Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
I simply have to say that, these are “The Same Old Titans” contrary to what my fellow colleague and Assistant Editor Josh Gunnels has to say. As a matter of fact, these are the same old Oilers! To be honest and true, it’s not the players’ fault, it just is what it is. I will discuss throughout and counter what Josh has said in his previous article.
I will say, although I like Munchak, he was a cheap option to an owner that has always been more worried about the bottom line when it comes to money than he has about the football team that he owns. To sit back and split hairs about who is or who isn’t on the coaching staff is futile. The Titans gave up 471 points last year on defense. They allowed two opponents to score 50+ points against them. Simply put, the Titans looked out of their element last year as a team on multiple occasions and I won’t even mentioned the offense.
I know more than a few Titans fans haven’t followed the team since the Oiler days, and that’ s understandable, but I have, and so have many other people that stuck with the team when they moved to Tennessee. What we’ve seen for 20+ years is the same ol same ol. What we have always seen is an organization that will do whatever they can, for as cheap as they can to make a make a buck. The Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans have had ebbs and flows, like some other organizations but what sets them apart is that the owner, K.S. simply wants money to be funneled into the bank account on a regular basis. He wants to hire the cheapest help and hope for the best results.
Although I have been critical of Jeff Fisher in the past (mainly for being too rigid in his play calling- three yards and a cloud of dust) he simply was the best coach I’ve ever seen with this organization. His foundation was strong. Have a smash mouth defense that people feared and have a hard hitting offense that people didn’t want to play. Once again, he came cheap! He was hired off of Jack Pardee’s staff as a young, up and comer and proved to be gem.
I will say, from 99-03 the Titans in their, “Glory Years”, were a team to be reckoned with but we just couldn’t get it done and we simply fell back to our old ways. A mediocre team that saw it’s window close. With that said, I can’t fault K.S. or the organization for that, I truly feel they tried everything to win it all in that situation. However in my life as a fan, that was only the 2nd time I saw that from the organization (the first being the run-n-shoot days with Warren Moon).
To me, one of the worst acts by the organization was locking Steve McNair out from BSP for fear of getting stuck with a 26 mil. dollar cap hit if he got injured on premises. McNair was due to be traded to the Ravens but the two sides were hassling over compensation when this happened. No matter the cause, it was something that gave the Titans organization a black eye.
The draft of 2006 brought K.S. declaring that Vince Young was, “His Guy”, I guess you know how that went. Vince Young, who never seemed to grasp the offense or fit in with what Jeff Fisher wanted to do, sealed his fate as starting QB for the Titans when he went on a rampage against Fisher after getting pulled from a game against the Redskins after he injured his thumb.
I will argue the point that K.S. spent alot of money in the first six years when he brought the team to Nashville. Why would he want to spend so much money on a new investment? Well, he just moved the team, he needed to not only keep the fans of Nashville and Tennessee excited about the product he was putting out but he wanted to sale it. Would you want to move a team and immediately start losing? No, you need to get season ticket holders to pay money and to lock up seats for years.
Of course there have been signings and defections, that’s par for the course. However, the Titans tend to let guys go when they have no one in reserve and no one better at that position on the roster.Would we have been better as a team last year with Finnegan re-signing? We had the money.
Yes, you can say that Haynesworth wasn’t worth the money but who knows. What would have happened if he would have stayed in Tennessee in a 4-3? Or better yet, what would have happened if we had an organization that saw the potential in him and re-signed him a year before his contract was up? Yes, Jevon Kearse signed with the Eagles and tore up his knee. Does that mean he would have in Nashville? How about Derrick Mason?
To me, more than anything it’s that we let guys walk and have no real replacement for them, therefore turning a strength into a glaring weakness. Glaring weaknesses that inevitably were too hard to overcome and field a competitive team. Maybe they didn’t produce when they signed elsewhere, that happens, new team, new situation, new scheme, and not being used right factors into that equation. What matters is that they were productive for us and in many instances we let them walk.
The pursuit of Peyton Manning last year. Look, when free agency started no one thought the Titans would be a player for Manning….then all of a sudden….you guessed it, K.S. wanted Manning. The entire front office shifted its focus to going after Peyton Manning and missed out on free agents that they had been targeting. Of course we didn’t get Peyton. So what did we end up with? Kamerion Wimbley and Steve Hutchinson. As you know Hutch just retired and Wimbley is more expensive that Jason Babin who we could have re-signed for less money and gotten more production out of.
Unfortunately, they are The Same Old Titans.
Let me ask, why does it take a 6-10 season to make the front office and coaching staff go lights out in free agency? Should they have not kno0wn that were deficient on talent? If not, then why? They seemed content last off-season with the talent at hand. The front office and coaching staff feels heat so they scramble to make big purchases in free agency instead of evaluating players a preparing for the future?
K.S. openly talks about how a change is needed because fans are chirping and are going to stop coming to games. Look, one thing I can tell you is that when we finish 10-6 next season all will be forgiven, the fans will show up for games, K.S. will make his bing, bings and then it will be life back to mediocrity…how do I know this? I’ve seen it for close to 30 years.
One quick point…Curtis Duncan made the pro bowl one year and a stipulation in his contract said he got 15k for making the pro bowl, unfortunately he tied with Ernest Givens and K.S. wanted to give him 7,500…luckily he went to court and got his money.
He is a billionaire…he’s always said that he thinks the grass is greener on the other side, he simply does not care as much about winning as he does making money.
He’s simply trying to make money! Yes he’s 90, does that mean a championship was less important when he was 80? As long as the seats are filled and he can run his day to day in Houston, I guarantee you he knows he’s a winner. Sad but true.
I tell my friends and acquaintances that ask, I follow the team and not the owner. Over the years I have always loved the players…the team….so before you judge, understand that I’ve been with this team through thick and thin, I’ve earned the right to spew some venom about the owner and front office.
What say you?
Shawn Eagle
You can follow me on twitter @RS1Eagle