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| Ezra Shaw/Getty Images | |
| Justin Gage’s leaping 33-yard grab set up the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Titans’ win over the 49ers. |
Posted by ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Justin Gage moved somewhat slowly through the Titans’ locker room Wednesday afternoon. When it was time to put sweatpants on, he bent over as little as possible.
Still awaiting test results, he said he felt much better Wednesday than he had on Tuesday. Gage hopes he makes the same improvement the next few days, gets on the practice field Friday and can play against the Bills Sunday at LP Field. From the looks of him Wednesday it would be tough for him to recover in time.
His sore lower back is more of an issue on the left side, and was the result of a crash landing on the best and most significant catch for the Titans this season.
He showed off his basketball hops — a 65- or 70-inch vertical, the former Missouri hoopster joked — going up to pull in a 33-yard pass from Vince Young between San Francisco defensive backs Dre’ Bly and Dashon Goldson before crashing hard to the Candlestick Park turf on his back.
The big gain set the Titans up for Chris Johnson‘s second touchdown, which put Tennessee ahead for good in the fourth quarter of its second consecutive win.
When I overestimated the Titans in the preseason, I expected more plays like that from Gage. He was fantastic in some training camp practice sessions. But it simply didn’t translate once the games started counting and I thought coach Jeff Fisher should have given a share of his snaps to rookie Kenny Britt, who works as the third receiver.
Gage had two giant games last season with 147 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears and 104 yards and a score against Pittsburgh.
He finished with four catches for 97 yards in the Niners game, his best day since that Steelers game on Dec. 21, 2008. In addition to the excellent leap, he also ran under a superb 49-yard bomb from Young, perhaps the best throw the quarterback has made as a Titan, earlier in the game.
The Titans hope Gage’s nice day can spark a group that underachieved during an 0-6 start, dropping far too many passes.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Gage has a catch rate of just 43.9 percent (18 of 41 balls thrown his way), which is 10th worst in the NFL among receivers targeted at least 20 times.
“I felt like it was one of my better catches, at the time it was a big play in the game for us, it put us in scoring position and it helped us get a win,” Gage said. “At the point I was just thinking it would feel better to make the catch and fall than to drop the ball and fall, because you’re going to fall and fall hard regardless …”
“It was probably my biggest catch ever. That was probably the one catch that I’ve gotten the most attention from.”
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