Countdown to Kickoff: 3 Days

When it comes to recovering fumbles, three is a big number.

The countdown to kickoff continues.

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

It is no secret that it is difficult to predict which way a football will bounce.

One thing that is certain – based on the Tennessee Titans’ history, at least – is that it will not bounce to the same player too often.

In the 21 seasons since the franchise was rebranded (beginning with 1999), no Titans player has recovered more than three fumbles in a season. It used to be a somewhat common occurrence – one year, three guys all got their hands on three – but now it has been a while since even that happened.

The last time a member of Tennessee’s defense recovered three opponents’ fumbles was 2005, when Brad Kassell did it. The Titans forced 27 fumbles that season but recovered just 12, which means Kassell was responsible for 25 percent of the recoveries.

In 1999, all three of the team’s starting linebackers – Joe Bowden, Eddie Robinson and Barron Wortham – finished with three fumble recoveries as Tennessee had a whopping 24 recoveries on 39 forced fumbles. Robinson did it again the next year when the Titans came up with just 13 takeaways after the other team lost the handle despite the fact they forced another 39 fumbles.

In 2002, Donald Mitchell became the only non-linebacker with three fumble recoveries for the Titans. A backup cornerback for the majority of his career, he started nine games that year and finished as the team leader in that regard. One of his recoveries, however, was in a game he did not start.

As recently as 2018, Tennessee went through an entire season in which no one recovered more than one fumble. Jurrell Casey and Harold Landry shared the team lead in 2019 with two apiece. One more for either one would have been a noteworthy achievement.