The Tennessee Titans have it rough.
The Titans had to play the entire 2011-12 regular season without any primetime games on NBC, ESPN or the NFL Network. Yet, the Jacksonville Jaguars (whom hardly anybody outside of Northern Florida cares about, maybe Los Angeles?) were rewarded with two Monday Night Football home games and a Thursday Night game.
So the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl was supposed to be an opportunity for some of the Titans' best players to gain some national exposure. Unfortunately, nobody wants to see any of the Titans' best players. That, or they just haven't seen them play this season.
I'm not surprised. This franchise doesn't get much publicity outside of Middle Tennessee. Chris Johnson may be the only player who exudes a great deal of star power and interest from football fans in other markets. Jared Cook might become that player if offensive coordinator Chris Palmer starts incorporating him into the offense more often.
I have a friend who is a rather loyal football follower. Back in August, I asked him if he could name five players on the Titans' roster. Outside of Matt Hasselbeck and Johnson, he couldn't do more than "That receiver who's always getting busted for weed" and "that guy who tried to rob Andre Johnson on the football field." He did know who Michael Griffin was once I explained to him that he played his college football at the University of Texas.
So were there any Titans who were snubbed? I think there were two players who were borderline choices. Cortland Finnegan and Rob Bironas may have been selected had they played in bigger markets.
Finnegan has played very well this season. The problem is that it doesn't really show up in the stats. I'm not sure that he'd get selected even if he deserved it since he seems to be one of the NFL's most disliked players after his on-field behavior for the past few seasons. He's not a bad guy though: he was chosen as the Titans' Walter Payton Man of the Year for a second consecutive year in 2011.
Bironas had another fantastic season. He's 26-of-29 on the season and he's converted six of seven field goals from 50+ yards. His only miss from beyond 50 yards was a 66-yard attempt against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the regular-season opener. Sebastian Janikowski received the nod over Bironas after converting on 27-of-31 field goals. Janikowski converted on his 63-yard attempt against the Denver Broncos in the regular-season opener.
With young players like Jake Locker, Karl Klug and Colin McCarthy? This trend will hopefully expire sooner than later.
Joshua Huffman graduated from Middle Tennessee State University as a marketing major in 2009. He's been a Middle Tennessee resident from 1986-1988 and 2001-present. He lived in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin from 1988-2001 and for approximately eight months in 2009-2010 while completing a 20-game volunteer position with the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers. His favorite sports organizations include the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Cubs, and Nashville Predators. He also follows the Tennessee Titans, his favorite AFC team.
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