Was Amy Adams Strunk’s message received by the Tennessee Titans
By Will Lomas
In a show of force a month ago, Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk fired GM Jon Robinson.
The prevailing statement from everyone associated with the team was that Robinson did a great job getting the team from irrelevance to a team that expects to go to the playoffs. However, AAS didn’t believe that Robinson was the guy who could bring them from playoff regular to Super Bowl contender.
When she made that move it was a vote of confidence for Mike Vrabel and by extension, it was a vote of confidence for his staff. She believed that Vrabel and his staff were doing their job at a high level and that the team just lacked blue-chip talent to take them to the next level.
If Amy Adams Strunk was sending a message to the team to say that the product on the field wasn’t good enough, how do you think she feels right now?
When will things go right for the Tennessee Titans?
Amy Adams Strunk fired Jon Robinson after back-to-back losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles, teams that have a combined 24-6 record this season.
Since the firing, the Titans have lost three games in a row against the Jacksonville Jaguars, L.A. Chargers, and Houston Texans, teams that have a combined 18-26-1 record this season.
If losing to playoff teams wasn’t acceptable, then what does it say to lose to fringe playoff teams? And to lose games in situations where coaching has come into question.
Against Jacksonville, the team looked distracted and lost the ball four times while failing to turn the ball over once. When the Tennessee Titans lost to the Chargers, Derrick Henry’s absence on 3rd and shorts was put under a microscope and the difference at left tackle between Dillon Radunz and Dennis Daley should raise some eyebrows as to why Vrabel has been defending Daley all season.
The most concerning thing is that the Tennessee Titans hosted a then 1-win team and no one felt like the Titans should win. The team had lacked energy for weeks and the explosive plays were nowhere to be found, so it wasn’t even a surprise to watch the team fumble away a game at home against the worst team in the NFL.
These losses in a vacuum aren’t going to get Mike Vrabel fired and even if he doesn’t win another game this season, that doesn’t mean that he deserves to be fired. Every Titans fan should want Mike Vrabel to be the leader of this franchise because the players buy into the message that he preaches.
The question has to be whether this team is going to figure out how to rebuild and compete in a single offseason as ownership believes or if this is going to mean a long-term rebuild.
Given that Mike Vrabel is loyal to a fault, Amy Adams Strunk is going to have to step in and make sure that anyone involved in training, recovery, or prevention of injury is fired and the same goes for OC Todd Downing who has done nothing but embarrass the Tennessee Titans.
If these two strong-willed individuals can’t agree on what is best for this team, then this team could end up in purgatory. A team too talented to lose 12+ games, but also a team without a chance of being a Super Bowl contender because they can’t get out of their own way.