Titans quarterback Vince Young didn’t expect to speak Saturday during his mentor’s funeral. He wound up summing up the emotional day with just a few words.

“Steve was like a hero to me, and heroes are not supposed to die,” Young said before stopping to rub his eyes as he talked about the man he knew from football camps as a teenager and called “Pops” — Steve McNair, his predecessor with the Titans.

McNair was shot and killed on the Fourth of July by his girlfriend, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, who then shot herself in the head.

Nearly 5,000 turned out to say goodbye to the 36-year-old during one of the biggest funerals in the recent history of Mississippi, McNair’s home state.

Fans and old friends filed into the Reed Green Coliseum on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi, and McNair’s family rented buses to haul in people from his hometown of Mount Olive. Not far away sat men who competed against McNair or coached him on the field.

The high school football team McNair’s son plays on wore their jerseys in honor of the man they often saw smiling from the sidelines.

“Mississippi has lost a tremendous legend,” said Cardell Jones, McNair’s college coach at Alcorn State.

The hearse carrying McNair’s silvery-gray casket was escorted 30 miles down Highway 49 by nine police officers on motorcycles and several vehicles carried family members. After the two-hour service, the procession headed back down the road for a private burial at Griffith Cemetery, about 20 miles from Mount Olive.

Police escorted McNair’s wife, Mechelle, and his mother, Lucille, into the stadium beforehand. Near the end, a handful of people surrounded his mother and his sons, waving them with fans and programs and giving hugs.

Brett Favre, who had a home near McNair’s here in Hattiesburg, sat a few rows behind the McNair family but did not speak. Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler attended. Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, also was on hand.

Young was added to the service late, and the quarterback drafted by Tennessee in 2006 to replace McNair remembered him as a father and mentor. Young said he felt selfish at times taking McNair away from his four sons to help him through his own life.

He then pointed at the Oak Grove High football team sitting in the stands and told them not to give up if they have someone who inspires them.

“Pay attention to that guy because every day you know I had to hear that guy’s voice,” Young said.

Lewis played against McNair and was his teammate the final two years of his NFL career. Lewis said he learned studying film and proper technique wouldn’t help him beat a quarterback fueled by will, heart and sacrifice.

“I find myself in awe when I speak about a man like Steve McNair,” Lewis said.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was among those who sent flowers. Titans owner Bud Adams attended a memorial service Thursday night in Nashville, where thousands more attended. Fisher was called up to speak from the audience, and he pulled Young over to the podium and led the audience in the Lord’s Prayer just as he did during 11 seasons with McNair before every kickoff.

Bobby Hamilton, who played at Southern Miss and in the NFL with New England and Oakland, used to sleep on the floor of McNair’s oldest brother, Fred, when he played at Alcorn State. He also cheered on McNair during his career and recalled how McNair rallied Alcorn State once by scoring two touchdowns with less than a minute left.

“It’s very painful. We know he was a warrior. … I can’t even say the word how this warrior went down,” an emotional Hamilton said.

The program included memories from McNair’s mother, his wife and sons, brothers, and nieces and nephews. Photos were also displayed of the quarterback who played 13 NFL seasons with Tennessee and Baltimore before retiring in 2008.

Coach Nevil Barr brought the jersey-clad Oak Grove team to the service. Steve McNair Jr. attends Oak Grove, and his father joined Favre at a summer workout two weeks ago to play catch with the kids.

“He was on our sideline every Friday night supporting his son,” Barr said. “He loved to come watch Steve Jr., and we loved having him there. He always had that smile.”

Deloris Cagins of nearby Columbia wore the purple and gold of McNair’s alma mater, Alcorn State, and had a pompom tied to her walker. She has relatives who eventually joined her beloved Braves, where McNair made a Heisman Trophy run and set a number of NCAA Division I-AA records before going third overall in the NFL draft in 1995 to the then-Houston Oilers.

“Alcornites to me are a different breed of people,” she said. “It’s like a family. If you do something, we’ll support you.”

Article via ESPN, from the Associated Press – http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4320938

Without question, the Tennessee Titans were the most suprising team from a season ago, especially considering the circumstances. Now the question is, can they do it again? Will the defense still be as great as they were a season ago without Albert Haynesworth creating so many problems up front? The Titans were home of the most explosive defense in the NFL. They did it all. If you needed them to get a huge stop, they guy a huge stop. If you needed a timely takeaway, they gave you a timely takeaway. If you needed them to score from the defensive side of the ball, they did that too. But without someone commanding so much attention, will the secondary be able to create the same plays? There are still talented players all over the field defensively, but until they can prove it on the field, those questions will remain.

On the other side of the ball brings a whole new situation. We all know what Kerry Collins did for this offense. While he wasn’t slinging the ball all over the field, he didn’t force many passes and turn the ball over. The Titans had one of the best running back duos in the entire NFL, but the receiving corp was less than average, thus the drafting of Kenny Britt. Who’ll be throwing the ball his way this season? Will Vince Young get his job back or will Kerry Collins hold onto it for another season? Young has already put pressure on the Titans front-office and coaching staff by telling them to start him or trade him, simple as that. Will he get his wish, one way or another? We all know Young is the future, but apparently he wants to be the present, too.

With the Titans win over the Bills, their playoff hopes are still alive, although still very unlikely. First off the Titans would have to beat New England next week which shouldn’t be too hard as the Pats will most likely bench their starters after the first half. A couple games have already fallen into place such as the Jags and Bengals losing. Now we need the Jets to lose vs Miami and the Bengals to lose next Sunday. If the Begals and/or Jets dont lose then they would own the three way tie over the Titans and we would be eliminated from playoff contention. Our best bet at this point is, assuming we beat New England, would be for the Cheifs to beat the Jags next Sunday because we own the three way tie over them and for the Bengals and/or Jets to lose, as they hold the threeway tie over us.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation SportsWriter

Titans
Run, Run, Run and then Run some more. The Titans obviously have a few things going their way in this game when it comes to the run. Number one, Travis Henry is returning to his old team that traded him off just two years ago and will be running like a mad man possessed today. Number two, the Bills have one of the worst ranked rushing defenses, ranked at 28th in the league, and with Takeo Spikes being a game-time decision it wont get much better. Also, give Vince a few options and tell him if they arent there then dont hesitate for a second to take off an run to keep this defense on their feet at all times.

Bills
The Bills will be looking for revenge as this is the first time both teams have met since the Titans won in the playoffs, as what we all know as the “Music City Miracle”. To win this game, the Bills are going to have to give about 75% run plays and the other 25% pass plays. This would have worked for the Jags last week but three costly turnovers lost them the game. Although the Jags may not have won, they showed all of the upcoming teams how to beat the Titans. Pound the rock. Control the football. And keep Vince Young off of the field. Another player the Titans must look out for is Lee Evans. If he gets matched up one-on-one with Reynaldo Hill, expect Losman to look his way. If the Bills can keep the Titans offense off of the field for good chunks at a time, not allow Vince to get in a rythem, and most important of all avoid costly turnovers, then they have a great shot at winning this game.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation SportsWriter

    How does this happen? One of the hottest young teams in football with some of the hottest players right now being overlooked by the more popular players on more popular teams, even though they may not being playing nearly as good. Polumalu and Lynch over Hope, Porter over Bulluck? Any true NFL fan knows who clearly has had the better season. I may be being a little biased, being a Titans fan and all, but you can count me out for watching the probowl this season.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation SportsWriter

The Titans are at .500 for the first time in 3 YEARS, despite only gaining 98 net yards of total offense and giving up 396 to the Jaguars. This was supposed to be the game to tell whether or not Vince Young was ready to be a starter in this league, but we didnt get to judge much, as the Titans only got  34 snaps of offense-15 passing and 16 rushing- as compared to 82 by the Jaguars. Vince finished with 85 passing yards and 4 yards rushing. He also got sacked 3 times, one resulting in a 20 yards loss back to their own 10 yard line. Rookie mistake.

     Travis Henry came into the game hoping to close in on 1,000 yards rushing for the season but came up short with only 37 yards rushing, 974 on the season.

     It’s hard to say that our defense had a good game, as we gave up almost 400 total yards of offense, but it also scored 21 of our 24 total points.

     The first touchdown came from PacMan Jones in the first quarter, scoring on an 83 yard interceotion return.

     The next came when the Jags were driving. David Garrard scrambled to the 12 yard line, only to lose the ball and have it picked up by Cortland Finnegan and run all 92 yards to the endzone. All Garrard could do was sit and watch it all happen before his eyes.

     And finally, Chris Hope topped it off with a 61 yard return for a touchdown. He also finished the game with 10 tackles.

     Arguably, the biggest coaching desicion of the day was a challenge by Fisher at the one yard line. Garrard had just thrown a lob pass to Lewis for a touchdown. Fisher challenged that he didnt have possesion and got it overturned. So what you ask? Well, the defense held Jones-Drew on 3rd and one to force a 4th down at the 1 yard line. Garrard decided to throw another lob pass, only to Matt Jones this time, and guess who… PacMan Jones broke it up and gave the Titans possesion.

      Well, I dont want PacMan’s return to go unnoticed. At the beggining of the second half, PacMan brought a 70 yard return down the the Jags 15 yard line, en-route to a Rob Bironas feild goal.

      So basically the story line is that the Jags owned the game but costly turnovers gave us the win. We’re now back to .500, in the playoff race, and winners of 5 straight. We travel to Buffalo next week where both teams are 7-7 and fighting for their playoff lives. It should be a good one next week.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation Sportswriter

     The Titans started off strong with a 7-0 lead in the 1st quarter thanks to a PacMan Jones 83 yard interception return for a touchdown. After that, nothing was going right for the Titans. Missed tackles, giving up big plays, and absolutely no productivity on offense. It is good to see, though, that Norm Chow is letting Vince Young air it out and taking a chance at the big plays.

     The Jags then struck back a long drive resulting in a Jones-Drew touchdown run from 13 yards out. The next few times the Titans got the ball, they went 3 and out and the Jags took advantage. Knowing the Titans defense was getting tired, they started pounding the rock and letting David Garrard dance around in the backfield while the Titans defenders chased him around.

     Basically the summary of the first half goes like this.  PacMan return for a TD, no offense from the Titans, Jags pounding the Titans D but only getting 10 points, and a missed FG at the end of the half by Rob Bironas that would have tied the game at 10 all.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation SportsWriter

     This weekend, the Jacksonville Jaguars head in to Nashville to square off against the red hot Tennessee Titans, winners of four straight. I don’t think either team is expecting this to be an easy game, as both teams are fighting for their playoff lives. This should be a very physical game right down to the end.

     The Jags seem to have an edge in this one, after making the Colts look like my local 8th grade team, and the Titans coming off a 3 straight close losses and barely nudging it out over the lowly Texans.

     Now for the rookie debate. Who will play better- Vince Young or Maurice Jones-Drew? Only time will tell, but I’m expecting Jones-Drew to have a big day, as the Titans have a very poor run defense to say the least. Vince Young will look to rebound from his poor performance last time around vs. the Jags when he threw three interceptions en-route to a 37-7 Jags win. In all fairness, this was one of Vince Young’s first starts , and he’s come a long way since then. Leading his team to four straight.  He’s going to need some help from his defense, though, if the Titans expect to win this one. Titans Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz and been stressing the importance of wrap up tackling against the Jags to his defense this week and has been the main thing he’s been working with his players on.

     My prediction is that this is going to be a hard fought, physical game right down to the end with the Jags barely nodging it out, 21-17.

~Caleb a.k.a. Ghost, TitansNation SportsWriter

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