I am tired, and covered a lot of the Titans in my last post, so I can't actually imagine that this preview post is going to be crazy in depth.
There's been continued change with the franchise, but there are some things to be confident in, in theory?
Hopkins and Henry are still on the team. Defense and coaching are still two areas of the team to have some confidence in. If the Titans can commit to a QB, or if one of them actually performs ok, then maybe something good can happen.
Cornerback Roger McCreary, tight end Josh Whyle, and of course Ryan Tannehill are all out tomorrow. Not a ton of injuries, but all three of them are pretty useful, so those losses do sting.
The Titans are coming off their bye, which is a decent plus. Also, they do play on Thursday, but at least these two games are after the bye. Once the second game is over they can get another 'mini' bye I guess.
The Falcons are built very similarly to the Titans, thanks to former Titans' OC Arthur Smith being the Falcons' head coach. The Falcons are performing better than the Titans though, and they visit Nashville with a 4-3 winning record.
Second year Falcons' QB Desmond Ridder had some rumors of coming to Tennessee via the draft last year, but ended up making his way to Atlanta and the Titans chose Malik Willis. Desmond is better than Malik but that isn't really saying much at this point in time. Desmond frankly is a similar QB to Ryan Tannehill, but not quite as good at this point probably. But Desmond offers a decent skillset though. Fair in the pocket, nice mobility. Basically a modern day game manager QB, with a little bit of young QB rust still lingering. But he does seem tricky and also a hard worker.
The Falcons' defense is also very well constructed and that only causes more problems for the Titans VERY suspect offense.
I kind of really hope the Titans start Levis tomorrow. But that's just my gut. Will has faced A LOT of criticism for kind of no reason. In college, Levis moved from Penn State to Kentucky, essentially betting on himself. Basically, what Jalen Hurts did but to a lesser known extent.
I hope Levis can come in and play and prove everyone wrong. Malik also has plenty of reason to be motivated if he were to play as well though!
The Titans will PROUDLY wear the Oilers throwback jerseys. There's been a lot of lazy, terrible takes about how the Titans should not wear the jerseys since the team changed cities.
My response is simple: It's not that deep, man. It is business. Companies relocate and re-brand all the time. It's just a throwback jersey. People gotta get over it. The entire ownership moved to Nashville. The Titans WERE the Tennessee Oilers for two seasons for crying out loud. As much as their are fans in Houston mad at the 'Oiler' name being in Nashville, or whatever, I am sure there are a fair number of fans in Houston that are TITANS fans since the move! I bet some of those fans appreciate that the Titans still show love!
Titans ownership owns the team, and they chose to keep the Oilers tradition going. Like it or not, ownership DOES matter.
Like I said, I don't believe this is that deep. It'd be kind of weird in my opinion for the Texans to randomly wear the Oilers jerseys anyway. Sure the Texans are in Houston like the Oilers were, but that's literally IT as far as ties to the Titans/Oilers. The TRUE Houston Oilers moved, and like I said, took some fans with them. From 1996 to 2002, there WASN'T a TEAM in Houston. For an entire new ownership group to come in and use the Oilers look, would be insane.
Ownership matters, PERIOD.
I can't wait to see the Titans wear the jerseys!! It will be like living in a Titans era I never got to experience. SUPER cool!!
