The Tennessee Titans have become their own team, distancing themselves from the Houston Oilers club they were just a decade ago. Those fans with long memories will remember Warren Moon, Billy Cannon, and Earl Campbell. They will remember the close calls that kept them from the Super Bowl after the AFL-NFL merger and the annual trip to the postseason with playoff tickets. Fan with short attention spans will remember Steve McNair, Eddie George, and a dominating defense in 1999. They will remember a 13-3 team beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship after being the only team to beat the Jaguars in the regular season. They will remember a Super Bowl that pitted defensive oriented Tennessee against the greatest show on turf in St. Louis. They will remember a game that went down to the last play and ended with the Titan’s Kevin Dyson outstretched arm a yard from the end zone. They will remember a 23-16 loss, but a great game.
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Fans this season will see a team that has offensive woes, but a great defense. The Titans will be in any game on the regular season schedule, whether it is at home at LP Field or on the road on the West Coast. Fans will watch as Jevon Kearse tries to return to the performance level he was at when he left Tennessee for Philadelphia in 2004. Fans will watch as Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch anchor the defensive line and Keith Bulluck and David Thornton man the middle of the field. Fan will watch as the defense holds opposing teams to a minuscule point total and make playoff tickets a real possibility.
They will watch as Vince Young tries to win the starting job back from Kerry Collins. They will watch as LenDale White tries to prove that he is a real running back and not just a player who rode his way into the NFL on Reggie Bush’s coattails. They will watch as Justin Gage and Justin McCareins try and become real targets for whoever is in the pocket. They will watch as the Titans try and squeeze out victories and hope some sort of spark and jumpstart a struggling offense.