Titans, minus Young, fall to Redskins
Marcus Mason scored from a yard out and Byron Westbrook recovered a fumble in the end zone in the final 1:14, helping the Washington Redskins pull out a 14-6 victory over the Tennessee Titans Saturday in the exhibition opener for both teams.
Titans quarterback Vince Young didn’t play for violating a team rule.
“I sure appreciate a victory,” Washington coach Joe Gibbs said. “It’s been hard for us to get one in preseason. I appreciate the guys hanging in there and fighting. At the same time, I know we have a long ways to go.”
Titans coach Jeff Fisher refused to say why he sat Young except that he owed it to the quarterback not to say.
Tennessee struggled to move the ball with Kerry Collins starting in Young’s place. Their only scoring drive of the first half came when Cortland Finnegan, trying to replace suspended Adam “Pacman” Jones at punt returner, took Derrick Frost’s punt 37 yards.
Collins finished 10 of 17 for 79 yards for an offense that had only 117 yards total offense.
Bears 20, Texans 19: At Houston, defending NFC champion Chicago scored 13 fourth-quarter points, including a 47-yard go-ahead field goal by Robbie Gould with 36 seconds remaining to beat the Texans in the exhibition opener for both teams. Matt Schaub had an inauspicious debut for Houston, going 3 for 5 for 25 yards.
Dolphins 18, Jaguars 17: At Miami, Patrick Cobbs scored from 3 yards out in the fourth quarter and converted the two-point conversion, giving the Dolphins an 18-17 win over Jacksonville in both teams’ exhibition openers. Jaguars starting quarterback Byron Leftwich completed 7 of 10 pass for 78 yards and a touchdown.
Packers 13, Steelers 9: At Pittsburgh, Green Bay backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 18 of 27 passes for 168 yards and the Packers’ only touchdown in a win over the Steelers. Green Bay’s Brett Favre went 2 of 7 passing for just 7 yards.
Browns 16, Chiefs 12: At Cleveland, Charlie Frye completed 12 of 15 passes for 122 yards in the Browns’ win over Kansas City. Derek Anderson, competing with Frye for Cleveland’s starting quarterback job, went 7 of 16 for 76 yards.
Panthers 24, Giants 21: At East Rutherford, N.J., Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith combined for an opening-drive touchdown pass and receiver Taye Biddle caught two touchdowns to lead Carolina to a victory over New York in a matchup of teams looking to rebound from .500 seasons.
Raiders 27, Cardinals 23: At Oakland, Calif., Andrew Walter threw a touchdown pass to Mike Williams and Hiram Eugene scored on a 36-yard interception to lead the Raiders to a victory over Arizona in coach Lane Kiffin’s first game with Oakland.