I said earlier today that I think the Tennessee Titans got an advantage when the Jacksonville Jaguars released David Garrard yesterday, but that by no means gives the Titans a guaranteed win this Sunday as some people are assuming. Don't believe me? Let's examine some games from Titans' past.
The year was 2001. The quarterback was Todd Bouman. The Titans thought they were catching a break when they headed to Minnesota to face the Viking without their starting quarterback, Daunte Culpepper. Bouman proceeded to throw for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns. To put that into perspective Bouman threw for 795 yards in 2001 and 1,905 yards in his career. So on that day the Titans lost to a back-up QB while allowing him to throw for 44% of his yards for that season and 18% of his career yards. (h/t @BIGJOEONTHEGO)
Fast forward to the 2007 in a game against these same Jacksonville Jaguars. Gray leads the Jags to a victory with 101 yards and a touchdown. Gray threw for only 100 yards in that season and 1,328 yards in his career. Gray also list the Titans up in this game during the 2005 season. (h/t NewsToTom)
Luke McCown is no Peyton Manning, but he easily could be a Bouman or Gray. The Titans will still have to go down there and take care of business.