First off, congrats to the Green Bay Packers and my favorite player in the league, Aaron Rodgers. That was an unbelievable performance last night and definitely one of the best I've seen in my lifetime. It's also a lot easier to go to class here at Robert Morris now. However, the more notable news for me and other Titans fans was caught up in the Super Bowl hangover today. We finally have a new head coach.
As most of us expected, offensive line coach Mike Munchak was named the new Tennessee Titans head coach over other leading candidates Perry Fewell (Giants defensive coordinator) and Mike Mularkey (Falcons offensive coordinator). I admittedly wanted Fewell over the other two candidates, but I'm still satisfied with Munchak.
My biggest doubt that lied with Munchak was simple: was he going to be too much like former head coach Jeff Fisher? After coaching under the NFL's longest-tenured coach since 1997, it's definitely a possibility that Munchak would find him as a major influence for his coaching style. But after watching his press conference today at 4:00 PM (EST), that doubt was pushed aside and I now believe he was the best choice for the position, and not just a cheap hire like a few people have been making this out to be.
"I know what we are doing well, and I know what we need to change."
He realizes the Titans' strengths and the weaknesses. The running game was still one of the best in the league this past season, despite Chris Johnson falling well short from his 2500-yard prediction. Kenny Britt, Daamian Williams and Jared Cook are very promising young talents that can make plays when they catch the ball. The team is missing a quarterback, but Munchak said he would evaluate the ones coming out in the draft to see if there's a franchise guy out there. There's a good bit of work to do to the defense, which makes the defensive coordinator hire almost as important as this one. We can't afford to go through another Chuck Cecil experience.
"We can win a Super Bowl with this offensive line."
This quote worried me slightly, but Munchak has been one of the best offensive line coaches in the league so I trust his judgment. What I would love to see is for Fernando Velsaco and Kevin Matthews to get a shot at starting from day one next season. Matthews, who is the son of NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews (who is rumored for the now open Titans offensive line coach), played extremely well in the finale against the Indianapolis Colts, save the fumble at the end. Fernando Velsaco helped the team have one of their best days on the ground against Dallas, in his first extensive action after an Eugene Amano injury. I've never been a fan of Amano, but switching him and Leroy Harris on the line away from their regular positions was a horrendous move by Fisher. (I could rant about how Fisher had too much power over the past few seasons, but I don't want to take away from the main focus of this post.)
"I will not let you guys down."
It's a cliche quote, but I love Munchak's confidence. He's an intense guy who will demand everything out of his players, but he's not a drill sargent. He expects professionalism from his players, which is what us Titans fans needs after dealing with the Vince Young drama and the Pac-Man Jones strip club incident years ago. He wants his players to be disciplined, which is huge for me, because one of the most frustrating things over the past few seasons was the given Tony Brown/Cortland Finnegan personal foul penalty and the numerous off-sides calls.
Oh, and he's a Penn State guy and listed his biggest influence as Joe Paterno. How can I not love that?
There are plenty of other quotes I can post and dive deeper into, but you get the picture. Munchak said all the right things, didn't avoid questions a la Fisher, and is committed to get the Titans back in the right direction. I'm very confident he will do just that and I'm extremely happy he is the Titans' new head coach.
Congrats Mike Munchak. Now let's get back to the 1999-2003 days.
