Countdown to Kickoff: 6 Days

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is six days away. So, today we look at one way the number six figures into the team’s recent history.

Vincent Fuller was not the most accomplished or the most decorated defensive back the Tennessee Titans have had. Not even close.

He might have been the most opportunistic, though.

Fuller intercepted six passes over six seasons and more than half of them resulted in six points for the Titans.

Four of Fuller’s picks were pick-sixes, which is more than any other Titans player has had over the past 21 years (1999-2019). He returned two for touchdowns in 2007 and two more in 2009.

Consider that only two other players during the Titans era ever scored on two interception returns in the same season, cornerback Andre Dyson (2003) and linebacker Zach Brown (2012). Dyson and Cortland Finnegan are second to Fuller with three each during their respective times with Tennessee.

Fuller’s pick-sixes in 2007 came in consecutive games, both against NFC opponents – 61 yards at New Orleans and 76 yards versus Atlanta. In 2009, there were three games between his 26-yard return versus Buffalo and one that went 45 yards against the Rams.

Tennessee won all four games.

What makes Fuller’s accomplishment so much more unusual is that he never was a starter on the defense.

A fourth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2005, it was his versatility that appealed to Titans’ coaches at the time. In 75 games, he was a special teams stalwart, a slot cornerback, an outside cornerback and an occasional safety, based on what the week and the situation required. He started just five times, never more than three in a season.