One of the Tennessee Titans' all-time greats believes he knows why the team has slipped to 5-7 entering Thursday night's game against the Indianapolis Colts -- a lack of effort.
Eddie George, the franchise's all-time leading rusher, told *The Tennessean* he was disgusted with what he saw Sunday -- the day the team honored him to serve as its 12th Titan -- in a 17-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"What I saw on Sunday, I;ve never seen a team play with such a lack of enthusiasm, lack of effort," George said Tuesday. "Even when they had a chance to win, the energy and body language wasn't there. No one stepped up player-wise to meet that challenge. The energy I saw, it didn't seem like there was a sense of energy from anybody. No one seemed to want it. You want to go in there with a purpose. They have to want it. I saw none of that."
There was plenty of blame to pass around, George said, adding the Jaguars came in and "pretty much said we're going to beat the (expletive) out of you, and they did."
George also expressed concern about the future of Titans coach Jeff Fisher.
"I looked at Jeff's face at the press conference after the game Sunday and I'd never seen him look that way," George said. "He looked tired, he looked stressed. He's always had that glass-is-half-full attitude, and he seems a little tired. It concerns me, what is going on. And I hope the guys realize the gem they have in Coach Fisher. Having played for him and having played for someone else, it is two totally different situations. He is one of the best coaches I have ever had."
George's remarks came one day after Fisher insisted the Titans didn't quit during the loss.
"I've been asked several times, 'Did your team quit?' This team didn't quit," Fisher said Monday. "They didn't give up a point in the second half. They got a fourth-down stop and blocked a field goal, and they played hard. We just didn't make the plays."
Tight end Bo Scaife didn't disagree with George's point, saying: "I know we want to go out there and win. I do kind of feel like we are not playing with that same type of energy that we had, for whatever reason, and we have to get back to that."
