1. The hype
One of the most vilified people in media among Titans fans, is Adam Rank. Is it because he only stumbled through the Titans portion of his predictions last year as though it was the first time he had heard their names? Sure.
Is it also because he doubled down on his terrible job with the predictions? Also yes.
But is it because he has failed to learn from his mistakes this season? Yet again, yes.
Adam Rank was one of the worst offenders, but he was hardly the only one that counted the Titans out before the season started. On the other hand, everyone was quick to jump on board the Freddie Kitchen-led Cleveland Browns.
Spoiler alert, when the dust settles the Titans win this week one matchup, but this is the perfect example to look back at because the Browns were a collective of individual talents without a cohesive bond and without a coach who understood how to create that chemistry.
Odell Beckham Jr. is a phenomenal talent and so is Myles Garrett. There are no buts in this statement, it is a fact that those players are great. I also really like guys like Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry, and both of the Browns starting CBs.
However (as cliche as this is) this isn’t fantasy football and the teams with the best individuals don’t always win. That was the case in Week 1 and that underdog mentality was Tennessee’s bread and butter for most of the 2019 season and postseason.