Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns: Keys to the Game

For a Titans’ win, these three things need to happen. Titans Ever On: Keys to the game.

If all goes according to plan, this will be a weekly installment. I’ll do my best to be succinct and not waste anyone’s time with too many words. (I tend to ramble a bit…) Every week, I want to focus on three areas (keys) that I believe are the most important for success for that particular game. No more preamble. Let’s get to the keys to the game for week one.

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A Look Around the League (The NFL on REO)

We take a quick trip around the league. (1, 061 words)

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”

Colts vs. Bills

How amazing was the Colts vs. Bills game on Sunday? The records didn’t matter. The actual game-play didn’t matter. All that mattered was the snow. It was an ugly game for on-field execution, but is was a beautiful game for aesthetics. Seeing giant, super-human type athletes slog through the snow was about as fun as it gets. Seeing clouds of snow explode after every tackle or diving catch was mesmerizing. And even though Adam Vinatieri missed two field goals, watching him nail the game-tying extra point from over 40 yards away was one of the greatest kicks I have ever seen.

I hope we get a few more of these types of games this season. They make some of these less interesting matchups much more enjoyable.

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The NFL and the Myth of Parity (The NFL on REO)

Mike Lytle does the heavy lifting this week with an examination of parity in the NFL. (828 words)

It is pretty much universally accepted that the NFL wants parity around the league.

In 1992 the league introduced unrestricted free agency which gave every team access to the same pool of players. In 1994 a league wide salary cap was adopted. That meant that every team had the exact same limit on what they could spend on players. No matter how deep the owner’s pockets were or how much money the team generated from their fans the playing field was, at least theoretically, level. I don’t dispute these facts. I completely agree that the NFL wants every team to have a chance to compete for a Super Bowl. This is not like college football where teams like Alabama and Ohio State are simply more talented than just about every team they play and should compete for a title just about every year. While teams like Indiana and Vanderbilt will be lucky to post a winning record once every five years.

Anyone who follows the league knows that on average there are six new playoff teams each year (out of twelve). And each fall just about every fan base feels like their team has a chance to do something special if things break right for them. It is one of the reasons that despite negative publicity and a recent drop in the ratings the NFL is still the highest rated sport in our country by a pretty wide margin.

If we left it at that I think we would all agree that there is parity in the NFL and most would agree that that is a good thing.

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All Roads Lead to Nashville (The NFL on REO)

When all else fails, I talk about the Titans. (1,131 words)

I’m too hyped about tomorrow’s game between the Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers to get any real work done this week. It is easily one of the best matchups of the season with two division leaders squaring off in prime-time. If you have read this column before you know that I am a die-hard Titans fan. Have been since 1999. More on that in a bit. For today’s edition of The NFL on REO, my brain naturally turned to all things Titans – even in ways that probably won’t make much sense to anyone else. But, as I have said before, it’s my article and I will do whatever I want.

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Midseason NFL Superlatives (The NFL on REO)

We hand out the midseason superlatives. (532 words)

It has been a long week and I don’t have the time or the desire to churn out another 1,500 words on the NFL. Instead, I have opted for the lazy man’s way out of this problem and have decided to do a list of superlatives at the half-way point of the 2017 season. I realize that we just watched Week 9 and it sounds weird to say this is the half-way point, but if you actually look at the records and how many games teams have played, this is a much more natural mid-way point than the end of Week 8. Plus, it’s my article and I can do whatever I want.


Most improved team

The Los Angeles Rams. There is no other answer here. If you said anything else, go to the end of the line and take a long, hard look at your life. Bonus points to the Rams for being coached by a former Boy Band Member!

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Who Watches the Watchmen? (The NFL on REO)

Catches, media incompetence, and bad wins. We cover it all this week. (1,687 words)

In Watchmen, the genre-defining masterpiece by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, there is a slogan that can be seen throughout the graphic novel, spray-painted on walls, “Who watches the Watchmen?” It’s a message about keeping those in power accountable and if that is even possible. While the things I examine this week are much less important in the grand scheme, I believe they belong in the conversation. It’s too often that we find incompetence or worse coming from those that are in a place of power in the sports’ world – whether it be the leagues, the teams, or the media that covers it all. So here is my attempt to watch the watchmen.

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Stream of Consciousness (The NFL on REO)

I am on drugs. I am sorry. (604 words)

I’m all hopped-up on pain meds so you will have to excuse this week’s installment. At least you are getting one, as I came this close to not writing anything.

I had my gallbladder removed on Friday and I am still in the recovery phase. I have to eat bland food for a bit and rest and take it easy. And I have to take the aforementioned pain meds. They are nice pain meds. They make me feel warm and fuzzy. Mostly fuzzy. But with less pain. So it’s a good fuzzy. The surgery went well and my recovery seems to be going well also. I thought about ending that sentence with another “as well” but quickly realized that was a bad idea. But I can’t really trust my judgment since I am currently on drugs so maybe it wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

Frankly, I don’t care. Moving on.

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The NFL on REO: Game Time!

The Regular Season is here! We rank all 16 games and we give our staff predictions for the Tennessee Titans’ record. (947 words)

It’s game time baby!

The NFL season kicks off tomorrow with the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs. I am so excited, even if this first game includes my most hated team in the history of all sports – the Patriots. It’s real NFL football for the first time in over half a year! What is better than that?

To commemorate this momentous occasion, here is my interest level for each game this week. We’ll start at the bottom.

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The NFL on REO: Dominance

This week’s column contains more Gowdy Cannon zaniness and our first Power Rankings of the season. Number 3 will blow your mind! (1,741 words)

The Insane Ramblings of Gowdy Cannon

On to 2017…

Yes, I’m the guy who wrote a 2500-hundred word counseling session on how Tom Brady is the most overrated quarterback of all-time. But don’t let that keep you from reading what I’m about to write. You should appreciate it primarily because I wrote the Brady article.

While players can be overrated or underrated to team success I do not think there is any way to get around claiming team superiority in an objective way. For example, we could argue all day whether Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Matt Ryan was the best QB in the NFL last year, but we cannot argue that New England was the best team. That was objectively settled on the field.

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Titans Tuesday: Winning!

Two wins in a row!

The Tennessee Titans just won two games in a row for the first time since weeks 16 and 17 of the 2013 season. That is:

1,023 days.

Or 2 years, 9 months, 18 days.

Or 146 weeks and 1 day.

In other words:

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In more words: That shows a level of incompetence that should be impossible in a league designed to make the majority of teams competitive week in and week out. But somehow, the Titans and the previous regime were able to not only beat the odds, they defied ALL THE ODDS. More evidence that Ken Whisenhunt and Ruston Webster were a tag team worse than the Godwins1.

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