Jeff Fisher Is Out

Considering what he might have had to work with if the upcoming season wasn't canceled, I'm not surprised Jeff Fisher is no longer the Tennessee Titans head coach. It was looking like he wouldn't be here past next year anyway. How was he expected to win with his assistants bailing and an uncertain future at quarterback, no matter which of the names might have come here.

For years, I'd felt Fisher had taken this team as far as he possibly could, and I wished he would move on. The usual response to that was, "Well, who would the Titans get to replace him?" The fact is, once you're stuck with a guy you don't have much confidence in anymore, it really doesn't matter. You just want someone new, and hope that even if the new guy isn't very good, it leads to a better hire.

I think once a man in a certain position has had success with his style, and Fisher experienced it early in his tenure with a Super Bowl trip in 1999, then that's exactly the style you are going to get no matter what the personnel. I think it's perceived, right or wrong, that a man in Fisher's position just can't adjust to another way of doing things if the personnel isn't there. Rather than, "this might work," it's "Well, this worked before so we're going to keep doing it, even if it's a massive failure right now."

And what I'm getting to with Fisher's style is, he liked vanilla offense with the very rare twist. He liked to run the ball, with little deception. And the discipline on these teams could get very frustrating. I don't think the Titans were ever a huge overall penalties/yardage team (except this year), but they always seemed to get a penalty at the wrong time, at a crucial moment in the game. That's at least the perception I've had over the years.

So I sort of got tired of that whole thing. I'd like to see something different, because we experienced a lot of 8-8's and one-and-dones in the playoffs. We were hoping that Fisher could replicate 1999 every year, forgetting how lucky the Titans were back then and how that Bills game was a few seconds away from being the type of loss we'd later come to expect from them. Because Fisher liked to play a pounding run game with very few points scored, it meant that any mistake could turn the game on its ear, despite completely dominating teams in the stat category. Famously, in 2000, the Titans lost one of their defining playoff games against the Ravens after having outgained them in every offensive category except the score, because turnovers absolutely killed the "dominance" they were otherwise enjoying.

We like Fisher because of those happy feelings from 1999 and his no-nonsense approach appealed to Nashville, and it will be sad to see him go because we've lived with him so long. Many of us are ready to gamble that this franchise will be a perennial 4-12 team by putting in a new guy, because we know what we get with Fisher and it's hard to imagine his style would have taken them far ever again, even when they havethe better team on the field. In the end, Fisher underachieved more than he achieved, and despite the idea that the Titans might be worse off without him, it's something I'm ready to accept.

Titans Fans Continue Their Sad Support Of The Bully Cortland Finnegan

Nashville, I have a very important question for you: Why the hell do we put up with this shit?! Why do we tolerate—even praise—Cortland Finnegan’s thug behavior? Hell, we gave him a weekly call-in radio show for Pete’s sake!

When Cortland made the Pro Bowl, you all cheered. And I was there in the back, quietly pointing out that he’s a hot-head who plays dirty. When the Broncos called him out earlier this season (along with the rest of the Titans roster) for being dirty, you defended him as one of your own. But there I was behind you again, sheepishly suggesting that the evidence shows the Broncos were clearly right.

And when he orchestrated and instigated a fight with Andre Johnson on Sunday, and then smiled and taunted the Houston crowd on his way out of the stadium, I said to myself, “Finally, the city of Nashville is going to see this bully for what he is.”

But I was wrong. Because many of you are still defending his cheap-shot ass. Many of you called his radio show yesterday to praise him for his toughness. And Jeff Fisher petitioned the league to not suspend Finnegan on the grounds that he never threw a punch.

Let’s get one thing straight here, geniuses: Finnegan threw a punch. He just didn’t have closed fists. Watch the video… watch him slam Johnson in the face right at the start of the play. Here it is:

Now… I know defensive backs shove receivers at the line all the time. I’m not an idiot. But that’s a more-than-typical violent shove there… directly to the facemask with two hands. Saying he didn’t throw a punch is a weak-ass technicality. There are even reports he turned to the Texans sideline just before the play and said, “Watch this.”

Finnegan is a teenager. He is petulant… he is violent… he is angry. It’s trendy for Titans fans to use semantics to excuse away the bad behavior. “He’s just chippy.” Or, “He just plays with emotion.” Or my favorite: “He’s an instigator.” Bullshit. He has openly admitted he wants to be known as the dirtiest player in the league. And you idiots are lapping it up.

He’s a thug. He takes cheap shots after the whistle constantly. He’s been flagged and fined for unsportsmanlike behavior numerous times in his short career—at least $40,000 in fines this year alone. One GM in the league called him an “absolute scumbag.” All for 13 interceptions and 5 sacks in five years. That’s… average. It might be easier to accept his misbehavior if he was producing like a super star, but he’s not. Plenty of cornerbacks can amass 13 interceptions in five years--hell, his own teammate Michael Griffin has 15 interceptions in four years, with nowhere near the penalty yardage, fines, and negative press that Finnegan brings.

And now he’s suggesting his fighting partner’s punishment should have been stronger. Give me a break. Compare and contrast with Andre Johnson’s remarks about the fight:

“I want to apologize to the organization, our owner and my teammates. What happened out there today wasn’t me. I just lost my cool. I wish I could take back what happened. I can’t. It’s over and done with now. I’m pretty sure I’ll be disciplined. I’ll have to deal with it.”

Now that’s a man who’s not making excuses. That’s a man who knows he went too far. Finnegan? He probably wishes he went further than he did. Don’t forget that when Denver’s Kyle Orton said Finnegan was dirty, Finnegan’s response was to challenge him to a fight.

Andre Johnson also called the commissioner of the league to apologize personally, and says he will not appeal the fine because he knows he did something wrong. Finnegan? He’s appealing the fine.

The most annoying thing is that Finnegan did all this on Sunday when his team was getting shut out 20-0, late in the game. He melted down like a whiny baby and lashed out physically against an opponent he couldn’t beat any other way. Freaking child.

Nashville, I wondered if the city was losing perspective when so many of you defended Albert’s head stomp several years ago. Or when you stood and cheered the uber-thug PacMan Jones’ great kick returns in spite of his many arrests. I worried about your sanity when you continued to side with Vince Young despite his continued attempts to prove how selfish and childish he is.

But now… now, I’ve just given up. If you see the “look at me” dance that Finnegan performed on Sunday, taunting and mocking a crowd whose team had truly destroyed the Titans, and you think that’s a guy we should get behind… well, then I don’t think I want to know you anymore. I think you can take your Titans and your bitch-ass quitting QB and your street-gang-mentality cornerback with Tiny-Man’s Syndrome… and you can sail off together to the Sea of Never Making the Playoffs. Have a nice trip. You all deserve each other.

Honestly… I thought we were better than this. I thought there was a decency and politeness engrained in our culture in Nashville that would make it impossible for an attitude problem like Finnegan to stick around on the roster—let alone be a hero. But I was wrong. I’ll take my ball and go home now, I guess.

Look at the last five years, people. Vince’s meltdowns and tantrums. Albert’s stomp. Pacman’s multitude of legal issues. Owner Bud Adams flips a double bird to the entire Buffalo fan base and organization. Vince’s fight in the strip club this off-season. Pick up Randy Moss, one of the most notorious bad-attitude players in the league. And now Finnegan’s continued antics of thuggery and violence.

Don’t look now, Nashville, but you’re the new Oakland. You’re the new Cincinatti. You’re the new punch line in the NFL when it comes to bad behavior and character issues.

And what’s worse? I’m starting to think you like it that way.

The Titans Are Awesome

So, here we are. We didn't have much hope for the Titans to make the playoffs anyway, but this is the team that would have gone into the playoffs potentially facing opponents that did this to them:

vs. Indy (0-2) 31-9, 27-17

vs. New England 59-0

vs. San Diego (it's 42-10 as of this writing, so who cares how it finishes)

By the way, for everyone who enjoys questioning Jeff Fisher bashers, if you saw the game tonight, you would understand what gets under our skin about him. He seems to be a very good, knowledgeable guy, but he has no control over his players. We've been seeing this act for years, where intense players can't control themselves, get their feelings hurt too easily, and rack up game-changing penalties.

And, the Titans lose most of their big games. Why is that?