"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Sunday, October 18, 2009
So unless you are completely disconnected from any news outlet of any kind, you probably know my Tennessee Titans got utterly destroyed today by the New England Patriots. It was arguably the "awfulest" NFL game loss in almost 40 years.
Here's the conversation I had with my daughters Macy (8) and Grace (6) afterward.
Me: Well, the Titans lost. Really bad too. It was 59 to zero. That's the worst loss in the NFL since 1976.
Grace: They got no points?
Me: Nope, no points.
Macy: Whoa.
Me: Yep. What do you think they should do?
Macy: I don't know.
Me: They might fire their coach.
Macy: No!
Me: No?
Grace: What does fire mean?
Me: Get rid of him.
Grace: I wouldn't fire him.
Me: No? But something has to change. What would you do?
Grace: I would just tell him to play better.
Me: You think they haven't done that already?
Grace: No.
Macy: What would happen to the team?
Me: They'd keep playing.
Macy: Without a coach?
Me: No, they'd hire another one.
Macy: Oh. Well, that's okay.
Grace: No, they should keep the same coach.
Me: That's very gracious of you, Grace.
Grace: I'm going to practice my tap dance moves.
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Comments on "Grace Suggests Grace for the Tennessee Titans":
2. Quaid
- 10/18/2009 9:26 pm CDT
I kept thinking they would surprise everyone with a run or something this season, but it's pretty much over now.
SO - with that in mind, I think they should bench Collins and work with Young. I don't think Young is near as bad as everyone thinks he is. Sure - you could point to his 0/2 effort with an int., but it's not really fair to compare him with other starting quarterbacks. The fact of the matter is that he shares practice with KC (and my guess is that KC gets far more snaps each week in practice than VY).
To sum up, I think they should turn it over to Vince. (I admit a small bias emanating from the Austin area, here) This season is done for, but if they can turn it around and win three or four games with VY starting, that will give the team enough hope for next year. Fisher can keep his job, and everyone in Texas will be happy.
Or - they could just fire Fisher now and get Cowher, Shannahan, Gruden or another one of the elite coaches out there who have Superbowl experience.
3. Jared
- 10/18/2009 9:40 pm CDT
Quaid, Young had plenty of shots at the starting job. Then he acted like a baby.
He pretty much sucks in the NFL and TN fans are already over him.
I'm gonna be hacked if next year the Titans draft a scrappy, "athletic" quarterback. I wish they'd learn their lesson. An old school, passing, good-in-the-pocket QB is what still works in the NFL.
I'd actually be surprised if Fisher gets fired, but I bet other heads will roll. Quite a few, probably.
4. Bill
- 10/19/2009 7:07 am CDT
Jared, aside from losing Haynesworth, what's changed since last year? The Titans were one of the elite teams. I caught the last few minutes of yesterday's debacle on the radio and could not believe the score when I heard it. Were the Patriots running up the score? Good grief.
What else is different this year, to cause this first to worst slide?
5. Jared
- 10/19/2009 7:16 am CDT
I honestly don't know. I actually asked that on Twitter, and nobody answered. The team is virtually the same. But they're playing completely differently.
No, the Pats weren't running up the score. They put in their backup QB in the 3rd quarter and only scored twice in the 2nd half, not at all in the 4th quarter.
I don't understand the running up the score thing anyway. It's a game. What is a team supposed to do when there's plenty of time left and they're up by a lot? Kneel every down? There's some Titans fans complaining about the Patriots running up the score; whiny babies. We got our backsides handed to us. Big time.
But how we went from 13-3 to . . . whatever this is, I don't know.
I caught the highlights of Fisher's press conference last night, and it was disappointing. He offered no explanation. He just said it wouldn't continue.
Well, it's kind of too late for that.
6. Daniel Ross
- 10/19/2009 8:08 am CDT
I love the Titans.
That being said ... here are my theories:
- Collins was a fluke last year. It was his last hurrah. He is old (for an NFL QB) and he never was that great. He solid, but not great. He is not the problem with this team this year but he IS part of the problem. He underthrows or overthrows much of the time. He can't move that much. There are tons of three and outs. TN has great running backs (the only bright spot, really) but you can't run the ball every play in the NFL. This isn't high school football.
- VY isn't really the answer either. HOWEVER, they are paying him something like $14 million so maybe, since this season is shot, give him more playing time besides garbage time. However, he is not, I repeat, NOT the long-term answer for the Titans.
- Haynesworth is gone. I know he's one guy, but he was one of the best defensive players in the NFL last year and he, combined with Kyle Vanden Bosch made life rough on QBs last year which, in turn, forced bad passes. however this year those passes are nearly as rushed and are finding guys open ...
- against the TERRIBLE secondary and pass coverage of the Titans. I know there have been some injuries but these guys are way outmatched.
- The first two games, they almost won (against good teams) but they lost their confidence somewhere around Jacksonville. You can see it written all over the team.
Of course, this is my opinion. I could be wrong.
7. Quaid
- 10/19/2009 8:15 am CDT
If I remember correctly, the two years Young started included a Rookie of the Year honor and a trip to the playoffs (or two?). That's not so bad. He has a couple of bad games in season three, gets injured, gets blown up by the media for being "suicidal" and is now seemingly the worst quarterback to have graced the franchise? It appears that the Titan fan-base might be a tad fickle.
If they're not going to use Vince - fine. Trade him, release him, whatever. But, in my opinion, Collins is done. He has no place in this league as a starter. He needs to retire after he collects the rest of his contract and go home (or serve as a backup somewhere - I think he would be a great backup quarterback for a couple of years which is, incidentally, why he was hired by this team in the first place). The Titans will not win consistently with Collins.
Last year, the defense was great and Collins skated through the season simply by not messing up. His mission was to complete passes and don't turn the ball over - he never did anything horribly amazing, but he never did anything wrong. In that sense, he was a great quarterback last year - he never really did anything to lose games (which is all they were asking him to do). Not so this year. Collins' play alone could be the entire reason this team is going downhill. If the offense could put together a decent drive or two, the defense wouldn't have to defend against a five-touchdown quarter - it would be practically impossible.
That's the difference between this year and last year, in my eyes. It's not Fisher or the defense or special teams or peripherals. It's Collins' play at QB.
Jared - if you could draft any college QB to replace Collins with and build a new franchise upon, who you you choose? If you need a list of probable availables, you can check this site out:
http://walterfootball.com/draft2010QB.php
8. Jared
- 10/19/2009 8:38 am CDT
Last year Young did not get us to the play-offs; he got injured 2 or 3 games in and then Collins "skated" us to them.
Collins was a stellar quarterback last year. Really good. He was not lucking into what he did.
One game is a fluke. A whole season? He looked too solid.
Maybe this season is the fluke?
Maybe he really only had that one season in him left. I don't know. But the idea that we just kind of accidentally got there in spite of him is weird. He was a really, really good quarterback last year.
I honestly don't care who we take next year. I will leave the specifics up to those who keep track of such things. I don't watch any college football so the nuances between Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow aren't something I can identify.
But I do know we've drafted two "athletic" quarterbacks who were not good in the pocket, rookies of the year notwithstanding, and the results have been some good seasons, but wobbly passing and burning out too quickly and no championships.
11. Quaid
- 10/19/2009 2:17 pm CDT
I wasn't referring to last year's playoffs - I was speaking about the year before that. In 2007, the Titans got into the playoffs with Young starting every game that season.
2008 - he hurts his knee in Game 1
He hasn't started since. All of the information we have concerning VY as a starter demonstrates that he has been a success. He progressed from his first season to his second season, but hasn't had the chance to develop because the Titans have gone with another QB.
I get it - you're not too fond of VY, but you have to admit that he was successful before the injury and hasn't had a chance to develop since then.
12. Jared
- 10/19/2009 2:32 pm CDT
Define successful.
In 2007 he had a QB rating of 70 or so, which doesn't suck. The Titans/Oilers have never been a win-definitively team, and our success in 2007, such as it was -- scoring a wildcard game and losing to the Chargers -- was at least as creditable to our defense. We survived, yes, in part owing to Young's athleticism.
The questions about his mettle weren't silly. The team psychologist expressed concern over his state. His family was at least concerned enough about his unavailability to call Fisher.
I don't know what's wrong with the team, but the idea that Young could turn this thing around is more owing to sentimentality about him than dismissals are to denigration of him. I trust that if the coaches thought he could steer the team, he'd have the job. As you pointed out, they're certainly paying him enough to give it a try, right?
They know his ability better than we do, however.
He got a couple of chances last year and couldn't handle it. At this point we can afford to let him get some licks in -- an interception on his first pass was just fitting, wasn't it? -- but until now I don't think it was worth it to let him use real games to regain personal confidence. That's what practice is for. This is the NFL; we keep score and stuff.
13. Quaid
- 10/19/2009 3:20 pm CDT
So - are you thinking that it would be a good idea to start VY the rest of the season, or no?
I'm not arguing here - I'm seeking clarification.
Also - do you know if the team is indicating their support of or demonstrating frustration with Fisher? Is he on the dreaded "hot seat"? I'm not certain he was before Sunday, but that loss was borderline disturbing.
14. Jared
- 10/19/2009 3:35 pm CDT
Oh yeah, I'm saying let's put him in. Couldn't hurt. Let's do something different.
What I'm saying is that I don't think he's gonna be any better or prove previous analysis of him as an NFL QB wrong. But I'm not saying I'd hope that'd be the case. By all means, let's throw him in and hope he changes our mind.
I won't be sad to be wrong about him, if I am.
I just think he's not the guy and we should get a burgeoning classic NFL QB in the next draft.
15. Bill
- 10/19/2009 7:44 pm CDT
I wish VY the best, and hope he one day lives up to his potential in the NFL, but I can say that here in Houston most of us are very glad the Texans coached passed up on both VY and Bush to get Mario Williams.
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Obviously the Titans are not a cold weather team, unfortunately they are not a very good weather team either.