Countdown to Kickoff: 22 Days

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 22 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 22 figures into the team’s recent history.

The Tennessee Titans had a chance to select Randy Moss in the 1998 NFL Draft but did not.

More than a decade later, they decided that the wide receiver on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was too good to pass up again, even if he no longer was the pass-catcher that he once was.

Through the first half of the 2010 season, Moss caught 22 passes for two different teams, which led to him being placed on waivers. He had nine receptions in four games for New England, which traded him to Minnesota, the team that released him after 13 receptions in four games.

The Titans were the only team that submitted a claim.

What followed was one of the most frustrating, confounding chapters in team history. In eight games for Tennessee, Moss caught just six passes for 80 yards. He went three straight games at one point without a single pass thrown his way.

Of the five teams for which he played, the Titans were the only one for which he did not score a touchdown. They went 1-7 with him on the roster.

Contrast that to the fact that in five games against Tennessee throughout his career, he caught 23 passes for 345 yards and five

It was easy to dismiss the performance as the last gasp for a once-great player at the end of his career, but then Moss came out of retirement in 2012 after one season on the sidelines and averaged 15.5 yards on 28 receptions as a role player with the San Francisco 49ers.

Tennessee simply could not tap into the greatness that was so evident for so much of Moss’ career.