NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Its deja vu all over again for the Tennessee Titans, who are starting out 1/3 for a third straight season and fourth in the past five years.Even with a new coach, they are struggling to clean up penalties and turnovers that have cost them in back-to-back losses. The latest mistakes cost special teams coordinator Bobby April his job on Monday, a day after his unit gave up 10 points in a 27-20 loss at Houston.Coach Mike Mularkey said he just didnt see improvement out of special teams before deciding to fire an assistant who worked for him in Buffalo in 2004-05. Mularkey spoke with Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk on Sunday night and says he isnt worried about his own job security.He also insists the Titans are better.Were very close. I know people are tired of hearing that, Im tired of saying it. But its a fact, Mularkey said.Theres a few plays, four to five plays a game, that have made a difference in the outcome of these games. I know in the past two years if we had been down 14 points in Houston, that would not have been a pretty outcome. And this team is competing with every team that weve played and had a chance to win every game we played. Weve got to find a way to win.The Titans came into this season expecting a turnaround behind a new general manager with Mularkey fully in charge, having been given the job permanently in January along with 23 new players on the roster. Now a month into the season, they are on the same track that wound up costing Ken Whisenhunt his coaching job after a 1-6 start.Linebacker Derrick Morgan sees a difference in this team from previous squads, especially in how the Titans responded when falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter in Houston.In years past, we more than likely wouldve folded in that situation, Morgan said. But I think we did a great job battling back and tying it up and actually making it a four-quarter game. ... We still lost the game, but you can kind of see incremental improvements in the team.The Titans have had the ball late in each of the last two losses with a chance to either force overtime or go for a 2-point conversion and the win. But theyve put themselves in catch-up mode with too many mistakes.The second-least penalized team in the NFL last season, the Titans have been flagged for 19 penalties for 163 yards combined the past two games. A penalty for 12 men on the field at the end of the first half turned a punt by Houston into a 45-yard field goal and a 20-17 halftime lead for the Texans.The Titans also gave up a 67-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the third quarter that decided the game, which certainly didnt help April. Steve Hoffman, who is in his fourth season as an assistant with Tennessee and his 27th in the NFL, will take over special teams.Tennessees losses have come against teams with a combined 9-2 record in Minnesota, Oakland and Houston. The schedule for the rest of October gives the Titans a much more even playing field against opponents who are 3-13 combined. They visit Miami (1-3) on Sunday before hosting Cleveland (0-4), Indianapolis (1-3) and Jacksonville (1-3).Weve got to find a way to win, and weve got to find a way to cut down on critical mistakes at crucial times in the game and just play a complete game, Morgan said. Right now each phase is taking a turn at coming up short.Game notes Mularkey said DL Al Woods will miss up to a month after pulling a calf muscle at Houston. S DaNorris Searcy will be held out of practice Wednesday but may have a chance to return. ... The Titans signed NT Antwaun Woods to the practice squad and released WR Jordan Leslie.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP-NFLFollow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker Stitched China Jerseys . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. China Jerseys Outlet . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. https://www.chinajerseysreview.com/ . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. China Jerseys Review . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. China Jerseys Online . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. NEW YORK -- Sensing the seasons dwindling days, the New York Yankees opened their penultimate homestand by falling behind on Masahiro Tanakas seventh pitch of a sunny Labor Day afternoon.Jacoby Ellsbury turned the deficit into a lead on R.A. Dickeys third offering of the day, and New York remained on the periphery of contention for a postseason berth with four weeks remaining.Ellsbury drove a 73 mph knuckleball over the right-field short porch for a two-run homer, then added an RBI single to lead the Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Monday and keep New York 3 1/2 games back in the AL wild-card race.Its almost imperative, said Brett Gardner, who singled one pitch ahead of Ellsburys seventh homer. At this point, we have to win every series the rest of the way. Weve got to play well, and two-out-of-three is the worst-case scenario for us.Starting a 10-game homestand that includes four games against Tampa Bay and three vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York (71-65) matched its season high of six games over .500.AL East-leading Toronto (77-60), which remained one game ahead of Boston, had been 9-3 against the Yankees this year and won seven of the prior eight matchups. The Blue Jays jumped in front when Devon Travis doubled and Jose Bautista singled, both on 0-2 counts.I felt like I was all over the place, Tanaka said through a translator.Tanaka (12-4) gave up three hits in the first but only one run, helped when Bautista got thrown out at the plate on a grounder, and settled down to win his fifth straight decision.Gardner took a strike in the bottom half and singled to center, and Ellsbury drove a high knuckler 351 feet. Ellsbury had three hits, including two against Dickey that lifted his average against the knuckleballer to .306 (11 for 36).You just try to anticipate it falling back in the zone, Ellsbury said. Last time he threw me a fastball, I hit a triple.Ellsbury added an RBI single in the third, and rookie Travis Austin hit his second double of the game in the fourth, a drive off the wall in left-center that drove in two runs for a 5-1 lead.Tanaka allowed two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, leaving after a leadoff walk and a fly ball by Dioner Navarro that 6-foot-7 Aaron Judge caught against the top of the right-field wall.Jonathan Holder, who made his big league debut Friday, got an out but walked his next two batters. Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run, opposite-fieldd single to right off Ben Heller for his third hit, and Tommy Layne -- New Yorks third straight rookie reliever -- retired pitch hitter Russell Martin on a looping ball to second baseman Starlin Castro.ddddddddddddDellin Betances, the Yankees sixth pitcher, got three straight outs for his ninth save.Dickey (9-14) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings on a blustery afternoon, his second shortest start this season. He is 0-6 in his last nine starts at Yankee Stadium.I had a lot of movement on it, he said of his knuckler. Sometimes this games a matter of centimeters, you know, one that gets off the barrel, doesnt get off the barrel and its popped out to right field.MOVING INEric Young Jr. took over Alex Rodriguezs locker stall and Greg Bird moved into Carlos Beltrans. Bird, sidelined all season following surgery in February to repair a right labrum tear, hit in a batting cage for the first time since the operation. He expects to face pitching in the instructional league for two weeks starting Sept. 26 and play in the Arizona Fall League.POWER OUTAGENew York had 15 hits, all singles, in the weekend series at Baltimore, the first big league team to go without an extra-base hit in a series of three games or longer since the Chicago White Sox at Minnesota from Sept. 14-16, 2004. The Yankees had not done that since July 26-28, 1974, also at Baltimore.SLIDINGJudge was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts, dropping his batting average to .169, and has 35 strikeouts in 65 at-bats. ... Didi Gregorius is in a 1-for-19 slump.TOP SPYJohn O. Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.TRAINERS ROOMYankees: With RHP Chad Green sidelined with an elbow injury, manager Joe Girardi said his starting pitcher Wednesday could be Bryan Mitchell, who broke a toe in spring training and has a 4.29 ERA in six minor league rehabilitation starts. Girardi said his other option was Johnny Wholestaff -- a reference to using a combination of relievers. Green is expected to have a contrast agent MRI on Tuesday. ... OF Aaron Hicks was placed on the 15-day DL with a right hamstring strain, a move retroactive to Thursday.UP NEXTRHP Luis Cessa (4-0) is to start for the Yankees on Tuesday and RHP Aaron Sanchez (13-2) goes for the Blue Jays. ' ' '