Tennessee Titans: The real questions to ask between Tom Brady and Ryan Tannehill

What should Tennessee Titans focus on in the debate between Tom Brady and Ryan Tannehill?

‪At this point we have all heard every argument both for and against the idea of either Tom Brady or Ryan Tannehill starting for the Tennessee Titans in 2020, right?

Both sides present valid points and everyone has essentially drawn their line in the sand.‬

Tom Brady will be 43 years old with the possibility of Father Time (the undefeated champion) finally catching up to him.

On the other hand Ryan Tannehill’s history as an inconsistent castoff paints the picture of a potential one year wonder.

The pros and cons list for these two have been dominating Titans twitter for the last couple of weeks.

Whichever side of the debate you’re on, the most important thing to remember through all of these arguments is the fact that the Titans are likely going to be in great position to contend in 2020 whether it’s No. 17 or No. 12 under center.

There are a multitude of reasons to believe that either one of these two quarterbacks can help this Titans team get over the proverbial hump.

The fact they we’re even debating between the possibility of having either the GOAT or a Pro-Bowler as the team’s starting quarterback should tell you just how far this franchise has come in just five years.

I’m personally extremely torn on who I want under center more, but I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t begun to swing to about 51-49 Brady.

We can debate the numbers all day long and if you do that for 2019 solely, you’re undoubtedly going to lean towards Tannehill, and if you want to consider the fact that Brady just won a Super Bowl in 2018 and has a resume that is second to none, then there really is no debate.

Unfortunately, it really isn’t that simple, but fortunately for us as fans, we get to talk about it with minimal repercussions if we’re wrong.

Chances are, at this point you already have your mind set as to whether you’d rather have Tannehill or Brady under center in 2020 and everyone should respect those opinions.

This article is in no way trying to persuade you one way or another, this is just going to discuss what started to slowly but surely shift my beliefs from No. 17 to No. 12 for me personally.

There is one situation in particular that ultimately started to swing the QB1 pendulum towards the six time Super Bowl champion every single time I thought about it.

Going back to the AFC championship game, the Titans took an early 17-7 lead on the Chiefs who looked like they were going to be the next victim of the Derrick Henry led freight train from Tennessee.

That was unfortunately not the case as the Chiefs did something that seemed impossible at the time by containing Derrick Henry and forced the Titans offense to solely run through the right arm of the Titans quarterback.

Something that was not a problem for the former Texas A&M product throughout the regular season, however, when it mattered the most, the passing attack was not there.

Throughout the first two games of the playoffs, the team didn’t need Tannehill to dominate through the air because Henry was going ballistic on the ground.

That is not a knock on him in any way, the offense played their game plan about as perfect as you possibly could through the first two rounds of the playoffs. But the truth of the matter is: once Henry was finally neutralized in the AFC Championship game, so was this offense.

Following a Chiefs touchdown in the second quarter in order to bring the score to 17–14, the Titans got the ball with the chance to continue to put their foot on their throat before the half. Instead, the offense went three-and-out and allowed the chiefs to start their strangle hold while the Titans could do nothing but watch.

What started out as a 17-7 lead, quickly became a 35-17 deficit after Tennessee’s defense allowed Kansas City’s high powered offense to score 28 unanswered points, meanwhile the Titans’ offense failed to punch back every single time a red and white hay-maker got thrown at them.

As great as Tannehill was all year long, he ultimately came up short when the team actually needed him to be the one to put the team on his back and get them to the Super Bowl.

Now, put Tom Brady in that exact same situation while being surrounded by the talent on this team, does he allow this offense to watch the Chiefs score 28 unanswered points? Or does Tom Brady have this offense punching back every single time Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs hit them?

We can debate the individual statistics all day and night, but those are arguably the real questions we really need to be asking ourselves because there is a very good chance that Tennessee is in that exact same situation once again next January.

I’ve personally reached a point where running it back with Tannehill would be fantastic to watch, but if they legitimately have the chance to get the greatest quarterback ever, and can have him hand the ball off to the best running back in football, while throwing to one of the best young receivers in the NFL, you go ahead and make that dream into a reality.