Corey Davis - Titans Ever On

The Playoffs Start Now

There is no tomorrow. Today is all the matters. The playoff run starts this Sunday.

I realize the title of this article is not exactly accurate. I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, the playoffs start on Sunday for the Tennessee Titans. There really is no other way around it. Obviously, the Titans could still make the playoffs with a loss against the Houston Texans, but I think we can all admit backing into the playoffs is not the best approach for a team that has been a .500 club over the last 10 games.

Did you catch that? Over the last 10 games, the Tennessee Titans are 5-5. For a team that started 5-0 and showed such early promise, the majority of the season has been average at best. True, they have some big wins but they also have some inexcusable losses. (I’m looking at you, Bengals.)

Yes, the offense has been spectacular throughout the season, with only a few hiccups along the way. I’m not going to hit them too hard for a few missteps. (The first Indy game and the recent debacle in Green Bay come to mind.) Taken as a whole, the offense has been better than any fan could have hoped for. Tannehill, Henry, Davis, Brown, and company have created the best offense Titans’ fans have ever seen. It’s been impressive, to say the least.

But (you knew it was coming), the defense has been equally as bad. Maybe worse. I’ve been watching Tennessee Titans’ football since Day One, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a defense this pathetic or inept. Sure, I’ve seen defenses equally as bad, but those had zero to little talent. This squad has talent. You will never convince me otherwise. Perhaps we all overvalued the talent on the roster, but I firmly believe the talent is mostly there, outside of edge rushers. Virtually no one on the defense has played up to their talent. Most have had career worst seasons. It’s mindboggling and exasperating. And I see no scenario where is gets much better this season.

So, it’s been a mixed bag. Offensively, this should be a 12 or 13 win team. Defensively, it should be a 1 or 2 win team. It’s miraculous this team has clawed it’s way to 10 wins so far. But, with the way last season ended and the historic firepower of the offense, fans have a right to expect great things from this team. Losing to Houston on Sunday and missing out on the playoffs and the division are not part of the plan.

The playoffs start now. The Titans have no business losing on Sunday to a depleted Houston team. The Titans have the talent to win 11 games, win the AFC South, and host their first playoff game since 2008. This is not a throwaway game. This is a game that will set the tone for the remainder of the season, one way or another. If the Titans win, they have the potential to make another run, maybe all the way to the Super Bowl. (Yeah, I think they are good enough to hang with anyone on any given Sunday.) If the Titans lose, the could miss the playoffs entirely and the fan base would have every right to be more than a little disappointed. Missing the playoffs with this roster and this offense, would be a lower point than anything in the Mularkey era.

The playoffs start now. Titans, go down to Houston this weekend and establish your dominance. Take control of the game from the opening kick and never let it go. Crush the will of the Texans early and keep crushing it until they cry “Mercy!” The playoffs start now and your fans will accept nothing less than a win, a division title, and trip to the playoffs. We’ve stuck through the lean years. There needs to be a payoff for all the suffering. Make it happen.

The playoffs start now.

Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars: Keys to the Game

Punch them in the mouth!

It’s a short week so I’m going to keep my commentary short. These are the three Keys to the game against Jacksonville tonight.

Five Titans Season Predictions

I might as well go big for my first real article on Titans Ever On. These predictions are not for the faint of heart. I will be pulling no punches. Fortunate favors the bold and all that. So, buckle up and hold on tight. (I’m all out of cliches…) Here are my five Titans season predictions.

1. The offense will share the load.

In the Return of the King, one of the most iconic scenes is when brave and loyal Samwise Gamgee carries Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom. (If that sentence has you questioning whether this is a sports’ article or the musings of a nerd, the answer is both. You might as well come to terms with that now.) Frodo is completely worn down by the weight and power of the ring he is carrying. (Seriously, if you don’t understand this reference, I’m not going to re-tell the entire story. Go watch the movies or read the books.) Sam realizes he cannot carry the ring – its power would consume him as well. So he decides to carry his friend instead. It’s an amazing and powerful moment in a film full of amazing and powerful moments.

The Tennessee Titans: A Glass Half-Full Examination of the 2018 Season

One fan’s wildly optimistic take on the 2018 Tennessee Titans.

I am a pessimist. I like to consider myself a realist, but when you strip away all the fancy words, you are left with someone who typically expects the worst. In my defense, the worst is usually what happens which is why my stubborn realist philosophy seems validated.

I have a few exceptions to my pessimistic personality, with a big one being my sports’ teams. When it comes to my teams, I am an eternal optimist. I always see the silver lining. I always hope and believe that the future will be bright, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary. My hope for this article is that I can balance both sides – the optimist and the pessimist. I hope that balance will make for a more nuanced and rational take on what has been an incredibly frustrating season for my favorite team – the Tennessee Titans.

The NFL Needs To Change (The NFL on REO)

The NFL has a lot of problems. What are they and how do we fix them? (1,569 words)

The NFL is in trouble. That’s the bad news. The good news is that most of the problems with the league can be corrected, as long as the NFL acts decisively and quickly.

The NFL is best seen as a giant battleship. It’s enormous and built to last, yet its size makes it unwieldy and difficult to change course quickly. Right now, it is the biggest and baddest ship on the water, but it is headed in the wrong direction. To make matters worse, it has dozens of small cracks along its hull that are slowly taking in water. Not one of those cracks is enough to sink it, but collectively, those cracks will eventually bring it down.

The NFL on REO: Old Faces, New Places

Week One wrap up and more! (1,299 words)

Week 1

Week one is in the books.

Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t really learn much after one week of play in the NFL. It is going to take a lot more to convince me that the New England Patriots are as bad as they looked on Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. Similarly, it will take a lot to convince me that the Los Angeles Rams are as good as they looked against the hapless Indianapolis Colts.

Game one is never the strongest indicator of future performance. You just have to look at the two years Ken Whisenhunt coached the Tennessee Titans. If you only saw game one in those two years, you would have thought the Titans were a juggernaut of a team. Unfortunately for fans of the team, those two games were far and away the highlights of each season.

The NFL on REO: Tennessee Titans Edition

We go “all-in” on the Tennessee Titans! We recap Preseason Game 3, do Five Questions with Paul Kuharsky, and get your predictions for the upcoming season. (1,572 words)

The Tennessee Titans – High Hopes and Legitimate Concerns

This week, we are going to take a little break from our usual league-wide coverage, and focus only on the Tennessee Titans. For those that think that seems unfair, too bad. It’s my column and I can do whatever I want. Last season, the Titans finished second in the AFC South with a 9-7 record. They missed the playoffs in a tie-breaker to the Houston Texans. The Titans have made what look to be smart moves this offseason to improve the roster and hopes are high in Tennessee.

Or, they were high until the preseason started.

The Titans were uninspired and seemingly bored the entire first preseason game against the New York Jets. Their offense was anemic and their first team defense gave up a quick score to an awful Jets’ offense. The Titans rebounded and looked good the following week against the Carolina Panthers. Both sides of the ball made plays and they calmed the doubts and fears that had been festering in the hearts of the Tennessee fan base after the first game.

The NFL on REO: Are We There Yet?

We are ready for real football. That, a little more on the Colin Kaepernick situation, and some Titans Talk in this week’s edition. (1,391 words)

My Final Preseason Thoughts

I wrote about preseason football last week – you can find those remarks right here. I feel I should add a few more thoughts about it before we move on to more important matters.

Let’s deal with the problems first:

Problem: Preseason football is not very fun to watch.

Outside of the diehard fans, not many people can sit through an entire preseason game. The starters play one or two series and then the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string guys get on the field and attempt to make their case for getting on the team. By their very nature, the preseason games are going to be less interesting because they do not count for anything. There is no real drama. Plus, the guys at the bottom of the roster aren’t as good, which is why they are at the bottom, and the quality of football suffers.

The NFL on REO: The Draft

Recap of the 2017 NFL draft, and a few other points of interest.

An Exhaustively Researched Hypothesis

The NFL just concluded the 2017 draft. As usual, it was three days full of excitement, drama, and way too many opinions. It also helped confirm in my mind a little hypothesis I have been developing for some time: The NFL is the girl in high school that is socially oblivious, dumb as a box of rocks, kind of a jerk, but is pretty hot. Allow me to elaborate. That girl from high school had no problem getting dates. All the dumb, hormone driven, high school boys could easily overlook her lack of intelligence, her meanness, or her propensity to say or do publicly embarrassing things because…hotness. All those other negative qualities did nothing to lessen her popularity with the guys. That’s the NFL.

The NFL draft is three days of the NFL showing off, patting themselves on the back, and doing it all in the most bombastic and cringe-worthy manner possible. And we still watch. Because hotness. The NFL is hot, has been hot for a long time, and will be hot for many more years to come. It will be hot until all the negatives about the sport finally surpass how attractive it is to fans. And believe me, that time is coming.