Worried about where the Titans are headed as they look for a change at the QB position? Well David Boclair does have a sliver of good news for ya: Several times when Fisher has jettisoned a starting QB after a bad season, the team has made remarkable strides in the win column right away. The only one that didn't was the transition from Chandler to McNair, who both went 8-8. Imagine that: a Fisher team going 8-8.
Good stuff in Ross Tucker's mailbag about Jeff Fisher. It's not much on length, but it's probably the most reasonable and clear-headed analysis of Jeff's legacy and current standing. In the end, I break the other way, but I'd agree with every point he makes up until the end. There are some negatives that Tucker isn't acknowledging, but it's well-stated none the less.
Linebacker Scott Fujita killed the 18 game season proposal, and it sounds like he speaks for a lot of players around the NFL. You have to keep in mind that 352 active players ended up on the IR, missing an average of 9.5 games a pop last year. I think one of the arguments that the players are scared to make (since they're technically supposed to be for adding more NFL players) is that there probably isn't enough talent on the street to fill the extra roster spots you'd need to add to institute an 18 game season. At some point you end up diluting the product on the field. Plenty of teams struggle to find 53 guys capable of playing in the NFL at a high level, so what makes them think they could find another 5 to 7 guys at that same level?
If the salary cap comes back around where it was, the early estimates are that the Titans could be as much as $20-$30 million under the ceiling. With that in mind I hereby nominate possibly soon-to-be former Raider RB Michael Bush to be the next power back we need to compliment CJ. It'll cost a little more cash than the minimum for sure, but we can call that the stupid tax on cutting Blount.
Cam Newton is the latest installation of the recent run of Heisman caliber QBs who win the national championship, but need big adjustments to play at the NFL level. The was Young, then Tebow and now Cam. All three guys have very different skills, different mental make-ups and played in different offenses, so you'd be foolish to draw too many comparisons. The mental make-up matters for QBs more than any other position, as Titans fans will gladly tell you.
Chris Simms lost his motion to dismiss the bone-headed confession he made to a NYC cop that he'd already smoked all of the pot in his car. Simms still maintains he didn't say it, but he shouldn't be surprised that the judge took the cop's word over a guy who looks stoned even when he isn't... though he probably is. Simms is due back in court later this month.
Who knew that Bruce Matthews is fighting in court with the Titans over a worker's comp claim?
Congrats to Mike Keith for winning the Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year Award for the umpteenth time. Seriously though, we're very lucky to have such a great voice and workaholic calling games over the radio. Keith also does a lot of great radio bits through the season and before the draft.
As the Super Bowl draws near, the top-whatever list come out and that damned play gets brought back up again.
The Wall Street Journal covers a guy who is taking a stab at quantifying offensive linemen's performances. Jake Scott weighs in, but every time I try to read that part, it jumps and has to move back 5 yards.
The 2011 draft is looking very underclassman heavy so far.
Email me mcmaugustwest@gmail.com and be sure to follow me on Twitter @AugustWest_MCM