QB Brad Johnson, a Florida State alum, knows both of his teams face tough tests this weekend
By Brad Johnson, Special to NFL.com
Last week's game was a huge win for us, beating Green Bay at home. We were able to bounce back from a tough loss to Minnesota, and came away with a close win -- and I think we can really build off that game.
Our defense played tremendously, intercepting Brett Favre three times -- returning one for a touchdown. Offensively, we moved the ball pretty consistently, but struggled in making big plays down field. We committed two or three penalties that put us in some bad situations -- first-and-20, second-and-20 -- that were hard to recover from.
The penalties were mistakes on our part -- offsides, holding -- things that are very correctable. It's always nice to win even though you make mistakes.
Mike Alstott (15 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD) had a big game, and that's great for Mike. With Warrick Dunn as our featured back, Alstott has played fullback and even tight end on third down. So going into the game, he only had a few carries and probably felt like he was being left out of the offense. But he had a tremendous game, including a 39-yard TD run to ice the game.
This week we go to Tennessee -- a very dangerous game for us. It reminds me of going to 0-2 Minnesota, and the Vikings beat us. The Titans are 0-3 but they've lost to some very good teams (Miami, Jacksonville, Baltimore). Right now they're banged up a little bit -- Samari Rolle is out and some other guys are questionable. But I'm sure their team will circle the wagons and produce a great effort.
I really don't think there's a chance for us to let down after beating the Packers. Our division is very tough, and it'll take a lot of wins to make the playoffs. Besides, we want to play better football. We've committed some penalties that will really hurt us. We have a lot of work to improve on.
I'll be focused on another game this week, too -- Florida State vs. Miami. It's a huge game for us, against the No. 1 team in the country. I hear Miami is considered a strong favorite in Tallahassee - that's not much respect. FSU is a young team -- they have 11 freshmen starters -- but maybe they'll shock the world.
Warren Sapp, who played at Miami, has been talking trash for four months. He and Nate Webster are the only Miami guys on the Bucs but he does enough talking for 10 guys.
Plus, my brother-in-law is Georgia coach Mark Richt -- they won a big game in Tennessee last week. Between FSU and Georgia, all I can say is Saturdays can get pretty intense around the Johnson home.
