Countdown to Kickoff: 34 Days

Derrick Mason's 34 touchdown catches from 1999-04 are the most by any Tennessee player during the Titans era.

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 34 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 34 figures into the team’s recent history.

It has been 16 years since Derrick Mason played his last game for the Tennessee Titans, and the pursuit of the standards he set in numerous areas continues to this day.

For example, over the first six seasons of the Titans era (1999-present), he caught 34 touchdown passes. That is the most by any Tennessee player over the past 21 seasons.

Tied for second on that list are tight end Delanie Walker and wide receiver Nate Washington with 28 apiece. Drew Bennett caught 25 touchdown passes. No one else had more than 19.

At this point, Mason is going to remain unchallenged for some time. A.J. Brown leads all current Titans with eight, all of which he scored last year as a rookie.

Included in Mason’s 34 touchdowns receptions were his career-high nine in 2001 and eight more two years later. Oddly, he did not have any touchdown catches in 1999, the year the franchise was rebranded, after having produced three in the final season for the Tennessee Oilers (1998).

Overwhelmingly, his touchdown catches were the product of connections with quarterback Steve McNair, who was the passer on 26 of them. Billy Volek threw half of the other eight. Neil O’Donnell delivered three and Bennett, a college quarterback who converted to wide receiver in the NFL, threw the other.

Mason’s longest touchdown catch for the Titans covered 71 yards on Dec. 2, 2001 at Cleveland. His shortest was for two yards on Dec. 7, 2003 against Indianapolis.