2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers)

2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers) – Titans

by Chase Stuart on August 15, 2019

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens, and Bengals
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears, and Lions
AFC South: Jaguars, Colts, Texans
NFC South: Panthers, Falcons, Saints

The Tennessee Titans history is really the history of the franchise owned by Bud Adams. The son of an oil magnate, Adams was part of the foolish club with Lamar Hunt and the other key founding member of the AFL. Adams named his Houston expansion team the Oilers, of course, and the team resided there until moving to Tennessee in 1997. The man who guided the team from Houston to Tennessee was Jeff Fisher, who is still arguably the best coach in franchise history. In games coached by anyone but Fisher, the franchise has a 0.458 winning percentage, but including Fisher’s 0.542 mark in 142 games, and the Oilers/Titans franchise has a 0.482 record. Bum Phillips (whose ’78 and ’79 teams lost back-to-back AFC Championship Games to the eventual champion Steelers) and Jack Pardee (who guided the ’90s Run-N’-Shoot teams) are the only other coaches to finish at least 10 games over .500, while the franchise has had a number of coaches (Hugh Campbell, Ed Biles, Ken Whisenhunt, and Bill Peterson) who really struggled.

Ovr Rk	Coach	G	W	L	T	HC Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o HC	Diff
26	Jeff Fisher	262	142	120	0	0.542	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.458	2.5%
46	Bum Phillips	90	55	35	0	0.611	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.468	1.4%
67	Jack Pardee	74	43	31	0	0.581	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.473	0.9%
107	Pop Ivy	28	17	11	0	0.607	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.478	0.4%
126	Lou Rymkus	19	11	7	1	0.605	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.48	0.3%
136	Jerry Glanville	65	33	32	0	0.508	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.48	0.2%
145	Mike Vrabel	16	9	7	0	0.563	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.481	0.1%
151	Wally Lemm	79	37	38	4	0.494	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.481	0.1%
179	Mike Mularkey	41	20	21	0	0.488	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.482	0%
255	Mike Munchak	48	22	26	0	0.458	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.484	-0.1%
302	Ed Hughes	14	4	9	1	0.321	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.485	-0.3%
326	Hugh Taylor	14	4	10	0	0.286	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.485	-0.3%
327	Sammy Baugh	14	4	10	0	0.286	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.485	-0.3%
328	Chuck Studley	10	2	8	0	0.2	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.485	-0.3%
345	Sid Gillman	23	8	15	0	0.348	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.486	-0.4%
433	Hugh Campbell	30	8	22	0	0.267	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.49	-0.7%
444	Ed Biles	31	8	23	0	0.258	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.49	-0.8%
467	Ken Whisenhunt	23	3	20	0	0.13	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.491	-0.9%
468	Bill Peterson	19	1	18	0	0.053	900	431	463	6	0.482	0.491	-0.9%

Who is the best quarterback in franchise history? You couldn’t go wrong with any of three choices. Warren Moon is probably the chalk pick, a Hall of Fame player who turned around an awful franchise that went 1-8 and 2-14 in the two seasons before he arrived. Steve McNair was an MVP and made a Super Bowl in Tennessee, and was a fan favorite renowned for his toughness and his great play. And then there’s the original Oilers quarterback, George Blanda. He helped Houston win the first two AFL titles — still the only championships the franchise has ever won, and his 1961 season remains a statistical marvel if you ignore the level of competition. To this day, he’s still the single-season passing touchdowns leader for the franchise, with 36. But of this group, it’s Air McNair who most raised the franchise’s winning percentage, followed by Vince Young — whose won-loss record far outpaced his interception rate.

Ovr Rk	QB	G	W	L	T	QB Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o QB	Diff
39	Steve McNair	131	76	55	0	0.580	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.467	1.6%
73	Vince Young	47	30	17	0	0.638	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.475	0.9%
101	George Blanda	82	44	38	0	0.537	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.478	0.5%
132	Warren Moon	139	70	69	0	0.504	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.480	0.4%
156	Ken Stabler	28	16	12	0	0.571	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.481	0.3%
158	Pete Beathard	26	15	11	0	0.577	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.481	0.3%
173	Neil O'Donnell	8	6	2	0	0.750	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.481	0.2%
186	Cody Carlson	19	11	8	0	0.579	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.481	0.2%
214	Dan Pastorini	107	53	54	0	0.495	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.482	0.2%
243	Karl Klug	2	2	0	0	1.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.482	0.1%
266	Matt Hasselbeck	21	11	10	0	0.524	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.482	0.1%
298	Bob Davis	6	3	2	1	0.583	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0.1%
303	Brent Pease	3	2	1	0	0.667	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0.1%
304	Blaine Gabbert	3	2	1	0	0.667	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0.1%
337	Marcus Mariota	55	27	28	0	0.491	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0%
421	John Reaves	2	1	1	0	0.500	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0%
422	Matt Cassel	2	1	1	0	0.500	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.483	0%
499	Jacky Lee	10	4	5	1	0.450	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	0%
590	Buddy Humphrey	1	0	1	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
591	Will Furrer	1	0	1	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
592	Matt Mauck	1	0	1	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
593	Rusty Smith	1	0	1	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
594	Kerry Collins	32	15	17	0	0.469	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
748	Bucky Richardson	4	1	3	0	0.250	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
759	Kent Nix	2	0	2	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.484	-0.1%
796	Chris Chandler	25	11	14	0	0.440	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.1%
848	Oliver Luck	9	3	6	0	0.333	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
849	Ryan Fitzpatrick	9	3	6	0	0.333	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
873	Charlie Whitehurst	5	1	4	0	0.200	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
874	Jerry Rhome	4	0	3	1	0.125	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
941	Billy Volek	10	3	7	0	0.300	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
948	John Hadl	6	1	5	0	0.167	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.485	-0.2%
980	Jake Locker	23	9	14	0	0.391	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.486	-0.2%
996	Don Trull	15	4	9	2	0.333	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.486	-0.3%
1005	Lynn Dickey	10	2	7	1	0.250	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.486	-0.3%
1078	Billy Joe Tolliver	7	0	7	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.487	-0.4%
1095	Charley Johnson	14	3	11	0	0.214	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.488	-0.4%
1096	Gifford Nielsen	14	3	11	0	0.214	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.488	-0.4%
1101	Archie Manning	8	0	8	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.488	-0.4%
1135	Zach Mettenberger	10	0	10	0	0.000	902	433	463	6	0.483	0.489	-0.5%

There have been two great running backs in franchise history and one legendary one. There’s only one Earl Campbell, who won three consecutive AP Offensive Player of the Year awards from ’78 to ’80; only Moon (’90) and Chris Johnson (’09) have won the award for the franchise. Campbell was also the NEA MVP each of those three years, making him easily the most decorated player in franchise history. Blanda in ’61 (AP and UPI), Campbell in ’78 (NEA, PFW), ’79 (AP, Bert Bell, PFW), and ’80 (NEA), Moon in ’90 (NEA), and McNair in ’03 (co-AP) are the only MVP seasons in franchise history.

That said, it’s Eddie George who led the franchise in rushing in the most games. He is not remembered today as fondly as he was during his prime, but George was a legitimately great running back at Ohio State and in Tennessee before his coach gave him 519 carries in one calendar year. That’s not an exaggeration, by the way.

Rusher	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Rusher	Total Games	%
Eddie George	1996	2003	114	137	83%
Earl Campbell	1978	1984	90	97	93%
Chris Johnson	2008	2013	78	96	81%
Lorenzo White	1988	1994	55	102	54%
Charley Tolar	1960	1966	43	98	44%
Hoyle Granger	1966	1972	40	71	56%
Mike Rozier	1985	1990	40	73	55%
Chris Brown	2003	2007	26	57	46%
Allen Pinkett	1986	1991	23	95	24%
Ronnie Coleman	1974	1981	21	119	18%
DeMarco Murray	2016	2017	21	31	68%
LenDale White	2006	2009	20	60	33%
Derrick Henry	2016	2018	19	49	39%
Gary Brown	1991	1995	19	69	28%
Fred Willis	1972	1976	18	58	31%
Travis Henry	2005	2006	16	24	67%
Rodney Thomas	1995	2000	16	96	17%
Billy Cannon	1960	1963	14	51	27%
Larry Moriarty	1983	1986	14	50	28%
Steve McNair	1995	2005	14	148	9%
Ode Burrell	1964	1969	13	61	21%
Sid Blanks	1964	1968	12	56	21%
Rob Carpenter	1977	1981	11	61	18%
Joe Dawkins	1970	1976	10	34	29%
Bishop Sankey	2014	2015	10	29	34%

Who has led the franchise in receiving yards in the most games? That’s a pretty difficult trivia question that most people would get wrong. The answer is the second-best player to wear double zero, Ken Burrough. Younger fans won’t recall the name, but he starred for the team in the ’70s and was the last player in NFL history to record over half of his team’s receiving yards, which he did for the Oilers in 1975. The Titans have not had great luck with wide receivers since relocating — Derrick Mason stands out as the clear best one to date — while Drew Hill and Ernest Givins split things during the best days of the Moon era, and Charley Hennigan had to compete with Bill Groman on the expansion Oilers.

The full list of all players to lead Houston/Tennessee in receiving yards in at least 10 games for the franchise is below:

Receiver	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Receiver	Total Games	%
Ken Burrough	1971	1981	61	150	41%
Drew Hill	1985	1991	50	114	44%
Derrick Mason	1997	2004	49	131	37%
Ernest Givins	1986	1994	46	148	31%
Delanie Walker	2013	2018	35	79	44%
Charley Hennigan	1960	1966	34	98	35%
Nate Washington	2009	2014	31	96	32%
Drew Bennett	2001	2006	28	91	31%
Haywood Jeffires	1987	1995	28	132	21%
Chris Sanders	1995	2001	26	102	25%
Charley Frazier	1962	1968	22	89	25%
Tim Smith	1980	1986	20	91	22%
Justin Gage	2007	2010	18	53	34%
Mike Barber	1976	1981	18	85	21%
Kenny Britt	2009	2013	17	57	30%
Alvin Reed	1967	1972	15	85	18%
Bill Groman	1960	1962	14	45	31%
Mike Renfro	1978	1983	14	79	18%
Billy Johnson	1974	1980	14	80	18%
Jim Beirne	1968	1976	14	81	17%
Yancey Thigpen	1998	2000	12	35	34%
Charlie Joiner	1969	1972	12	36	33%
Webster Slaughter	1992	1994	12	43	28%
Bo Scaife	2005	2010	12	91	13%
Dave Casper	1980	1983	11	39	28%
Willie Davis	1996	1998	11	45	24%
Rishard Matthews	2016	2018	10	35	29%
Ode Burrell	1964	1969	10	61	16%
Kevin Dyson	1998	2002	10	62	16%
Curtis Duncan	1987	1993	10	112	9%

That’s it for the Titans/Oilers version of this series along with the entire AFC South. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Tagged as: 2019 Profiles

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