The Quest For The Greatest Titan: Mariota vs. Neal

Last week was a great start to the tournament. A lot of older Titans have been winning big in the first round. However, that may change, starting today. We have an interesting 3-6 matchup on our hands, and I am very interested to see who the fanbase decides on here:

(3) Marcus Mariota: Giving Mariota a 3 seed after just 1 year has proven to be somewhat controversial. Admittedly, there may have been a little bit of projection here. However, Mariota is an incredibly special talent. Look back to some of the similar characteristics between all of the Titans that  won the polls last week by a large margin--talented, team leader, fan favorite, left their hand print on the franchise. In a short year, you can definitely say that Mariota has checked off all of these boxes already. Among the fanbase, he is essentially considered a savior, and I believe the feeling may be the same inside the building. While he may not have the numbers yet to justify his high ranking, his impact on the franchise already matches some of the greats.

(6) Lorenzo Neal: There is no doubt about it, Lorenzo Neal was one of the greatest fullbacks that you will ever see in pro football. He cleared the way for some extremely talented runners in some very prolific running offenses. He was a part of the Music City Miracle, which gets him a sentimental bump among the fanbase. The only problem? He was only a Titan for 2 years. Not only that, but he played for 7 different teams. It is really difficult to identify with the Titans when that is the case. If this were a bracket for the greatest San Diego Chargers, he'd have some more pull. There is no questioning that Neal was an amazing player, but it would almost be the same as Randy Moss qualifying for the bracket, because of his career outside of Nashville.

My vote: After those two paragraphs, my vote seems fairly easy. While Marcus Mariota may not have the longevity, he does already have the impact on the franchise. Also, Lorenzo Neal does not exactly have him beat in years as a Titans by a large margin. Finally, a new-age Titan gets the vote over an older one.

Updated Bracket: