Two Tales of One City (The NFL on REO)

Updated Power Rankings a look at sports in Nashville. (1,505 words)

Power Rankings

I got some help this week for the NFL Power Rankings from fellow REO contributors Gowdy Cannon and Mike Lytle. I asked them to rank their top 15 teams. We then assigned a point value to each team based on where they were ranked and then added those points together to get the final product – The NFL on REO Top Ten. (Example for the ranking: A 1st place vote receives 15 points, a 2nd place vote receives 14 points, and a 15th place vote receives 1 point.) I’ve listed the total point value for each team so you can see how this all came together. For the tie-breakers, I listed the rationale for why one team was placed above the other.

1. New England – 45

Back when the Patriots were 2-2 with what was by far the last place team in defensive points given up, it looked like the rest of the league may have had a prayer of not having to deal with this constant playoff juggernaut this year. It was a testimony to how incredible the offense is that they were 2-2 since most teams would have been 0-4 giving up 38 points every week.

Continue reading “Two Tales of One City (The NFL on REO)”

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.

Continue reading “The NFL on REO: Game Time!”

Titans Tuesday: The Top Ten Things I Am Thinking

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

In keeping with the Top Ten theme of the week here at Rambling Ever On, I decided to list the Top Ten things that have been bouncing around in my head the past few days. Obviously, these are the Titans’ related thoughts I’ve had. I do think about other things from time to time. So, without further ado:

10. The J-E-T-S are the worst, worst, worst.

A win by the Jets last night would have knocked the Indianapolis Colts to 5-7. That would have been huge for the Titans and their playoff hopes.

Continue reading “Titans Tuesday: The Top Ten Things I Am Thinking”

Titans Tuesday: The Rule of Three

How the Titans lost a game they should have won.

“The rule of three or power of three is a writing principle that suggests that things that come in threes are funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things.”1

At its most stripped down, the Tennessee Titans’ 25-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday came down to three plays. Three awful, catastrophic, and horrifying plays. If you were to remove those three plays, the Titans win the game. I am convinced of that. Of course, many things could have appeared in the vacuum created by the absence of those three plays, but we are not omniscient and do not know what might have been. We can only hypothesize and formulate conclusions based on the data and knowledge we possess.

Continue reading “Titans Tuesday: The Rule of Three”

Titans Tuesday: Win All the Games!

The long, dark winter (offseason) is over. Football is back! God bless us, everyone!

The Preseason is over. The regular season is about to begin. Words cannot express the joy I am feeling. Perhaps this video can do what my words cannot.

That is how I feel every year the week leading up to the first kickoff in the NFL season. As I’ve asked before, if you are a fan, why would you approach the new season with anything other than enthusiasm and optimism? Let us all take a few moments and just enjoy this moment when everything is great, because it won’t be long when many teams and their respective fans realize that they are going nowhere in 2016.

Continue reading “Titans Tuesday: Win All the Games!”

Titans Tuesday: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

Are you ready for some football?

Training Camp is here. That means, in less than two weeks, the Titans will play in their first preseason game against the San Diego Chargers. And a month after that, on September 11, the Titans will play their first regular season game of the 2016 NFL season against the Minnesota Vikings.

Right now, at this very minute, there are 32 NFL teams with hope. Even the Browns. Every NFL season brings with it a renewed confidence, excitement and optimism. For the majority of teams in the NFL, those feelings will be thoroughly and violently crushed in a matter of months. But right now, everyone is dreaming big.

Continue reading “Titans Tuesday: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!””