Titans fans might be better at calling offensive plays than Titans coaches
If you’ve ever attended an NFL game, then you’ve probably noticed that every fan in the stadium thinks they can call plays better than their team’s coaches. Ironically enough, that actually seems to be the case in Tennessee.
During the Titans’ first preseason game against the Chargers on Saturday, the team decided to let two fans make Tennessee’s first two offensive play calls of the game.
This experiment ended with some good news and some bad news for the Titans.
The good news is that the fans paid some serious money to win the right to call an offensive play: Each fan bid $10,000 in an auction, which means a total of $20,000 went to the Make-a-Wish foundation.
The bad news for the Titans, though, is that the fans might actually be better play-callers than anyone on the Titans coaching staff.
Titans let fans call 1st two plays Sat night. They ended up being a 15 yd run and a 31 yd pass. Next 3 called by coaches? 5 total yards
— trey wingo (@wingoz) August 15, 2016
On the first offensive play of the night for Tennessee, which was called by a fan, the Titans pitched the ball to DeMarco Murray, who ran for a 15-yard gain. On Tennessee’s second play, the fan called for a pass, which turned into a 31-yard gain when Marcus Mariota hit Tajae Sharpe.
That’s 46-yards on two plays that were called by fans. For reference, the Titans’ next eight offensive plays, which were called by the coaching staff, only went for 21 yards.
I’m not saying that fans should call every offensive play for the entire season in Tennessee — OK, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The fans can’t possibly do much worse than what the Titans coaches have done over the past two seasons: Tennessee has gone 3-13 and 2-14 over the past two years.