2012 NFL season outlook: Tennessee Titans are back to basics-NFL Feature- Part Two
The loss of the opportunity of signing former Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback, Peyton Manning, by the Tennessee Titans, came as a shock for many but no one else could be as much affected as the Titans’ owner, Bud Adams.
Adams seemed to have been carried away by the ambitious pursuit of the player so much that forgot to give a thought to question that how many chances he had for bringing him home when all franchises seem to be following the same agenda.
Now, the owner is said to have accepted the decision but apparently lacked an explanation to it. He needed some face saving in front of Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker, who felt their jobs on the line at one point.
However, the owner took the right step and came out with a statement, admitting that he had put the players in a difficult situation and backed them to be their quarterbacks, for the near future at least.
His stance was well within the two respective assurances from their general manger, Ruston Webster, who earlier said to be happy with the team’s current quarterback situation and had ruled out the possibility of pursuing the former Colts’ quarterback, Manning.
The coach, Mike Munchak, seemed to be equally happy with their quarterbacks and was rumoured not to be in favour of the team’s chase for Manning.
Since they did not have much say in front of their employer, it was unlikely to go against the owner’s wishes. So, they joined the herd without much hesitation.
They could only hope then that the campaign ends without much disturbance to present setup in the squad and arrangement on the starting line.
Luckily, it happened to be the case, at the end. Now probably the owner himself has come to the realisation that he was carried away by the Manning hype. He is back to basics and appreciative of the current quarterback situation.
He said that he was happy over it and backed both quarterbacks to improve their form and performance in next season.
Both of them have respective and distinct game skills and equally matter in the performance of the team.
Hasselbeck remains the starter but Locker has too proved his skills for the role, during the couple of opportunities he have had in absence of Matt Hasselbeck last year.
As a matter of fact, the rookie had performed so well that it led to a controversy at one stage, who should be given the starting role, Matt Hasselbeck or Jake Locker?.
Following much clarification from the GM and head coach, the role was left to Hasselbeck.
The coach however admitted that both players will be competing for the starting position in the offseason.
Now, with backing of Locker as to be the future quarterback of the franchise, the starting role might be open for both of them until the team finally decides to have done with Hasselbeck and keeps Locker.
In any case, the performance of both players is going to be important to the team’s wins. Titans will be returning to the next season on a good note.
Titans are not going to come out as the Super Bowl contender, for sure, but could be well on the course for the super title.
They were almost there during last year. After finishing with the poor record of 4-12 (four wins 12 losses), a season earlier, the team was able to pulled up themselves together to finish the next with 9-7 (nine wins and seven losses).
At one stage they looked certain for playoffs. Their unexpected loss against the previously winless Indianapolis Colts cost them the opportunity.
They could have made it to the second round even after that but at the end lost to their luck. The Cincinnati Bengals turned out to be the lucky team to avail the wild card chance into playoffs. It came courtesy of the situation on the points table that
developed to be as such to favour Bengals.
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