Fisher: At least mistakes aren’t being repeated by Titans

A week after the Titans looked so good offensively in beating Atlanta, they never got on track against the San Francisco 49ers and blew a chance to win at the end of regulation Friday night before losing 16-13 in overtime.

“Holdings, false starts and fumbles,” Fisher said Saturday.

“We just never were able to get into a rhythm. It seemed as soon as we were about to get something going, we turned the ball over. We fumbled an exchange. I don’t think we’ve ever lost one of those in a game as long as I’ve been here. It won’t happen again.”

The Titans (1-2) played keepaway against Atlanta by holding the ball for more than 43 minutes. Maybe it was jet lag on Friday, but they finished with just 31 seconds more possession time than the 49ers only because Jay Taylor’s 41-yard field goal at the end of regulation missed just right and forced overtime.

They held the ball for nearly 16 minutes in the first half but trailed 10-3.

With 10 penalties for 88 yards, the Titans now have 27 penalties for 289 yards in three exhibitions.

“We don’t have the mistakes that are being repeated,” Fisher said. “We’re going through and exhausting that list of mistakes that have to be corrected.”

Three of their four turnovers came in that first half, including a bobbled snap by Steve McNair on their second possession at the Tennessee 37. The 49ers needed only six plays to score their only touchdown.

Mix in a delay of game penalty each with McNair and backup Billy Volek at quarterback, and it wasn’t pretty.

“We just didn’t get into a rhythm because of penalties and turnovers,” McNair said. “We didn’t produce like we wanted to, and we still have a ways to go. We still have another preseason game to go, and we have to use this week to prepare.”

It didn’t help the offense that left tackle Brad Hopkins wasn’t available as he recovers from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. That left rookie Michael Roos to make his first start at left tackle in Hopkins’ place with right tackle Todd Williams, who had some mistakes.

McNair faced so much pressure the Titans switched center Justin Hartwig to right tackle and replaced him with Eugene Amano. That gave McNair a little more protection, and he finished 10-of-16 for 62 yards with one interception.

Fisher said they will continue to look at Hartwig because he did well. They had taken lineman Jacob Bell to San Francisco, but he didn’t play because of a sprained left knee. He isn’t likely to be ready to play an entire game, so that may force the Titans to switch Hartwig to right tackle for their opener at Pittsburgh on Sept. 11.

“The last thing you want to do is have changes in three positions,” Fisher said. “If that’s the direction we go, we will have done that. You would prefer just to make one change. That’s the best case scenario. The worst case is three changes.”

The best part of the game was the performance of the very young defense with four sacks.

Antwan Odom consistently pressured the quarterback and had four tackles and one sack. Bo Schobel had two sacks, including a forced fumble that he recovered. The 49ers had only 38 yards rushing in the first half.

The second-team defense made a goal-line stand at their own 1 against the 49ers first-team offense and forced San Francisco to settle for a 23-yard field goal by former Tennessee kicker Joe Nedney.