JOSEPH WHITE
AP Sports Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second week in a row, the Tennessee Titans get a chance to prove they’re slightly better than a 2-4 team.
The only upside for the members of the NFL’s group of poor teams — other than high draft picks — is that they get to play each other from time to time.
The Titans (2-4) broke a four-game losing streak by scrapping past the winless Jacksonville Jaguars, and now they get to visit the also-stuck-in-the-mud Washington Redskins (1-5) on Sunday.
It’s not a healthy club, except when they hang around each other. The Titans, Redskins, Jaguars, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St. Louis Rams were a combined 6-34 after last week’s games — and only two of those wins coming against the rest of the league.
The Redskins are in a four-game skid. Their only win this season came against — you guessed it — the Jaguars.
“We’ve just got to get this train moving in the right direction,” said defensive end Jason Hatcher, who signed with the Redskins this year as a free agent. “If not, we’re going to be an embarrassment to the league, and I didn’t come here to be no embarrassment.”
Both teams have new coaches who are dealing with injuries, penalties, poor third down play — a little bit of everything. The Titans, at least, retain some glimmer of hope record-wise because of their Week 1 upset of the Kansas City Chiefs.
If, perchance, they can beat the Redskins on Sunday and then the Houston Texans, they’ll reach their bye week with a .500 record and will have graduated from the dregs.
“You never know which game throughout the course of an NFL season, when you look back on it will be the one that you’re like, ‘Man, if we could have got that one,'” said Titans quarterback Jake Locker, who hopes to play Sunday after missing one game with a thumb injury.
“You never know when you might’ve needed one or two extra wins to get you where you wanted to go.”
If the Titans can’t handle teams such as the Redskins, they’re probably not going anywhere.
Here’s part of what’s on tap between two teams that punt a lot:
THIRD-AND-WHATEVER: They punt a lot because they can’t move the chains on third down. The Titans are worst in the league with a 31.9 percent conversion rate and, even in victory, went just 3 for 11 against the Jaguars. The Redskins are second worst at 32.4 percent and are 1 for 22 when it’s third-and-10 or more.
“Why are we not converting?” said Washington’s Kirk Cousins, whose third down passer rating (39.8) is by far the worst in the NFL. “There’s a number of things. I don’t think it’s trying to do too much.
“Maybe it’s trying to do too little? I think there were a couple where maybe I should have progressed and gone to work a deeper route than throw a shorter route incomplete. You can’t name any one thing as the reason.”
FLAG ON THE PLAY: Why go forward when backward is an option? The Redskins are second in the NFL in penalty yards with 480, and the Titans are sixth with 423.
Much of the mischievous behavior comes when the ball isn’t in play: Washington has nine false starts; Tennessee has 10. The Titans have also been flagged eight times for unnecessary roughness.
“We’ve taken a conscious effort of looking at those things and assessing them as an offense and (as) the men in that huddle,” Titans receiver Nate Washington said. “We understand for us to be good we just can’t have those things.”
TAKEAWAY-GIVEAWAY: Even with their struggles, the Titans at least are decent at protecting the ball. They are plus-2 in turnover differential and haven’t had a giveaway in two games.
The Redskins could only wish for such ball security. They are at minus-9, tied for worst in the NFL. Cousins, filling in while Robert Griffin III is out with an ankle injury, leads the league with eight interceptions.
D-JAX, GOOD AND BAD: DeSean Jackson already has three touchdown catches of 60-plus yards this season. When he’s zipping down the field like that, it’s easy to see why the Redskins signed him.
But when it’s a running play, he’s a liability. The 5-foot-10, 178-pound wideout simply can’t block.
“I think he wants to block, he just is little,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said. “He’s a little son of a gun, man. … But it has to be done and it’s something that we have to preach.”
HOMECOMING: The Titans are the Redskins’ “homecoming” opponent, a designation that has rankled some opposing players in the past. There’s no postgame dance in the gym, but Super Bowl-winning quarterback Mark Rypien will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame at halftime.
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