Kenny Britt’s night went from bad to worse to rock bottom.
The second-year receiver from Rutgers dropped at least three passes, but when he false-started right after a drop, Coach Jeff Fisher had seen enough.
Fisher yanked Britt from the field, sending in almost certain roster cut Paul Williams to replace him, and then giving last year’s first-round pick an earful as he arrived on the sideline.
“He said, 'What's going through your head right now? You know you're not focusing on football and you're not focusing on the game, because obviously we saw what happened out there on the field,'” Britt revealed afterwards in the locker room.
Britt also received a talking-to from receivers coach Fred Graves over his mistakes and later was consoled by quarterback Vince Young and running back Chris Johnson and told to keep his head up.
"There were a couple of focus issues out there," Fisher said. "It was time to look at the younger players. ... He just had some concentration issues. We discussed it, and it's fine and behind us."
As for Fisher removing him from the lineup, Britt said he understood and didn’t blame anyone but himself for the miscues.
“It's best for the team. Obviously, you didn't see me focusing out there, so I'm hurting the team. Why would you have somebody out there that's not focusing, that's dropping balls and has a senseless penalty?” he said. “It's hurting the team, so why would you have me out there? It's all me. I can't blame nobody out there.”
Britt said his troubles stemmed from his first dropped pass, where he was wide open and tried to run before he caught the pass from Vince Young.
“You have to forget about the first play. You have to live in the present, but obviously I kept dwelling on the first pass,” Britt said. “By the second one, I was completely out of there, and I blame it on me.”
- Terry McCormick
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