Fisher is falling out of favor
Just a couple of hours before the Titans played the Colts on primetime television Sunday night, Jevon Kearse was told that he would not be dressing for the game. In the NFL they call this a “healthy scratch”. Kearse responded by scratching himself from the stadium and leaving before the game even started. This particular drama sparked a lot of controversy in NFL circles. Was Jevon Kearse in the wrong for leaving the stadium? Was Jeff Fisher in the wrong for telling Kearse at the last minute he would not be playing in the big Sunday night game? Both parties acted a bit irresponsibly, but Jeff Fisher did the most damage to his relationship with Kearse as well as the rest of this team.
Tennessee has gotten off to a terrible start as they are 0-5, and have completely undewhelmed after finishing the regular season with the best record in the league a year ago. A lot of those failures have to be placed at the feet of Jeff Fisher. I don’t know if he just assumed they would be good this because they were good last year, but you can’t approach every season the same. You have to make proper adjustments and you have to continue to challenge your team. Granted, the Titans have had their share of injuries but so has every other team in the league. There shouldn’t be that much of a drop off. The Titans really miss Albert Haynesworth, but you have to be prepared for that situation. And then to have a communication breakdown of this magnitude with Kearse, in his second home of Tennessee in front of all of his family and friends…what else would you expect? This team is going nowhere fast and if Fisher can’t find a way to bring some promise out of this squad then he should not be the head coach for this team next year. Jeff Fisher is a good coach, but like Cowher, Shannahan and Gruden, he may need a clean break from the grind of the NFL season.