Countdown to Kickoff: 5 Days

The countdown to kickoff continues.

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

Frank Wycheck caught plenty of passes for the Tennessee Titans. More than most, in fact.

Yet the three-time Pro Bowl tight end threw a few as well.

For his career, Wycheck completed five passes (on six attempts). Two of them resulted in touchdowns. All five resulted in first downs. Four of the five were in games the Titans ultimately won.

His career passing stats were: 5-for-6, 148 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. We’ll save you the math – that is a 158.3 passer rating, which is the highest possible.

The first one was in the Titans’ Super Bowl season of 1999. In Week 15 against Atlanta at Nissan Stadium, he connected with wide receiver Isaac Bruce on second-and-9 from the 39 and the result was a 61-yard touchdown pass that put the Titans ahead to stay in a game they won 30-17.

The next year coaches gave him a chance in Week 2 against Kansas City. His 30-yard pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson started the scoring with 1:42 to play in the first half. That time it was first-and-10. Against Cincinnati (again in Week 15 and again at home), on first-and-10 from the Bengals’ 28, he hit wide receiver Derrick Mason for 23 yards, and Eddie George ran it in on the next play.

Wycheck’s first pass in a road game was in 2001, Week 6 at Detroit. On first-and-10 from the Tennessee 36 midway through the fourth quarter, he and Mason hooked up for 21 yards. Five plays later, Wycheck caught a six-yard touchdown pass from McNair.

In a 13-12 loss at Baltimore in 2002, his 13-yard completion on first-and-10 from the Ravens’ 30 with 9:38 to go in the second quarter was part of a 14-play, 69-yard drive that took 7:15 and ended with a field goal.

His completion streak ended with a misfire in the final game of 2002.

Of course, Wycheck’s most famous throw did not show up on a stat sheet. It was the lateral that was part of Dyson’s 75-yard kickoff return that was the difference in Tennessee’s 16-15 wild card victory over Buffalo, known as the Music City Miracle.

His history, though, proves his accurate delivery in that case was no fluke.