Jeff Fisher had his Titans in Friday for a meeting and workout, then dismissed them until Tuesday as a reward after routing the winless Detroit Lions 47-10 on Thanksgiving, becoming the NFL's first team to 11 wins this season. If Cleveland beats Indianapolis on Sunday, the Titans would clinch the AFC South title for the first time since 2002.
Not that clinching a playoff berth a month earlier than 2007, when the Titans had to win the final game, will change anything around here.
"Our whole approach is no different. It's just win the next game. That's what it is. It's all about Cleveland," Fisher said of the Titans' next opponent on Dec. 7. "If those things worked out, then basically we reached one of our goals. That's everybody's goals. If that's the case, then you push on and prepare for the next week and hope to achieve another one."
And no, Fisher won't be rooting for Cleveland on Sunday.
"Those things are out of our control. If I was rooting for Indy, then I wouldn't be rooting for Cleveland. If I was rooting for Cleveland, I wouldn't be rooting for Indy," Fisher said.
Neither Fisher nor the Titans need to cheer any other team, not when they have full control of the AFC in the chase for home-field advantage. They hold a two-and-a-half game lead over the New York Jets (8-3), the only team to beat them this season, with four games left.
"We were lucky that it was a short week to let us get that bad taste out of our mouth," defensive end Jevon Kearse said after the win in Detroit.
That loss to the Jets was squeezed between road trips to Jacksonville and Detroit, and now the Titans prepare to host Cleveland (4-7) before visiting Houston (4-7). Pittsburgh (8-3) comes here on Dec. 21, followed by the regular season finale at Indianapolis.
Thursday's victory extended the Titans' record to eight straight regular-season wins on the road and gave the team 11 wins in a season for the fifth time in Fisher's 14 full seasons.
"This has been quite an intense couple of weeks," Fisher said. "We'll be able to get our legs back and modify our lifting and training programs and get ready for the stretch."
Fisher gave his players the schedule for this weekend weeks ago so they could plan ahead. They don't need the time to heal because they are relatively healthy coming off a win that was the seventh-largest margin of victory in team history.
The Titans dominated with four sacks, three takeaways and 292 yards rushing, third highest in franchise history. It was such a blowout that Fisher let Vince Young play mop-up in his first action since spraining his knee in the season opener.
Young declined to talk to reporters after the game in Detroit, even though he had the second-longest pass of his career when fullback Ahmard Hall took a short throw 54 yards late. Kerry Collins, given the starting job as long as the Titans kept winning, said he was glad the Titans were able to get such a lead.
"It's good to see him back out there again," Collins said.
Fisher was just happy to see his Titans go out and do what was asked even against a struggling opponent.
"From that standpoint, we accomplished something we set out to accomplish. Regardless of the ability level of your opponent, it is difficult to do that, and we did that and that's a positive," Fisher said.
And that's enough for now.
