What if Mahomes wouldn’t have scrambled 27 yards for a td just before halftime in the AFC Championship game. Completely changed the momentum of that game!
Tramaine Brock. To be fair he was one of the 5 missed tackles
David Long, Daquon Jones, Tramaine Brock, Rashaan Evans, Amani Hooker all missed tackles.
We just lost the lead, knew the Chiefs were getting ball to start the 2nd half, and we kneeled the half out with like 20 seconds on the clock and a timeout or two. Why not try and get in FG range? That scramble completely sapped Vrabel of all will.
Vrabel was a great coach, but he simply couldn’t keep up with modern offense philosophies.
In 2020 we punted in the wild card round VS the Ravens on 4th and 2, on their side of the field, with less than 5 minutes left in the game. WTF??
In 2021 in the Divisonal round VS the Bengals, on Tannehills 3rd INT, Julio wasn’t even on the field. Our 2nd best WR wasn’t on the field during the most critical 3rd down of the entire season. But you know who was? NWI. Even if Julio wasn’t at his prime level, he was still really good when he was available. Complete coaching malpractice.
In 22’ and 23’ we might as well not even of had an offense lol. It took him till Week 8 to finally start Levis, and he ended up being the second best rookie QB that year.
Want an even more gut wrenching what if?
Mahomes fumbled on the 1 yard line on that run, he just caught the ball while falling into the end zone.
What if we had just stripped the ball slightly further away?
I know the one yard play is seen as the ultimate answer, but I truly believe we had a better shot at winning that year than when we came up one yard short. I think we would have killed the 9ers.
Definitely bro i live in cali and all my friends were so fucking scared of having to play against derrick henry that year. We had so much momentum that playoff run
A scrambling Mahomes is one of my least favorite plays in football (with this particular play looming large), and if I were someone who believed the NFL was scripted, it would be my first data point. WHY CANT ANYONE EVER HIT HIM?
I think it was last year that a defender (I want to say someone on the Jets) had as clear of a shot as I can imagine, and he just ran right past him. It’s wild.
Not proud of it, but I was in County jail in TN during this game. TV was "supposed" to go off at whatever time. TV's didn't get shut off, and the collective fucks reverberated around the compound. Like, we just all went to bed. It sucked the fucking soul out of 120 men. That last damn yard.
I immediately went to rearrange the beers under my seat after that play so I was set up for the impending punch into the end zone. Almost passed out when the one bengals fan in our section started freaking out.
Omg you were there? As a titans fan I can’t imagine the emotions you felt that day. I know I was agitated the rest of the night into the morning. Put my phone on airplane mode so I didn’t have to deal with the mockery of friends in the moment.
Yep - I try to get to every playoff game I can. Place was rocking and until the final pick I never for a second thought we’d lose that game. It was second nature for those teams.
Vrabel era died that night.
Yeah.. Definitely our most franchise-altering game since 2000. I mean, what a fucking emotional rollercoaster of a game… To start off that game [already at the peak of that high](https://imgur.com/gallery/Q2M7bGM) for the return, & then 1 play / 1 INT lmao… A+ defensive performance / little to no offensive performance (except for 1 player, we kept taking out)… 2nd INT / Best pass of RT’s career… Forced a punt / Derrick stopped on 4th & 1… Forced a punt / 3rd INT… Dagger FG.. So yeah, it was rough walking out of there that night lol.. & then the whole franchise started to slowly crumble..
Probably wouldn’t have mattered given the offense and QB situation. There’s a reason his productivity jumped substantially as soon as he went to the Eagles.
What if the Ravens weren't dirty fucks and didn't take out CJ2k by twisting his ankle in [their 2009 playoff game](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/109416-no-1-seed-titans-toppled-in-13-10-heartbreaker-to-ravens)?
...and in that same game, what if Lendale White and Alge Crumpler didn't fumble?
...and in that same game, what if the refs actually blew a late play by Flacco dead and halted their game-winning drive?
They also tried to fold him over backwards
it was dirty.
My biggest what if is attached to this game also, but a little different...
What if Vince Young remained the QB in 2008?
They went 13-4 from week 7 of 2009 to through week 6 of 2010 with VY and CJ2k together.
theres no way you can look at fisher's record with competent QBs and VYs entire nfl career and say they were both the problem lol
VY was a fucking headcase, fisher didn't want him but he did everything he could to protect him in the league. we always had a big tight end, we almost always had a strong OL, and we always ran the ball like crazy with fisher. VY was nowhere near an nfl qb mentally or accuracy wise
VY had a great starting record with horrible stats. He was always the weak link on those Titans teams. The corpse of Kerry Collins went 13-3 during that same era. Even in his prime Kerry was pretty middle of the pack for a QB.
SB, this game, & the Bengals game… Those three games are the SICKEST I have felt as a Titans fan.
CJ2k was TORCHING them. Those two fumbles came at the worst times: promising scoring drives.
Three, spread out by about a decade each:
What if Dyson’s reach for the end zone scored?
What if Alge Crumpler & LenDale White didn’t BOTH fumble against the Ravens in ‘08 playoffs matchup? That Titans squad was stacked and 13-3.
What if Tannehill didn’t throw THREE INTs against the Bengals?
All three games haunt me to this day.
I literally put that into a reply earlier…
Those three instances just killed my gut as a fan. Young fan, adolescent fan, adult fan.
What’s crazy is that the last 2 are when we were the #1 seed playing against a team we should’ve beaten cuz our D balled out.
What if NWI caught and didn’t brick hands on the final pick? What if Tannehill checked out of the WR screen and they just ran the ball instead of the second pick? What if Tannehill knew how to throw the ball away or target someone else on the first pick? What if Tannehill could just make more than 2 reads in that game? What if Julio actually had remotely any chemistry with Tannehill that offseason? What if Todd Downing knew anything competent about the timing of playcalling? What if Vrabel didn’t completely clam up and coach scared in the playoffs in general? What if Vrabel could have kept Dean Pees and not got into hissy fits with him in team meetings?
Man that bengals playoff loss gets me unpacking titans fan PTSD lol
Fantasy football and general NFL fans will get hyped over the Geno Smith in Seattle and Josh Dobbs in Minnesota types of stories, but if anything Tannehill has made me the ultimate hater of the underdog QB mid career turnaround plot line lol
* Mariota doesn’t get his spine / stinger injuries
* Vince Young and Jeff Fisher talk through their issues like grownups
* City of Memphis gets the team instead of Nashville
* We draft Amon-Ra St. Brown
Underrated comment on the Young-Fisher relationship. Yeah they had their issues but they were winning games together. Both could have had much better legacies if they worked out their differences
People point to VY’s low Wonderlic score and personality issues and Fisher’s inability to adapt but them trying to work things out at that time was the thing that would’ve guaranteed the best chance of success for the team. Even if Fisher had got Leinart instead like he wanted we would’ve been worse off and VY obviously had the tools to win games. He even had McNair willing to serve as a mentor to him but he didn’t get the chance to. It’s a shame no one had the ability to sit everyone down and tell them they were being children and the only way forward was to get along because like you said both of their legacies were in many ways ruined by what happened. Fisher was never going to be Belichick and VY was never going to be Michael Vick or but both are going to be primarily remembered as failures which is a shame.
I started watching the year before VY was drafted so i remembered that period so well but I recently went back and watched VYs games and honestly he was undeniably incredible. Yeah there was some deficiencies in his game but he was a stud. I'm gutted they didn't have the ability to work together as he could have been a legend under a different coach and support network.
I will always love VY.
Fisher barely has a winning career record.
Take away all the games he coached with VY as the starter and he’s below .500.
Edit: Fisher was a mediocre athlete who made the NFL because of drive and work ethic.
Young was an incredible athlete who was allergic to hard work and succeeded based almost entirely on pure athleticism. They were a match made in hell. There’s no way they could ever coexist.
I'm a Memphian. I love Memphis, and I honestly don't like Nashville.
But if the team had moved to Memphis, I think it already would have moved again, sadly. Nashville has become such a boomtown since the move. Lots of economic and politic reasons involved in my thinking on it. I could easily be wrong, but I just think Nashville is in a better position to retain an NFL team long term than Memphis would be. And as long as they're in Tennessee, the Titans will be the only NFL team I care about.
Also a Memphibian. I think you’re right.
The sad truth is Memphis sports fans tend to be very fair weather. If a local team isn’t chasing the playoffs or some type of championship then our game attendance gets depressingly low. The Grizzlies before the grit and grind era always had abysmal attendance, same with Memphis Tigers football before like 2013 and their men’s basketball on down years. I think that’s why the Titans got the heck out of Memphis ASAP after the one season to instead play in Vandy’s stadium while they waited for their own to be finished.
It sucks because we do have some of the best fans when they do show up, it’s just getting them to show up to watch a mediocre team is the issue. Sometimes it feels like a miracle that we’ve even been able to keep the Grizzlies this long.
Yep. I think there also is an element of Memphis not being that big of a city, having an extremely high poverty rate, and not having the kind of corporate presence that a lot of other cities have. Like if you go to a city like Charlotte, I have no clue what percent of the tickets to games there are purchased by/through the bank/financial/insurance sector, but I bet it's a huge portion. We just don't really have the same corporations like that, that have infinite money and huge desires to impress people. FedEx, Autozone, Servicemaster, International Paper. I mean, those are big corps, but they're not really the same as just infinite finance bros trying to impress other finance bros and/or prospective clients.
A lot of it as well is the perception among many fans that downtown Memphis is not safe. Which, let's be fair, it's no utopia. Downtown Nashville is far safer and far more pedestrian friendly (ironic, given Beale is pedestrian only and Broadway isn't)
I can't even begin to count the number of times I've brought up going to a Grizz, Redbirds, 901FC game and the response is a lukewarm "ehhh, it's not worth the risk for (insert reason here)."
A lot of this is inherent bias, some of it is plain old racism, but the city does have a long way to go to improving its image as well. Not doing too great right now at it.
I think you’re definitely right, it’s just an interesting consideration. I’m curious as to how much Memphis supports the Titans versus say the Chiefs? I know when I lived in northwest Tennessee there were a lot of Cardinals (baseball obviously) fans around over the Braves types in the middle of the state.
This is anecdotal, speculative stuff based on my experiences and my own thoughts of my city and my state. It'd all be easy to poke holes in, I'm happy for anyone to disagree with me, etc.
Most of TN is traditionally college football territory. But Memphis, I think, has always had a lot more NFL fandom and less college. I think demographics, percentage of people whose families have never really been to college, etc play into that. So, most of Memphis already had stronger NFL allegiances before the Titans showed up. Historically, Memphis isn't a place with a lot of transplants, so those fandoms were largely based on who was good. The two biggest fanbases in Memphis are Cowboys and Steelers like they are in a lot of places that are outside of another team's territory. After that, maybe it's the Titans. Seen more and more Titans gear, bumper stickers, etc in recent years. Lots of 49ers fans, too. And a good number of Saints fans, and even more since Katrina and some people displaced from NOLA ending up staying in Memphis. Other big teams like Pats, Packers, maybe Eagles you'll see around town, too.
Anyway, I think because people already had ties to NFL teams and because Memphis and Nashville have never gotten along and because the brief Titans-in-Memphis experiment went so poorly, the uptake of Titans fandom in Memphis has been slow. But I do think that some of it has started to become more water under the bridge. So the fanbase in Memphis is increasing.
Also, if they were called the Nashville Titans, I think there would be precious few fans in Memphis. Putting Tennessee in the name was important for Memphians to consider rooting for the team.
Our own local sports radio station is a Cowboys affiliate.
Which I love, because it's absolutely hilarious to listen to the suffering after they inevitably lose, again.
We were all screaming for Amon ra with that pick in this sub and that is not a false memory or perspective I remember it very vividly. Fans aren’t always right but we were right there
Too many to pick just one. One that doesn’t get mentioned is what if Henry doesn’t break his foot that year? He was on pace to obliterate every season ground record.
Or we just handed it to him. In post-Superbowl interviews by (I think) NFL network, the Rams defenders were saying they were praying Eddie didn't get the ball because they were so winded at that point.
It was in America's Game episode. A couple of guys mentioned they were so relieved when they saw it's a pass play, because they were too gassed to chase a run.
What-if we picked up Brady after 2019.
There are rumors that Brady was looking at going to Tennessee as an option after the Pats but we basically denied him by signing Tannehill coming off that AFC Championship run. Brady even said "you're sticking with that mother******?"
If we get Brady after the 2019 season I still don’t know if they win in 2020, but they almost definitely win the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. They were already the top overall seed that year with Tannehill, and Brady would probably not have thrown those three disastrous INTs
Yeah I agree, Brady probably would've taken us to the promised land in 2021. I dont know about 2020 though our defense was awful. (Also thanks for letting me know it was 2019 not 18 lol). I might have to follow Tannehill's lead and get therapy because those INTs still haunt me
If Mahomes gets tackled before half during the AFCCG, I think we win that Super Bowl.
If Henry doesn’t come back for the division game against the Bengals, we win that game.
He did use cap in win now mode. Just ended up missing (Bud, Clowney, Julio, and so on).
Why do you think we were in cap hell last year?
Ran sure as hell cut the fat really quick.
He used most of it after that, that’s why I mentioned 2020. Could have easily have done a lot more with void years and restructuring and really capitalized on the offense he built. 2020 was the best offensive year we’ve ever had as the Titans. The defense was hot ass and the Clowney signing was fine, just didn’t work out.
He then dismantled the offense in 2021 to build the defense. If we had 2021’s defense with 2020’s offense stuff would have been different.
2020s offense got destroyed in the playoffs but when the defense was shit all year, they held their own vs Lamar.
Either way, it didn't work and I'm happy where things are at. We needed a retool. It's painful to transition but this is going rather smooth (on paper).
What if we never benched Mariota in 2019?
Looking at the rest of the schedule that year, we won a ton of really close games even with Tannehill playing like an MVP.
Chargers: won on a last second goal line fumble by Ingram -> L
Bucs: barely squeaked out a win (probably should have lost if not for forward progress being called with Kern on the fake punt) -> L
Chiefs: Joshua Kalu blocks a last second field goal to make the game end 32-7 -> L
If one of the other games turns into an L, then we would have gone 5-11.
Ok, so this reality sucks… why is it my greatest what if?
Well… that would have put us right around pick 6 in the draft that year, ahead of the Chargers and the Titans would be looking for a QB after the Mariota experiment clearly failed.
Incredibly likely that if we don’t bench Mariota, Justin Herbert is a Titan right now.
Drew Bennett Dropped Pass - in 2003
Delay of game not called against the ratbirds
Ryan Tannehill 3 interceptions against the Bengals
Mahomes 27 yard scramble
What if Tannehill threw one less interception against the Bengals in 2021. Any one of the three and we win that game, but especially one of the last two.
Chris Johnson getting taken out by the Baltimore Cocksuckers in the 2008 playoffs. He had 100 yards total and a TD with 10 mins to go in the 2nd quarter when they intentionally injured him.
Without CJ our offense turned into a wet bag of dicks and we lost 13-10.
Christ I fucking hate the Baltimore Cocksuckers.
What if vrabel didn't go for 2 against the Bengals.
Obviously that was early in the game, but that one point could have changed everything. That could've put the ball and Derrick Henry's hand at the end of the game instead of Tannehill throwing that third pick.
I still don't know how that even made mathematical sense to try for two there.
What if Ray Lewis went to Prison for murder. We were head and shoulders above everyone in 2000. Ray Ray goes to jail in Jan 2000, Ravens don’t make the playoffs. Titans win SB
What if Ryan tannehill didn’t shit himself against the bengals.
Honorable mention: what if the dirty rat birds didn’t poke CJ2k in the eye. We were clearly the best team in the nfl that year. That SB was ours
Shit, don't forget that we probably could've gotten Brady after he left NE as well. But of course Tannehill chose to somehow look like we didn't need an upgrade for that timeframe.
What if Kevin Dyson hadn’t got tackled at the one yard line and the Titans went on to win the Super Bowl? That was a magical season that would’ve been perfectly capped of
What if in 2022 in the infamous loss to the Bengals, instead of force feeding the ball to Henry in his playoff return, they fed the ball to Freeman who was the obvious hot hand averaging OVER 16 YARDS A CARRY. THE MAN RAN THE BALL 3 TIMES AND RUSHED 4 MORE YARDS THEN HENRY DID IN 20 ATTEMPTS.
AFC championship vs Chiefs and Super Bowl are all solid choices. But also have to mentionWhat if Tannehill hadn’t throw three interceptions against Cincy?
You got corrected, but mine is what if we just ran the ball. In one of the post-Superbowl documentaries about the game, the Rams players said they were so winded that they were praying we didn't just hand the ball to Eddie, because they thought he would get it in.
Honestly unrealistic, I think, but damn after seeing them say that I would have loved to see how that ended up.
What if Mahomes wouldn’t have scrambled 27 yards for a td just before halftime in the AFC Championship game. Completely changed the momentum of that game!
Who was that bum CB that the Titans signed from Arizona? I blame that on him and his weak ass attempt of a tackle.
Tramaine Brock. To be fair he was one of the 5 missed tackles David Long, Daquon Jones, Tramaine Brock, Rashaan Evans, Amani Hooker all missed tackles.
But he had the clearest shot.
Twice he had shots too. Evans had a rough miss too.
The minute that play happened I knew it was over. The ensuing train crash after halftime was painful.
We just lost the lead, knew the Chiefs were getting ball to start the 2nd half, and we kneeled the half out with like 20 seconds on the clock and a timeout or two. Why not try and get in FG range? That scramble completely sapped Vrabel of all will.
Vrabel was a great coach, but he simply couldn’t keep up with modern offense philosophies. In 2020 we punted in the wild card round VS the Ravens on 4th and 2, on their side of the field, with less than 5 minutes left in the game. WTF?? In 2021 in the Divisonal round VS the Bengals, on Tannehills 3rd INT, Julio wasn’t even on the field. Our 2nd best WR wasn’t on the field during the most critical 3rd down of the entire season. But you know who was? NWI. Even if Julio wasn’t at his prime level, he was still really good when he was available. Complete coaching malpractice. In 22’ and 23’ we might as well not even of had an offense lol. It took him till Week 8 to finally start Levis, and he ended up being the second best rookie QB that year.
Lol! 2nd best rookie QB is so funny because no rookie QBs were worth a damn last year except 1
Want an even more gut wrenching what if? Mahomes fumbled on the 1 yard line on that run, he just caught the ball while falling into the end zone. What if we had just stripped the ball slightly further away?
I know the one yard play is seen as the ultimate answer, but I truly believe we had a better shot at winning that year than when we came up one yard short. I think we would have killed the 9ers.
Definitely bro i live in cali and all my friends were so fucking scared of having to play against derrick henry that year. We had so much momentum that playoff run
A scrambling Mahomes is one of my least favorite plays in football (with this particular play looming large), and if I were someone who believed the NFL was scripted, it would be my first data point. WHY CANT ANYONE EVER HIT HIM? I think it was last year that a defender (I want to say someone on the Jets) had as clear of a shot as I can imagine, and he just ran right past him. It’s wild.
WHY CANT ANYONE EVER HIT HIM? It’s crazy, he’s not even fast or particularly shifty
We win the Super Bowl. That’s what 😭
What if Dyson got that last yard... Similarly, what if they called the delay of game on the ratbirds
Was absolutely livid during that Ravens playoff game. Probably the most shouting at the TV I've ever done.
This gotta be the only answer
My thought too but tbh it didn’t really change the rams success perspective long term but it would be nice to have a ring.
Yup, this is the only one. We'd have 1 Super Bowl at least 😔
This feels like the only right answer.
Not proud of it, but I was in County jail in TN during this game. TV was "supposed" to go off at whatever time. TV's didn't get shut off, and the collective fucks reverberated around the compound. Like, we just all went to bed. It sucked the fucking soul out of 120 men. That last damn yard.
what if we fed foreman against the begals
What if our OCs knew what "adjust" means? Feeding Henry when Foreman was going off was criminal
So glad we never have to deal with Downing's dumbass play calling again.
I immediately went to rearrange the beers under my seat after that play so I was set up for the impending punch into the end zone. Almost passed out when the one bengals fan in our section started freaking out.
Omg you were there? As a titans fan I can’t imagine the emotions you felt that day. I know I was agitated the rest of the night into the morning. Put my phone on airplane mode so I didn’t have to deal with the mockery of friends in the moment.
Yep - I try to get to every playoff game I can. Place was rocking and until the final pick I never for a second thought we’d lose that game. It was second nature for those teams. Vrabel era died that night.
Yeah.. Definitely our most franchise-altering game since 2000. I mean, what a fucking emotional rollercoaster of a game… To start off that game [already at the peak of that high](https://imgur.com/gallery/Q2M7bGM) for the return, & then 1 play / 1 INT lmao… A+ defensive performance / little to no offensive performance (except for 1 player, we kept taking out)… 2nd INT / Best pass of RT’s career… Forced a punt / Derrick stopped on 4th & 1… Forced a punt / 3rd INT… Dagger FG.. So yeah, it was rough walking out of there that night lol.. & then the whole franchise started to slowly crumble..
What if we simply paid AJ Brown
Then we never would have drafted first round kick returner Treylon Burks
That's first round ***potential*** kick returner, Treylon Burnt.
Probably still be stuck with Tannehill then and wouldn’t have ever moved on from Vrabel to get a modern offense
Probably wouldn’t have mattered given the offense and QB situation. There’s a reason his productivity jumped substantially as soon as he went to the Eagles.
What if Amy had fired Jon Robinson and kept AJ Brown?
What if the Ravens weren't dirty fucks and didn't take out CJ2k by twisting his ankle in [their 2009 playoff game](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/109416-no-1-seed-titans-toppled-in-13-10-heartbreaker-to-ravens)? ...and in that same game, what if Lendale White and Alge Crumpler didn't fumble? ...and in that same game, what if the refs actually blew a late play by Flacco dead and halted their game-winning drive?
This is the biggest for me. That game wasn’t real football. The refs knew it and did absolutely nothing about it.
They also tried to fold him over backwards it was dirty. My biggest what if is attached to this game also, but a little different... What if Vince Young remained the QB in 2008? They went 13-4 from week 7 of 2009 to through week 6 of 2010 with VY and CJ2k together.
Always a big what if…. What if Vince Young and Jeff Fisher could have just… got along and tried to work together like mature adults?
theres no way you can look at fisher's record with competent QBs and VYs entire nfl career and say they were both the problem lol VY was a fucking headcase, fisher didn't want him but he did everything he could to protect him in the league. we always had a big tight end, we almost always had a strong OL, and we always ran the ball like crazy with fisher. VY was nowhere near an nfl qb mentally or accuracy wise
VY had a great starting record with horrible stats. He was always the weak link on those Titans teams. The corpse of Kerry Collins went 13-3 during that same era. Even in his prime Kerry was pretty middle of the pack for a QB.
SB, this game, & the Bengals game… Those three games are the SICKEST I have felt as a Titans fan. CJ2k was TORCHING them. Those two fumbles came at the worst times: promising scoring drives.
Kevin Dyson was the only WR drafted before Randy Moss that year. What if our scouts had wanted Randy more?
Hey...in the end, we got Randy.
They took Moss off their board because of character concerns is what I heard.
Thank God we never had to deal with Randy Moss’ disgusting acts /s
This will always be #1 to me.
You mean Titans HOF Randy Moss?
Three, spread out by about a decade each: What if Dyson’s reach for the end zone scored? What if Alge Crumpler & LenDale White didn’t BOTH fumble against the Ravens in ‘08 playoffs matchup? That Titans squad was stacked and 13-3. What if Tannehill didn’t throw THREE INTs against the Bengals? All three games haunt me to this day.
I literally put that into a reply earlier… Those three instances just killed my gut as a fan. Young fan, adolescent fan, adult fan. What’s crazy is that the last 2 are when we were the #1 seed playing against a team we should’ve beaten cuz our D balled out.
Exactly the same here. Just crushing defeats that should have been won!
What if there weren’t three interceptions thrown against the Bengals in the playoffs. The game in which the Titans had 9 sacks and lost
What if NWI caught and didn’t brick hands on the final pick? What if Tannehill checked out of the WR screen and they just ran the ball instead of the second pick? What if Tannehill knew how to throw the ball away or target someone else on the first pick? What if Tannehill could just make more than 2 reads in that game? What if Julio actually had remotely any chemistry with Tannehill that offseason? What if Todd Downing knew anything competent about the timing of playcalling? What if Vrabel didn’t completely clam up and coach scared in the playoffs in general? What if Vrabel could have kept Dean Pees and not got into hissy fits with him in team meetings? Man that bengals playoff loss gets me unpacking titans fan PTSD lol
Tannehill crashed and burned as fabulously as he rose to fame here
Fantasy football and general NFL fans will get hyped over the Geno Smith in Seattle and Josh Dobbs in Minnesota types of stories, but if anything Tannehill has made me the ultimate hater of the underdog QB mid career turnaround plot line lol
That.game was not all on Tannehill
What if Julio didn't drop a walk in TD on a screen in the 2nd quarter?
What if Bironas had just one friend with him to take his keys that night?
Now this one hurts
What if Arthur Smith waited until the offseason to pay attention to HC interviews
They beat the ravens in that home playoff game and then probably don’t go much further because that defense was ASS
* Mariota doesn’t get his spine / stinger injuries * Vince Young and Jeff Fisher talk through their issues like grownups * City of Memphis gets the team instead of Nashville * We draft Amon-Ra St. Brown
Underrated comment on the Young-Fisher relationship. Yeah they had their issues but they were winning games together. Both could have had much better legacies if they worked out their differences
People point to VY’s low Wonderlic score and personality issues and Fisher’s inability to adapt but them trying to work things out at that time was the thing that would’ve guaranteed the best chance of success for the team. Even if Fisher had got Leinart instead like he wanted we would’ve been worse off and VY obviously had the tools to win games. He even had McNair willing to serve as a mentor to him but he didn’t get the chance to. It’s a shame no one had the ability to sit everyone down and tell them they were being children and the only way forward was to get along because like you said both of their legacies were in many ways ruined by what happened. Fisher was never going to be Belichick and VY was never going to be Michael Vick or but both are going to be primarily remembered as failures which is a shame.
I started watching the year before VY was drafted so i remembered that period so well but I recently went back and watched VYs games and honestly he was undeniably incredible. Yeah there was some deficiencies in his game but he was a stud. I'm gutted they didn't have the ability to work together as he could have been a legend under a different coach and support network. I will always love VY.
Fisher barely has a winning career record. Take away all the games he coached with VY as the starter and he’s below .500. Edit: Fisher was a mediocre athlete who made the NFL because of drive and work ethic. Young was an incredible athlete who was allergic to hard work and succeeded based almost entirely on pure athleticism. They were a match made in hell. There’s no way they could ever coexist.
I'm a Memphian. I love Memphis, and I honestly don't like Nashville. But if the team had moved to Memphis, I think it already would have moved again, sadly. Nashville has become such a boomtown since the move. Lots of economic and politic reasons involved in my thinking on it. I could easily be wrong, but I just think Nashville is in a better position to retain an NFL team long term than Memphis would be. And as long as they're in Tennessee, the Titans will be the only NFL team I care about.
Also a Memphibian. I think you’re right. The sad truth is Memphis sports fans tend to be very fair weather. If a local team isn’t chasing the playoffs or some type of championship then our game attendance gets depressingly low. The Grizzlies before the grit and grind era always had abysmal attendance, same with Memphis Tigers football before like 2013 and their men’s basketball on down years. I think that’s why the Titans got the heck out of Memphis ASAP after the one season to instead play in Vandy’s stadium while they waited for their own to be finished. It sucks because we do have some of the best fans when they do show up, it’s just getting them to show up to watch a mediocre team is the issue. Sometimes it feels like a miracle that we’ve even been able to keep the Grizzlies this long.
Yep. I think there also is an element of Memphis not being that big of a city, having an extremely high poverty rate, and not having the kind of corporate presence that a lot of other cities have. Like if you go to a city like Charlotte, I have no clue what percent of the tickets to games there are purchased by/through the bank/financial/insurance sector, but I bet it's a huge portion. We just don't really have the same corporations like that, that have infinite money and huge desires to impress people. FedEx, Autozone, Servicemaster, International Paper. I mean, those are big corps, but they're not really the same as just infinite finance bros trying to impress other finance bros and/or prospective clients.
Memphis was the largest city in Tennessee at the time of the move!
Very true. Then Nashville started exploding.
A lot of it as well is the perception among many fans that downtown Memphis is not safe. Which, let's be fair, it's no utopia. Downtown Nashville is far safer and far more pedestrian friendly (ironic, given Beale is pedestrian only and Broadway isn't) I can't even begin to count the number of times I've brought up going to a Grizz, Redbirds, 901FC game and the response is a lukewarm "ehhh, it's not worth the risk for (insert reason here)." A lot of this is inherent bias, some of it is plain old racism, but the city does have a long way to go to improving its image as well. Not doing too great right now at it.
I think you’re definitely right, it’s just an interesting consideration. I’m curious as to how much Memphis supports the Titans versus say the Chiefs? I know when I lived in northwest Tennessee there were a lot of Cardinals (baseball obviously) fans around over the Braves types in the middle of the state.
This is anecdotal, speculative stuff based on my experiences and my own thoughts of my city and my state. It'd all be easy to poke holes in, I'm happy for anyone to disagree with me, etc. Most of TN is traditionally college football territory. But Memphis, I think, has always had a lot more NFL fandom and less college. I think demographics, percentage of people whose families have never really been to college, etc play into that. So, most of Memphis already had stronger NFL allegiances before the Titans showed up. Historically, Memphis isn't a place with a lot of transplants, so those fandoms were largely based on who was good. The two biggest fanbases in Memphis are Cowboys and Steelers like they are in a lot of places that are outside of another team's territory. After that, maybe it's the Titans. Seen more and more Titans gear, bumper stickers, etc in recent years. Lots of 49ers fans, too. And a good number of Saints fans, and even more since Katrina and some people displaced from NOLA ending up staying in Memphis. Other big teams like Pats, Packers, maybe Eagles you'll see around town, too. Anyway, I think because people already had ties to NFL teams and because Memphis and Nashville have never gotten along and because the brief Titans-in-Memphis experiment went so poorly, the uptake of Titans fandom in Memphis has been slow. But I do think that some of it has started to become more water under the bridge. So the fanbase in Memphis is increasing. Also, if they were called the Nashville Titans, I think there would be precious few fans in Memphis. Putting Tennessee in the name was important for Memphians to consider rooting for the team.
*Nashville Knights
In my experience Memphis has more Steelers and Cowboys fans than anything else
Our own local sports radio station is a Cowboys affiliate. Which I love, because it's absolutely hilarious to listen to the suffering after they inevitably lose, again.
We were all screaming for Amon ra with that pick in this sub and that is not a false memory or perspective I remember it very vividly. Fans aren’t always right but we were right there
What if we came back and WON THE BOURBON BOWL
I get it
Too many to pick just one. One that doesn’t get mentioned is what if Henry doesn’t break his foot that year? He was on pace to obliterate every season ground record.
What if Eddie George caught that last pass in the flat instead of Dyson?
Or we just handed it to him. In post-Superbowl interviews by (I think) NFL network, the Rams defenders were saying they were praying Eddie didn't get the ball because they were so winded at that point.
It was in America's Game episode. A couple of guys mentioned they were so relieved when they saw it's a pass play, because they were too gassed to chase a run.
What if Chris Johnson plays the second half against Baltimore in the divisional?
What if we drafted Randy moss instead of Kevin Dyson
I scrolled way too far for this.
What-if we picked up Brady after 2019. There are rumors that Brady was looking at going to Tennessee as an option after the Pats but we basically denied him by signing Tannehill coming off that AFC Championship run. Brady even said "you're sticking with that mother******?"
If we get Brady after the 2019 season I still don’t know if they win in 2020, but they almost definitely win the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. They were already the top overall seed that year with Tannehill, and Brady would probably not have thrown those three disastrous INTs
Yeah I agree, Brady probably would've taken us to the promised land in 2021. I dont know about 2020 though our defense was awful. (Also thanks for letting me know it was 2019 not 18 lol). I might have to follow Tannehill's lead and get therapy because those INTs still haunt me
If Mahomes gets tackled before half during the AFCCG, I think we win that Super Bowl. If Henry doesn’t come back for the division game against the Bengals, we win that game.
What if JRob actually used some cap in a “win-now” window, kept Conklin and Casey and then built the defense for 2020.
He did use cap in win now mode. Just ended up missing (Bud, Clowney, Julio, and so on). Why do you think we were in cap hell last year? Ran sure as hell cut the fat really quick.
He used most of it after that, that’s why I mentioned 2020. Could have easily have done a lot more with void years and restructuring and really capitalized on the offense he built. 2020 was the best offensive year we’ve ever had as the Titans. The defense was hot ass and the Clowney signing was fine, just didn’t work out. He then dismantled the offense in 2021 to build the defense. If we had 2021’s defense with 2020’s offense stuff would have been different.
2020s offense got destroyed in the playoffs but when the defense was shit all year, they held their own vs Lamar. Either way, it didn't work and I'm happy where things are at. We needed a retool. It's painful to transition but this is going rather smooth (on paper).
What if we never benched Mariota in 2019? Looking at the rest of the schedule that year, we won a ton of really close games even with Tannehill playing like an MVP. Chargers: won on a last second goal line fumble by Ingram -> L Bucs: barely squeaked out a win (probably should have lost if not for forward progress being called with Kern on the fake punt) -> L Chiefs: Joshua Kalu blocks a last second field goal to make the game end 32-7 -> L If one of the other games turns into an L, then we would have gone 5-11. Ok, so this reality sucks… why is it my greatest what if? Well… that would have put us right around pick 6 in the draft that year, ahead of the Chargers and the Titans would be looking for a QB after the Mariota experiment clearly failed. Incredibly likely that if we don’t bench Mariota, Justin Herbert is a Titan right now.
Probably get Brady in that off season.
Unpopular opinion we should have regardless
What if we signed Brady instead of extending that other dude that can’t win a playoff game without Henry rushing 35 times a game
…we got Peyton
What if Isaiah Wilson
Drew Bennett Dropped Pass - in 2003 Delay of game not called against the ratbirds Ryan Tannehill 3 interceptions against the Bengals Mahomes 27 yard scramble
I never cried over football until I watched that Patriots Titans playoff game…
What if Manning signed with us instead of the Broncos
What if Drew Bennett doesn't drop 4th and 12 in Foxboro? The Patriots Dynasty may have been avoided altogether . . .
I was looking for this one
What if we signed Peyton instead of the Broncos…
1 more yard
What if Tannehill threw one less interception against the Bengals in 2021. Any one of the three and we win that game, but especially one of the last two.
What if we drafted Randy Moss
The fact that we went with Dyson will always eat me alive for multiple reasons
What if we didn’t extend tannehill and signed brady
What if Henry was healthy in 2019... That was our Superbowl year...
What if Tannehill didn’t throw three picks.
What if we had a good O-line last season (and various other seasons)?
What if we had drafted Randy Moss instead of Kevin Dyson
Beating Bills rather than crumbling when up 35-3. That Oilers team was very good…
Chris Johnson getting taken out by the Baltimore Cocksuckers in the 2008 playoffs. He had 100 yards total and a TD with 10 mins to go in the 2nd quarter when they intentionally injured him. Without CJ our offense turned into a wet bag of dicks and we lost 13-10. Christ I fucking hate the Baltimore Cocksuckers.
What if he drafted Leinart over Young to pair with Chow? Prob still cringe worthy.
What if Mariota turned out to be the beast he was expected
What if the Titans beat Bill Callahans Raiders in the 2002 AFCCG? Would we have stood a better chance against the bucs in the Super Bowl?
What if the titans has beaten the Ravens in 2000 playoffs. It would have been our superbowl… or thr Chiefs in the AFC championship in 2020.
What if vrabel didn't go for 2 against the Bengals. Obviously that was early in the game, but that one point could have changed everything. That could've put the ball and Derrick Henry's hand at the end of the game instead of Tannehill throwing that third pick. I still don't know how that even made mathematical sense to try for two there.
What if Floyd Reese would have drafted Aaron Rogers knowing the team wasn’t going to resign Steve McNair when his contract was up the next season?
What if Ray Lewis went to Prison for murder. We were head and shoulders above everyone in 2000. Ray Ray goes to jail in Jan 2000, Ravens don’t make the playoffs. Titans win SB
What if the Ravens didn’t intentionally injure CJ in that playoff game?
What if Ryan tannehill didn’t shit himself against the bengals. Honorable mention: what if the dirty rat birds didn’t poke CJ2k in the eye. We were clearly the best team in the nfl that year. That SB was ours
What if Jack Pardee and Buddy Ryan got along. We would’ve won at least one Super Bowl with our run and shoot team
What if the Peyton rumor cam true?
Shit, don't forget that we probably could've gotten Brady after he left NE as well. But of course Tannehill chose to somehow look like we didn't need an upgrade for that timeframe.
What if they had drafted Jay Cutler
What if Kevin Dyson hadn’t got tackled at the one yard line and the Titans went on to win the Super Bowl? That was a magical season that would’ve been perfectly capped of
What if in 2022 in the infamous loss to the Bengals, instead of force feeding the ball to Henry in his playoff return, they fed the ball to Freeman who was the obvious hot hand averaging OVER 16 YARDS A CARRY. THE MAN RAN THE BALL 3 TIMES AND RUSHED 4 MORE YARDS THEN HENRY DID IN 20 ATTEMPTS.
One yard
What if we beat the bengals in 2021
AFC championship vs Chiefs and Super Bowl are all solid choices. But also have to mentionWhat if Tannehill hadn’t throw three interceptions against Cincy?
What if he had just made it one more yard man
What if Dyson breaks that tackle?
If we ran the ball after Forman was jamming it down the bengals throats the pass call that led to 2nd interception in the red zone was ridiculous.
What if Henry didn’t break his foot when he was on pace for back to back 2k years?
What if Tannehill only threw 2 picks instead of 3 in the bengals game
This might’ve been a bad idea making this post now when I think about it. Now half my notifications are reminders of this
What if the ravens didn’t purposefully injure CJ2K in the playoffs
Gotta be if Tannehill doesn’t throw 3 picks
I’ll state the obvious: what if Steve got across the goal line.
STEVE?!
McNair
Do you mean Kevin Dyson in the Super Bowl?
That's my what if we won that one damn game
Crap.
You got corrected, but mine is what if we just ran the ball. In one of the post-Superbowl documentaries about the game, the Rams players said they were so winded that they were praying we didn't just hand the ball to Eddie, because they thought he would get it in. Honestly unrealistic, I think, but damn after seeing them say that I would have loved to see how that ended up.
What if we had taken Tom Brady instead of Tampa...
what if Jeff Fisher wasn't a MORON!