LANDOVER, Md. -- The Tennessee Titans find new and creative mistakes each week to help lose a game, or at least give it a good shot.

They create close games, and close games are usually compelling. But there is nothing gripping about Tennessee.

Sunday's 19-17 loss to the Washington Redskins looked to be crafted on an assembly line of errors.

Not everyone lingers in the locker room, and when you want to run down this many gaffes, getting a comment from everyone isn't possible.

McCourty's pass interference penalty: On a third-and-2 from the Tennessee 29 with 43 second left, Jason McCourty ran up the left side and into the end zone with DeSean Jackson, drawing a flag for pass interference.

It moved Washington 22 yards and ensured Kai Forbath would have a chip shot field-goal attempt to win it.

"I'm not going to dispute it," McCourty said. "I've got to go and make the play and I didn't do that. ... We had some hand fighting and I probably tugged him a little bit and they threw the flag."

In the first quarter, McCourty dropped a simple interception of a Kirk Cousins pass. He was bailed out on the next play, as Avery Williamson caught a Cousins fumble.

Schwenke's two hands to the face penalties: The one in the first quarter turned a second-and-5 into a second-and-15 and led to a punt. Brian Schwenke's second was even more costly.

The Titans had a one-point lead and the ball at their 33. His illegal use of the hands put them in first-and-20 and three runs milked the clock but led to a punt.

"I feel like I lost us the game with that penalty," Schwenke said. "I have no doubt what if we're still first-and-10 we could have run the ball and run the clock out. If that penalty doesn't happen I feel as if we would have taken a knee and ended the game."

Hands to the face are a point of emphasis this season, and Schwenke said he rerouted quickly but that it now gets called.

"It wasn't like I was trying to tear his helmet off or anything," Schwenke said.

Griffin's poor angle on Garcon: Colt McCoy's first pass after entering the game for Washington came on his team's second play in the third quarter. He threw the ball about 5 yards to Pierre Garcon on the left side. Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson missed the tackle and hardly slowed him.

Still, free safety Michael Griffin had a chance to catch Garcon on the boundary and shove him out of bounds. He took a poor route, reminding us how he can struggle with the geometry of the secondary on his worst plays, and Garcon dashed past him for a 70-yard score.

"When it came down to it I was trying to cut off the middle of the field because I was the only person, last man," Griffin said. "He had the whole field to work with. I tried to cut it off and as I cut it off I thought I had enough room to the sideline to be able to push him out, he still had a little more room to squeeze through there to get by me. It was just a great play by a good player."

It seems to me Griffin should have eliminated the possibility that Garcon could stay on the sideline. Cutting toward the middle would have slowed him down at least a bit and might have created a chance for someone else to get involved.

Earlier, Griffin was beat on a 50-yard catch-and-run by tight end Niles Paul, in a play similar to one that Griffin bemoaned his role in a week earlier against the Jacksonville Jaguars' Clay Harbor.

"I've got to be better with my eyes when it comes to the tight end," he said.

Also on the list: A terrible drop by Justin Hunter, a muffed punt that was a giveaway by Dexter McCluster, a wishful and failed challenge by Ken Whisenhunt, an overthrow-turned-interception by Charlie Whitehurst.

The Titans' imprecise play simply left the team with "too much to overcome," Whisenhunt said.

Every week we see the mistakes, every week we hear the refrain about the need to get better and clean things up. Then the next week we see more of the same.

Where is the reason to expect better? I can't find it. The competition is actually about to improve.

"We've got to figure this out, we got to figure this out," Griffin said. "I'm not saying we're out of the playoff hunt. But we are almost out of that even coming out of our mouths. Right now we put ourselves in a situation where we're going to have to go out on the road [and get results].

"It's going to be a long November and a long December if we don't change, if we don't get this win coming up next week."

I'm not sure that a win over the Houston Texans at LP Field in the Titans' last October game is going to have that big a bearing on the overall fortune of Tennessee.