Finally Football Was Fun Again!

What a great year for our Tennessee Titans! We didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, but we made it dang close!

I like having a running back who can beat up the other team.

Who could have seen that coming back in week six of the season?

We’d just been shut out by the hapless Denver Broncos, 16–0. Marcus Mariota our top draft pick from five years ago was benched. Even Derrick Henry tanked, with 28 yards on 15 carries!

The only bright spot?

Ryan Tannehill came in at quarterback and put up, at least better numbers than Mariota, completing 13 passes on 16 attempts for 144 yards. No touchdowns of course, but one interception. Mariota had two.

People were selling their tickets at half of face value.

It’s interesting when you review the entire season. Your perspective is so often skewed by media coverage and hype.

The Cleveland Browns were supposed to be going to the Super Bowl at the end of the year. Instead they fired their coach. We played them at their stadium Week One and dominated the game.

Maybe we were better than we thought?

No, we weren’t.

Then we welcomed the Andrew Luck less Colts to town. They beat us 19–17. Say what? Maybe they were better than we thought!

No, they weren’t. A backup quarterback wasn’t enough to get them wins, at home, against teams like Oakland and Miami. The Colts are bad.

Then in Week Three we were away against the hapless Jaguars. And we lost again, 20–7. Not even going there. We all know the Jags stink.

Turns out a lot of teams in the NFL stunk this year. It seemed most of the time, there were only about three or four teams at the top, and all the rest of us were stuck at break-even speed.

But then we dropped our beloved Mariota, who is a sweet kid, and as it turned out showed how a team player and professional is supposed to behave when demoted.

From that point forward our season would be defined by Tannehill’s increasing comfort and familiarity with our game plans, and Derrick Henry’s brutal running attack.

With each game they seemed to get better, and by Week 17, with Henry back at full strength, after two games and two losses, where he either played injured or was sat down to recover, confidence level was high. We dominated a less than full strength Texans team.

At last the playoffs, with our team peaking.

Watching the Titans go into Gillette Stadium and wrestle Brady and Belichick out of first round advancement for the first time in ten years was simply sublime! It doesn’t get any better than that for a Tennessee Titan football fan.

Unless you went into Baltimore to play one of those top four aforementioned teams, the Ravens, and did the same to them. Well we didn’t wrestle a win away. We beat a win away from them.

And so this week when we lost to Kansas City, our fourth road game in a row, against four playoff bound teams, you could not be sad for long.

These guys showed grit. The offensive line showed the talent and skill it has long promised. And the defense had everyone in the country taking note of just how hard coaches Vrabel and Pees had their pros playing!

I like having a coach who looks like he can still beat up the other team!

I admit, it had me thinking back to the phrase, “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.”

We were close. So very close. Great games. Great season. But wow, for not winning it all, how great were those playoffs?

Now, Jon Robinson, our architect, will hopefully be able to sign our MVP, Derrick Henry. Without him we have no game plan. He will garner top running back dollar. He’s worth it. At 26 years old, a three year contract would be optimum, but we may be stuck at a five year deal.

On the other hand, is Tannehill. He’s also a free agent, and also intrinsic to our success. With names like Brady, Rivers, Andy Dalton and Teddy Bridgewater out there as possibly available this season, Tannehill at 31 years of age, could be the best option.

Franchise tag.

Let’s see if what Tannehill did in 2019, can be repeated in 2020. Let’s see what happens after the Jags, Colts and Texans have scoured their game film and schemed their defense to capitalize on his weaknesses.

But let’s get that boy signed. And let’s find an edge rusher. And a defensive coordinator. And oh yeah, let’s Titan up!