards a carry, but the Titans are trailing too much to be able to get into a ground-game rhythm.
On this day, the three non-plays by receivers were huge.
“At this level, those guys are supposed to catch a football,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Theirs did.”
While he said everyone wasn’t productive enough, the coach paid special attention to Hunter. There seems to be a feeling he got caught up in a good preseason and thought he’d progressed to where he needs to be.
“We all got on the Justin Hunter bandwagon in the preseason, and one of the things I said or cautioned was there are a lot of little details that he’s got to get better at,” Whisenhunt said. “Justin still has a chance at becoming a good player and he will be a good player for us.”
At this point, tight end Delanie Walker is clearly the Titans' most reliable and effective pass-catcher. He led the team with five receptions for 84 yards, including a pretty touchdown catch in the back of the end zone under the goal post with Adams draped on him and linebacker D'Qwell Jackson close by.
"Delanie Walker right now is playing at a very high level, doing a good job for us and I think he made a great [touchdown] catch for us right before the half,” Whisenhunt said. “Those are the kind of things we expect.
"It’s not extraordinary to do that. It’s what we expect.”
