Matt Hasselbeck threw for 290 yards as the Tennessee Titans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-23 Thursday night, and many pinned some of the blame on Steelers' cornerback Ike Taylor.
Taylor, who before the season restructured his contract to make it worth nearly $5 million a season, was picked on all night by the 37-year-old quarterback as he often converted to receivers theoretically guarded by Taylor. Although Kenny Britt dropped some passes, he still had four receptions for 62 yards including a touchdown. Taylor was tagged for three penalties in pass coverage, nearly half of the seven the Steelers were called for on the evening.
Neal Coolong of Behind the Steel Curtain discussed Taylor's sub-par game in his immediate post-game recap, and then tabbed the cornerback as one of the "losers" in the defeat:
It was easily Taylor's worst game of the season, appearing to be out of position several times, and simply beaten off the line in several others. If not for wide receiver Kenny Britt's silicon-coated hands, the Titans passing numbers would look much better than they ultimately did.
The tenth-year player out of Louisiana-Lafayette was as displeased with his performance as anybody, taking to Twitter after the game to accept responsibility for his poor outing:
#RUFFnight I no y'all suppose to be pissed off...and I totally except and understand...gotta get back in the LAB period...G night & G morn.
— Ike Taylor (@Ike_SwagginU) October 12, 2012