NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The buzz here in the wake of a 17-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars is that the Tennessee Titans have quit on Jeff Fisher.
I think people who think that don’t really understand what quitting means and mistake ineffectiveness for lack of effort. They must not have seen Dallas under Wade Phillips or Minnesota under Brad Childress, which is quite a bit different than Fisher's Titans against Jacksonville.
A good share of the Titans still played hard in the second half of Sunday’s rout. The Titans didn’t give up a point.
“This team didn’t quit, they didn’t give up a point in the second half,” Fisher said at his Monday press conference. “They got a third-down stop, they blocked a field goal and they played hard. We just didn’t make the plays.”
Michael Griffin doesn’t get embarrassingly stiff-armed by Maurice Jones-Drew right near the end of the game if he’s not chasing in the first place. Not chasing is quitting. Getting pushed aside by an excellent player who's having a great day is different.
There may be a handful of guys who realize their fate with the team is sealed and aren’t going all out.
But a team quitting is a pretty rare thing in the league. If players put that on film, they know this coach or the other 31 in the league will ultimately see it. The Titans roster may be loaded with guys who aren’t that good, but I think they understand the concept of their weekly resumes.
So I believe Chris Hope, who missed too many tackles. I believe Stephen Tulloch, who was credited with 17.
“No sir, by no means do I believe Fisher has lost this team or that guys have quit,” Hope said. “We had plenty of opportunities to quit this game and we made it a game, we had a chance to actually come back. A few balls bounce the right way on the offensive side of the ball and it’s a ball game. That just lets you know right then and there that we haven’t quit.”
“We’ve got a great group of guys here that would give anything they have for one other,” Tulloch said. “We’re not quitting. We’re going to keep fighting to find a way to win.”
And why would a Bo Scaife or a Nate Washington bail on Fisher when, in assessing their drops on Monday, the coach tried to explain them away by saying “it wasn’t an easy day to catch the football with the weather the way it was?”
The game book says it was 35 degrees with a 26-degree wind chill and winds of 11 miles an hour at LP Field.
It's a good thing Scaife and Washington weren’t playing in Cincinnati, Green Bay, Kansas City, New York or Baltimore -- NFL venues that had lower temperatures and wind chills and higher winds than Nashville on Sunday.
I think people who think that don’t really understand what quitting means and mistake ineffectiveness for lack of effort. They must not have seen Dallas under Wade Phillips or Minnesota under Brad Childress, which is quite a bit different than Fisher's Titans against Jacksonville.
A good share of the Titans still played hard in the second half of Sunday’s rout. The Titans didn’t give up a point.
“This team didn’t quit, they didn’t give up a point in the second half,” Fisher said at his Monday press conference. “They got a third-down stop, they blocked a field goal and they played hard. We just didn’t make the plays.”
Michael Griffin doesn’t get embarrassingly stiff-armed by Maurice Jones-Drew right near the end of the game if he’s not chasing in the first place. Not chasing is quitting. Getting pushed aside by an excellent player who's having a great day is different.
There may be a handful of guys who realize their fate with the team is sealed and aren’t going all out.
But a team quitting is a pretty rare thing in the league. If players put that on film, they know this coach or the other 31 in the league will ultimately see it. The Titans roster may be loaded with guys who aren’t that good, but I think they understand the concept of their weekly resumes.
So I believe Chris Hope, who missed too many tackles. I believe Stephen Tulloch, who was credited with 17.
“No sir, by no means do I believe Fisher has lost this team or that guys have quit,” Hope said. “We had plenty of opportunities to quit this game and we made it a game, we had a chance to actually come back. A few balls bounce the right way on the offensive side of the ball and it’s a ball game. That just lets you know right then and there that we haven’t quit.”
“We’ve got a great group of guys here that would give anything they have for one other,” Tulloch said. “We’re not quitting. We’re going to keep fighting to find a way to win.”
And why would a Bo Scaife or a Nate Washington bail on Fisher when, in assessing their drops on Monday, the coach tried to explain them away by saying “it wasn’t an easy day to catch the football with the weather the way it was?”
The game book says it was 35 degrees with a 26-degree wind chill and winds of 11 miles an hour at LP Field.
It's a good thing Scaife and Washington weren’t playing in Cincinnati, Green Bay, Kansas City, New York or Baltimore -- NFL venues that had lower temperatures and wind chills and higher winds than Nashville on Sunday.
Paul Kuharsky | email
NFL- ESPN AFC South Blogger
- Covered Oilers/Titans for The Tennessean
- A New Jersey native and Columbia graduate who lives in Nashville with his wife and son
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Paul Kuharsky
Kuharsky joined ESPN.com in 2008 after 12 years covering the Oilers/Titans and the NFL for The (Nashville) Tennessean. The New Jersey native and Columbia graduate lives in Nashville with his wife and son.
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