Two Deep: Titans' Charlie Whitehurst gets two TDs in first two throws

Coming into Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans quarterback Charlie Whitehurst had completed a grand total of 96 passes in 178 attempts

Doug Farrar | Oct 5, 2014

Two Deep: Titans' Charlie Whitehurst gets two TDs in first two throws /

Coming into Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans quarterback Charlie Whitehurst had completed a grand total of 96 passes in 178 attempts for 982 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions in a career spanning nine seasons with three different teams.

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Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt believed that Whitehurst could help Jake Locker with the intricacies of the NFL (something Locker's struggled with since he came into the league in 2011), but the veteran has also thrown some in spot duty. Whitehurst came in for Locker, who was dealing with a wrist injury, last week against the Colts in a blowout loss, completing 12-of-23 passes for 177 yards, one touchdown and one interception -- about what anyone could expect.

Safe to say, Whitehurst exceeded any and all expectations when he came into the game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday after Locker got banged up and left the game to get X-rays. In his first two throws of the day, Whitehurst threw two touchdown passes against Cleveland's miserable defense.

The first one came with 3:43 left in the first half with the Titans already up, 14-3. Whitehurst hit speedy receiver Kendall Wright (who already had a touchdown from Locker on the day) in the back of the end zone as cornerbacks Joe Haden and Buster Skrine simply got turned around.

On Whitehurst's second throw with 2:44 left in the first half, Justin Hunter ran right by Skrine on a deep sideline route -- it was no contest, and Skrine had no help up top. The Titans had a 28-3 lead at the half.

And thus, the man whose season-high for touchdown passes in a season came with the Seahawks in 2010 (three total), banked two quick scores in a very improbable sequence. Of course, it helps when you're facing an epically bad pass defense -- Locker was 8-of-11 for 79 yards and that score before he was hurt.

Published Oct 5, 2014

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.