There's an old adage in sports that great players rarely make great coaches.
(Editor's note: A few hours after this column was originally published, Peyton Manning told his agent to start contract negotiations with the Denver Broncos.)
So now, with Peyton Manning in Denver, the Titans and the 49ers have to put the pieces of their broken dreams back together and go on without him.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight in a Week 14 that had more than its share of frantic finishes, like the ones that unfolded in Washington, Tennessee, Cincinnati and Detroit...
What's the biggest win in the 10 seasons of the Houston Texans?
Lions coach Jim Schwartz and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh may not be best buddies these days, but they do share one thing in common -- they and their 5-1 teams are far exceeding expectations so far this season.
Here is a buried aspect of the bye-week season: It makes jumping on the previous week's surprises a bit more tricky. You really have to be sure that one-week wonder isn't merely that and is capable of more big weeks going forward.
Of all the weird, inflated passing numbers in the first three weeks of this bombs-away NFL season, don't lose sight of one of the strangest.
SI.com is previewing all eight divisions throughout the week in anticipation of the 2011 season kicking off. (Send comments to siwriters@simail.com)
After weeks of uncertainty and speculation, the end of the Vince Young era in Tennessee started coming into view for the first time on Tuesday, after Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt and the team's executive VP/general counsel Steve Underwood returned from their end-of-the-season organizational meeting with owner Bud Adams in Houston.
With the NFL's postseason tournament beginning in just one week and a full 10 games figuring in on playoff berths or positioning, consider Week 17 the mad scramble before the madness.
Five things we learned from the Colts' 30-28 win over the Titans on Thursday night.
BALTIMORE -- Musings, observations and the occasional Week 13 insight as we await the Steelers-Ravens bi-annual bare-knuckle slugfest in the AFC North at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday night....
Musings, observations and the occasional Week 12 insight as we thankfully get treated to another eventful Sunday of NFL action ...
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Musings, observations and the occasional Week 11 insight as we take in the NFL's premier rivalry, Colts versus Patriots, with its ultra-glamorous undercard of Manning versus Brady ...
Quick-hitting insight on today's 1 p.m. games ...
The NFL's most undeniable truth, year after year, is that headliners and big brands always draw the most interest.
Quick-hitting insights from the slate of 1 p.m. games.
ColdHardFootballFacts.com breaks down Sunday's Philadelphia at Tennessee game (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
As the guy responsible for SI.com's NFL Power Rankings, someone asked me Monday afternoon what constitutes the NFL's elite class this season. As I gave it some thought, I realized Week 4 was when it started to dawn on us that we don't really have one of those yet in the 2010 NFL season.
This week, SI.com is rolling out previews for all eight NFL divisions. Today, we tackle the NFC South and AFC South, following up Tuesday's breakdowns of the AFC East and NFC East. The AFC North and NFC North follow Thursday and the AFC West and NFC West conclude things Friday.
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Andrew Lawrence had to say about the Titans camp in Nashville. For an archive of all camp postcards, click here.
Just when you think Vince Young has matured to the point where he is ready to be a consistent starting quarterback in the NFL and the face of the Titans franchise, something like last weekend happens.
From the vantage point of mid-June, it's always tempting to connect the dots of a team's offseason and then plot that graph line to project the fate awaiting that franchise in the fall. Tempting, but not always accurate.
In January 2004, the Patriots hosted the Titans in an AFC divisional playoff game in which the temperature at kickoff was 4 degrees with a wind chill of minus-10. Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow was part of a radio broadcast crew doing the game, and as we rode on the elevator to the press box beforehand, he shook his head about the players being forced to take the field in such harsh conditions.
Texans receiver Andre Johnson and Titans running back Chris Johnson share much more than a last name. They are held in the same regard as arguably the league's best players at their respective positions. They are coming off monstrous seasons -- Chris Johnson leading the NFL in rushing with 2,006 yards and Andre Johnson leading the league in receiving with 1,569 yards. They are beloved by fans.
The disgrace of two former New Jersey heroes and one from LSU headlined the week -- and yes, I believe any award or postseason honor, including rookie of the year, should be stripped if a player tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance, as apparently is the case with defensive rookie of the year Brian Cushing of the Houston Texans. But I'm not leading with bad news. I'm leading with Tom Brady breaking his offseason silence to discuss his bi-coastal life, hopes for his team, a charity he is very bullish on and how much his world has spun in the past few years.
Jeff Fisher has been coaching in the NFL for going on 25 years now, the last 13 in Nashville. But he's never had a day of work like Monday, when sunny skies that had turned as blue as a Titans jersey belied the danger and trouble that swirled all around in the worst flooding to hit middle Tennessee in decades.
The exorbitant money being doled out to the first 10-15 picks in the NFL draft has gotten out of hand. And there are a multitude of reasons why the NFL needs to revamp the current system for paying its rookies. Here's a look at why rookie compensation should -- and likely will -- be fixed before a new collective bargaining agreement is signed:
Groundhog's Day isn't until February, but in the Bill Murray movie sense it could come a month earlier in the NFL. That's because two Week 17 games --Packers-Cardinals and Eagles-Cowboys -- could repeat on the schedule the very next week in the wild-card round. In fact, we project that exact scenario will play out in the NFC.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from a spectacularly lucky Week 13 when it comes to doses of late-game drama, huge upsets and scintillating finishes.
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
Breaking down Sunday's Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts game (1 p.m., CBS)...
NEW YORK -- There's much to dissect this morning. Concussions, Canton, Jim Caldwell, Colts, Bill Cowher, and later in the alphabet, Vince Young's drive, Dennis Dixon's mistake, Rex Ryan's challenge, San Diego's streak, the MVP storm and the latest Game of the Year tonight in New Orleans.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight in a rather lackluster Week 12 that clearly will save its best for last: Patriots at Saints, where I'll be Monday night in a jacked-to-the-gills Superdome in New Orleans ...
Lessons we learned from the Titans' 20-17 win over the Texans on Monday night at Reliant Stadium ...
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
A few seconds of exuberant finger-flipping cost Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams a quarter of a million dollars Monday.
Watching the slowly unfolding debacle that is the end of the Jim Zorn era in Washington, with the Redskins floundering head coach being stripped of his authority, his dignity and maybe a good bit of his sanity in this painfully incremental termination, one damning question keeps coming to mind:
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
The 2008 Detroit Lions set a high standard for low standards. They were the first 0-16 team in NFL history, an achievement that merited an upside-down banner and a parade down a street full of banana peels.
Football Insiders: Check out Stewart Mandel's College Football Overtime.
NEW ORLEANS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we take stock of Week 4 while simultaneously watching the Jets-Saints big-stage duel of undefeateds in a raucous and sold-out Superdome ...
The sky is falling in Tennessee, they're on suicide watch in Pittsburgh and dogs and cats are living together in Buffalo.
PITTSBURGH -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the taut Titans-Steelers NFL Kickoff opener Thursday night at the Big Ketchup Bottle ...
PITTSBURGH -- While the NFL's 2009 story starts here tonight, for one of the teams involved in the league's single-spotlight kickoff game, it's more of a harsh reminder of what it didn't finish last season.
Giving a draft grade for each team the day after the draft is a fruitless exercise. It takes a minimum of three years before a draft can be revisited and evaluated to determine how productive a team was with its selections. With that caveat, here's my reaction to every team's picks, grouped in categories as opposed to the standard letter grade.
The 2009 season officially began Friday at 12:01 a.m. when free agency opened. What follows is a rundown of the 25 best available free agents. This list was compiled through a series of conversations with scouts and through game-tape evaluations.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth has decided to test the free agent market, according to various media reports.
The Deuce is on the loose again, but not in that rumbling-into-secondary sort of way we've come to know it over the course of Deuce McAllister's eight-year stay in New Orleans. The Saints all-time leading rusher and touchdown-maker woke up Wednesday an ex-Saint for the first time in his NFL career, after being released Tuesday in a salary cap move that wasn't as surprising as it was saddening.
The buzz of a second consecutive spectacular Super Bowl has begun to die down, and the last of the head coaching vacancies has been filled, so it's time to fully turn our attention to an NFL offseason that is upon us. Here are a dozen burning questions that serve to preview the many issues to come:
For my money there's no better weekend on the NFL calendar than the Saturday and Sunday quadruple-header of divisional-round play, when the four top seeds play host to the four first-round winners for the right to move on to next week's conference championships. It usually makes for the best football of the entire season, as the higher seeds and the notion of home-field advantage get tested by the teams that already have a playoff win under their belts.
Last year's march through the playoffs to the Super Bowl title by the New York Giants showed how critical line play can be in the postseason. The Giants bruised and battered every team in their way on both sides of the ball, culminating in the devastating performance by their defensive line against Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. In a league seemingly forever trending towards high-flying aerial attacks, the Giants proved the bully in the schoolyard can still win the fight.
Breaking down Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans game (1 p.m., Eastern, CBS) ...
As the Cardinals and Titans close in on playoff berths, they are in the remarkably similar situation of being led into January by their former backup quarterbacks, who happen to be playing in the final year of their contracts.
NASHVILLE -- Five things we learned from the Jets 34-13 dismantling of the previously undefeated Titans (Recap | Box Score) at LP Field on Sunday.....
The Tennessee Titans are short-handed at cornerback heading into Sunday's game with the New York Jets.
Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco will forever be bound as the only quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft, but their stellar play as rookies will also be noted in the history books. They have led their respective franchises to six wins apiece in their first nine starts and are proving to be the franchise cornerstones league observers envisioned when they were selected in April.
If they're paying attention, the other 31 NFL teams realize that 9-0 and "Uh-oh'' are now the operative words when it comes to describing the Tennessee Titans.
Breaking down Sunday's Tennessee Titans at Chicago Bears game (1 p.m., Eastern, CBS) ...
After watching the Titans roll to a surprising 8-0 start, it's impossible to ignore the tremendous coaching job being done by Jeff Fisher and his staff. The 15-year veteran has his team atop the AFC South with a four-game lead, sitting in great position to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Look at Sunday's big winners and tell me what they have in common.
You have bombarded me with questions about the seemingly unfair way (and I'm sure Mike Smith, Rich McKay and Arthur Blank would not include the words "seemingly'' there) the Atlanta-Philadelphia game ended, and so I've scrapped plans to write about the new Dallas stadium 'til next week. Instead, let's examine the play, and the game situation, that I can guarantee you will be reviewed after the season by the National Football League. I'll start with one of the most cogent letters, from John Hyman, of Chicago:
IRVING, Texas -- Did you see Mike Singletary looking like Mike Ditka?
Tennessee's defense reminds us of a titan of antiquity, a pigskin Colossus of Rhodes that lords over the entrance to the end zone like no team in modern history.
NASHVILLE -- As the Tennessee Titans headed for their bye week, a sentiment softly worked its way around their practice facility. Keith Bulluck said it at a defensive meeting. Albert Haynesworth said it at his locker.
Five weeks of the NFL's regular season are in the books and we're down to just two undefeated teams: The 5-0 Titans in the AFC and the 4-0 Giants in the NFC.
NEW YORK -- A really interesting Sunday. What do you want to hear about first? The origins of the Wildcat play, which has carried the woebegone Dolphins to wins over the two AFC Championship Game teams from last year? The future of Kerry Collins, who, in a month, has gone from a washed-up backup to one of the NFL's 20 most important players? The incredible case of Matty Ice? Plaxico Burress' future with the Giants?
Five things we learned from Tennessee's un-artistic 13-10 Week 5 defeat of Baltimore on Sunday ...
I don't like the way the line has been abused this season. Overlays have triumphed, which is why you see so many of the handicappers' records in your paper above .500. The consensus of writers' panels always leans to the favorite. I said it after the first week, and then again after the second and the third: Look out for the dog. There is a great week of upsets coming. And so they did last week -- for the first half. Then things settled down.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' -- Spanish philosopher/poet/novelist George Santayana, 1906
They are afterthoughts, second options, bailouts. Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte is 37, a veteran of 15 NFL seasons and six clubs, one of them twice. Kerry Collins of the Titans is 35, and his resume includes five teams and 14 seasons. They started the year as comfortable old back-ups, but all of a sudden, when things started crumbling around them, they were rushed into action. Oh yes, they are both unbeaten, but that will end Sunday when they face each other.
Got a little three-part quiz for you on this Thursday of Week 4: Now that the Patriots have had their NFL record 21-game regular-season winning streak snapped, which team has the longest active regular-season winning streak, at six games?
This season appears to be the year of the rookie running back based on what we've seen through the first two weeks of the season. Darren McFadden, Jonathan Stewart and Matt Forte have been as good as advertised, playing pivotal roles in anchoring their respective team's ground attack.
If at all possible, you don't want to start 0-2 in the NFL. It's not a death sentence, but since the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in 1990, only 19 teams have climbed out of an 0-2 hole to make the playoffs. That's 19 teams in 18 seasons of play, or about one per year.
Opening day is the most serious time for upsets. Everyone knows that because I just made it up myself. The only form chart is what's been scraped together from the results of the exhibition games. No one knows whether or not the hotshot rookies can really play, or if they've just been making their reputation against reserves.
SI.com has dispatched 10 writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. For the complete schedule of postcards, click here.
While the celebrated return of Jevon Kearse has received the majority of attention from Titans observers, it's the homecoming of Justin McCareins and Mike Heimerdinger that may have the biggest impact in Tennessee in 2008.
With no football to play for the first time in 18 years, former pro Ross Tucker is passing the time reading about his favorite sport. What follows are a few links to NFL-related articles he found and his take on them.
• Bobby Engram's walkout from the Seahawks minicamp is clearly over the veteran's displeasure with his current contract.
Five things we learned about teams during and after draft weekend ...
Steve McNair's retirement was hours old Thursday when I fielded the inevitable Hall of Fame question for the first time. Given that I was doing a radio show on a Nashville sports talk station, it was a logical query for someone from that part of the world -- where No. 9 made his NFL name -- to pose.
SI.com's Don Banks had a veteran AFC insider assess the Titans-Chargers matchup.
SI.com's Don Banks had a veteran AFC insider assess this weekend's games.
For a league that has always prided itself first and foremost on knowing how to make the savvy public relations move, the NFL's decision to allow both NBC and CBS to simulcast the NFL Network's broadcast of the New England-New York game was a master stroke.
1. EAST: Patriots (9-0). The countdown to perfection is on. They lead the league in scoring, and the remaining schedule is favorable. Still, coach Bill Belichick and his company men want us to believe his team is fallible. Scout's Take: "There are weaknesses. The running game is inconsistent, the defense has some age on it, and the linebackers are vulnerable in pass coverage. But bottom line, as long as Tom Brady stays healthy, I don't see them losing."
In its first five seasons of existence, the AFC South was the NFL's version of simple division. Any way you did the math, the bottom line always came out the same. It was the Indianapolis Colts, and then everyone else.
It's three weeks into the regular season, and already we hold these truths to be self-evident:
NEW ORLEANS -- Loved one of the questions to Sean Payton at his funeral-like press conference late Monday night. "Coach, after three losses like this, is it time to panic?'' someone asked.
Thoughts on Week 2 in the NFL, now that we're finally clear of all camera-related controversies ...
This story was originally published in the Jan. 31, 2000 issue of Sports Illustrated.
This story originally appeared in the Feb. 7, 2000 issue of Sports Illustrated.
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