It's never good when coaches are forced to hand out the dreaded vote of confidence after only one week. In Cleveland, Browns coach Pat Shurmur had to announce that rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden remained the team's starter.
In Tennessee, Titans coach Mike Munchak said the team isn't going to bench Chris Johnson or take away his carries. This all sounds very familiar. (Especially to Johnson's 2011 fantasy owners.)
"I think we'll roll with who we have," Munchak said. "C.J. caught six balls. He did a good job there. He's still a big weapon there."
Johnson wasn't a big weapon on the ground. He rushed for four yards on eleven carries. Munchak cited two problems, one of which most fans wouldn't think about. Munchak put some of the blame on quarterback Jake Locker's decision making during an otherwise solid first start. Locker had the option to choose run or pass on some plays, and apparently chose wrong.
"With some of the disguises some of their defense was doing, we ran into some looks that weren't optimal run looks," Munchak said. "So we got 1-yard gains and no-yard gains on some of those."
Munchak also cited a frequent complaint about Johnson: He tried to break too many big plays.
"Early he was, again, looking for a bigger run than was there instead of taking the 4 or 5 (yards) that are there. The cutback and the big one may come later if you get more touches," Munchak said. "I'm sure he thought he was going to get a lot more than (11) carries ... but he didn't."
That sounds like 2011 too.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
