Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Oilers Breakdown

As you all know by now, I am an avid sports fan, especially football. There are 32 teams in the league right now, but they have used 33 regular franchises in rotation throughout the NFL’s history. There have been other numerous teams, but from 1920 to 2021 those aforementioned 33 teams are the ones that stuck around in some form or fashion to help build the NFL.

Out of the 33 franchises that have stuck around in the NFL’s history and had the most influence on its history, you can’t write the history of football without the Houston Oilers. Bud Adams removed the Oilers from Houston to Tennessee in ‘97 and then changed the name to Tennessee Titans, along with the color scheme in 1999. He was also 1 of the original 8 owners who created the AFL, in opposition to the NFL. The 2 leagues merged in 1970.

I feel like Houston Texans should be the team name considered the odd man out, thrown out, and when the Tennessee Titans got a franchise they should have been forced to come up with their own color scheme. I like the name Tennessee Titans. I also like the name Titans in general. The Jets were the New York Titans from 1960 to ‘62 before changing their name to New York Jets in 1963. I even like the Titans logos. I just want Texans gone, and the Oilers to return.

I realize part of it is a legal situation. As vilified as Art Modell is by Cleveland for moving the Browns to Baltimore and calling them the Ravens starting in 1996. He did leave the team colors, records, and name to the city of Cleveland, so when they brought the Browns back in ’99, there wouldn’t be any red tape legally. But apparently, Bud Adams made it legally impossible for anyone to use Oilers and the color scheme ever again. I feel like calling someone the Dallas Texans, or Houston Texans throughout the NFL’s history is like calling someone from my hometown a Kansas City Missourian. I feel like it’s boring and unimaginative to my creative side. In no way am I trying to demean anyone, or anything, in this day and age where things are micromanaged, but it got me to thinking. I wonder if the team name is a reference to when the state of Texas was its own country from 1836 to 1845, when Sam Houston was their leader? Hence the foundation of where the city of Houston got its name. And, most team names tend to be synonymous with the area they represent.

I’ll say this, as someone born in July 1984, and growing up during the nineties, and 1^st decade of the 2000s, while the Houston Oilers were good from 1960 to 1962, then in the seventies under Bum Phillips. The decade of football played by the Houston Oilers from 1984 to 1993 was considered some of the best football in team history. I always said the run and shoot, and Warren Moon make those Columbia blue uniforms, with the white, and scarlet red look really good. And the ‘92, and ‘93 Oilers are 2 of the best teams to have the 2 biggest collapses of all time, and never win a Super Bowl. If you don’t believe me, being that you can find anything on YouTube, look it up. I was young, but I watched it live, and remember it well.

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart:

With that being said, there are 11 players on the field for each team at a time. So here’s how I think the roster will break down. The 1^st name is the starter, and the other names at each position, are his chronological backups. By the end, I wonder how close I get to who makes the roster.

There are 53 men on the football roster. At the beginning of training camp (July), and Pre-Season (August), the team starts out with 90. And by the beginning of the 1^st week of the Regular Season (which is usually the 1^st week of September), they cut the Pre-Season roster to 53.

Offense (26):

QB: Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne (2)
RB: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jerick McKinnon, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson (4)
FB: Michael Burton (1)
WR: Tyreek Hill, Cornell Powell, MeCole Hardman, DeMarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Gehrig Dieter (6)
TE: Travis Kelce, Blake Bell, Noah Gray (3)
LT: Orlando Brown, Jr., Wyatt Miller (2)
LG: Joe Thuney, Andrew Wylie (2)
OC: Austin Blythe, Creed Humphrey (2)                 
RG: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Trey Smith (2)
RT: Mike Remmers, Lucas Niang (2)
 

Defense (24):
LDE: Alex Okafor, Joshua Kaindoh (2)
LDT: Jarran Reed, Derrick Nnadi (2)

RDT: Chris Jones, Khalen Saunders (2)
RDE: Frank Clark, Taco Charlton (2)

LOLB (SLB): Willie Gay, Darius Harris (2)

MLB: Anthony Hitchens, Ben Niemann (2)
ROLB (WLB): Nick Bolton, Dorian O’Daniel (2)

CB: Charvarius Ward, L’Jarius Sneed, Rashard Fenton, Mike Hughes, DeAndre Baker, BoPete Keyes (6)

SS: Tyrann Mathieu, Armani Watts (2) 
FS: Daniel Sorensen, Juan Thornhill (2)

Special Teams (3):
K: Harrison Butker
P: Tommy Townsend
LS: James Winchester
H: Tommy Townsend
KR: MeCole Hardman
PR: Tyreek Hill
 
The Punter Tommy Townsend is the Holder, MeCole Hardman is the Kick Returner, and Tyreek Hill is the Punt Returner to save roster spots.

The Olympic Games

So being that the 2020 AD (CE) summer Olympic Games are actually taking place this summer of 2021 AD (CE) because of COVID. I felt it important to drop some Olympic knowledge on everyone being I’m such the sports fan and history whiz.

Our modern Western societies on the continents of Europe, North America, and South America are derived from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Carthage, and ancient Rome.

Out of all of these there is none more revered than ancient Greece. Every city functioned like its own nation. There wasn’t a unified Greece. Every city state had its own laws, culture, and unique way of doing things. While there were many city states (at least 1,000), Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia were the 3 most important. Sparta created the foundations of Western military culture. They literally ate, slept, and breathed martial arts, military strategy, and unadulterated ass kicking 24/7. Every day of the year. Their laws would not permit them to do anything else once so ever. Athens had an army just like Sparta did, except Athens was way more of a naval power. Spartan society thought fighting on land was more manly than the sea. But the main thing that separated Sparta, and Athens was the fact that Athenians had way more freedom than Spartans. So therefore, Athens is the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, science, etc.. All the great teachers of the ancient world were from a city within Greece, and/or traveled to Athens.

Now the only time that the various cities would not quarrel amongst themselves was when they traveled to the city of Olympia, which is named after the Olympian ancient Greek gods that reside on Mount Olympus. Why did they travel to Olympia every 4 years between 776 BC (BCE) and 393 AD (CE)? To help those non-historical people, we are in 2021 AD (CE). The original ancient Greek Olympics.

The ancient Greek Olympics were very different from our modern Olympics. All the events were open to any male of any social class over 5 days. Women could not compete, but the loophole was any rider who won a chariot race was not awarded victory, but the owner of the chariot was. And women could own a stable of horse chariots in ancient Greece. They competed naked. False start in a track and field race caused the men to be subject to capital punishment. These 2 are my own personal favorites being a martial arts historian. The Spartans were not allowed to compete in the Pankration events because they had no impulse control. They were brought up in a strictly kill, or be killed world. Pankration is the unarmed mixed martial art of the ancient Greek city states. It’s a combination of Boxing, and Freestyle Wrestling. My other favorite fact is that when the ancient Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC (BCE), the Olympics were so revered by the Greeks that they could not form the closest thing to a coalition to protect their land because all the soldiers were preparing for the Olympics. That’s the classic example everybody thinks of when discussing the history of the Olympics. And finally, there were no point systems, or medals. The victor of each event received an olive wreath.

The modern Olympics the way we think of them did not begin until 1896 AD (CE). The summer takes place every 4 years, while winter is every 2 years. They still continue to try to be a vehicle to bring peace amongst the sociopolitical squabbles of all 196 to 250 unified nations on this Earth, depending on your definition of a country. And before I forget, let me end with this important tidbit for everybody to take under consideration… From 1896 AD (CE) to the 1970s AD (CE) only amateur athletes could compete. It wasn’t until the 1980s AD (CE) that professional athletes began to compete.

In this day and age of technology, where you can program which events you want to watch, instead of having to watch whatever is live.

Here’s what I’ll be watching over the next 17 days:

Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Fencing
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Shooting
Soccer
Tae Kwon Do
Track and Field
Wrestling

The only Winter Olympic sport I watch:

Ice Hockey

Happy Juneteenth (June 19th)!

So today, Juneteenth (June 19th) became a national holiday for the 1^st time OFFICIALLY. Abraham Lincoln only freed the slaves in the southern portion of the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth commemorates the freeing of all the slaves in both northern and southern portions of the United States with the Union victory, end of the Civil War in 1865, and passage of the 13^th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I’m honestly surprised that no one has made it a national holiday, yet, before today. The 1^st place it was recognized was in Galveston, Texas and it’s been celebrated since 1866. I see it as just as much of an important holiday, as Presidents’ Day, or Martin Luther King Day. So therefore, I completely understand why people would want to make it a federal holiday. Slavery is 1 of the greatest stains on our country’s history from the moment the 1^st slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619 up until 1865, especially being that we were trying to create a Constitutional Democratic Republic, which was very radical for the time because most countries were still governed by aristocratic, wealthy, and divinely-birthed monarchs, and their families. It’s very contradictory to have a government created by the people, of the people, and for the people when half the population that’s doing all the backbreaking labor doesn’t have a say in the country that is supposed to promote individualism, and equality. But as I say that, every country in the world has had slavery at some point in their history, and it’s just as wrong then, as it should be now no matter the country, or time period.  The mother country Britain and the United States were just the 1^st 2 countries to finally do away with it starting in the early modern time period, which automatically makes them better for that reason. The year’s 1807 and 1808 respectively, by banning the slave trade. To say you were anti-slavery in any part of the world before 1807 was like saying you believe in aliens, or don’t like to breathe oxygen. It was that outlandish of a concept. No country is perfect, but this is why the United States is a little bit better than most countries because at least in theory, if you don’t like the way the country is being run you have the ability to amend the law, whereas in other countries, laws were written to keep the same people in power, and the citizens have little to no rights, or say in their country. 

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft in my opinion:

K: Harrison Butker

P: Tommy Townsend

LS: James Winchester

H: Tommy Townsend

KR: MeCole Hardman

PR: Tyreek Hill

No changes before or after.

2021 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters Post-Draft

Our defensive scheme is a 4 - 3 (4 Down Linemen, and 3 Linebackers) base 7 man front with a 1 gap Under Front alignment (Defensive Line shifts to the weakside, and the Strong Side Outside Linebacker moves up on the line of scrimmage. That makes the defense look like a 5-2 with 43 personnel. Sometimes, the Strong or Free Safety will drop down close to the line of scrimmage, and the defense becomes an eight-man front, or what’s known as the 46 (Brian Dawkins in Philadelphia, and probably Tyrann Matthieu in KC). Now everybody in the NFL does a little bit of everything because it’s the pros and a copycat league. But our defensive coordinator comes from the Jim Johnson tree (‘99 – ‘08 with the Philadelphia Eagles) and prefers a 2 High Safety alignment with Press Man Coverage, mixed in with Man Blitzes, Double-A Gap Blitzes, and Zone Blitzes depending on the situation also.

2021 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters in my opinion after the draft:

LDE: Taco Charlton
LDT: Jarran Reed
RDT: Chris Jones

RDE: Frank Clark
LOLB (SLB): Willie Gay Jr.

MLB: Anthony Hitchens
ROLB (WLB): Nick Bolton

LCB (CB1): Charvarius Ward

RCB (CB2): L’Jarius Sneed

FS: Juan Thornhill
SS: Tyrann Mathieu
 
In the Nickel (5 DBs) against a spread offense, take out Anthony Hitchens, and replace with a Slot Corner. Rashad Fenton.
 
In Dime (6 DBs), take out Willie Gay and Anthony Hitchens. Add another Safety, Armani Watts, along with Rashad Fenton.

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft

2021 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft in my opinion:

NFL West Coast passing scheme, and zone running scheme, mixed in with college option, misdirection plays, and spread offense. Every team has 11 players on the field at one time. How many at each position varies due to the situation.

 
QB: Patrick Mahomes
RB1: Clyde Edwards-Helaire (goal line and short-yardage Running Back)
RB2: Jerick McKinnon (our pass receiving Running Back)
WR1: Tyreek Hill
WR2: Cornell Powell

WR3: MeCole Hardman 

WR4: DeMarcus Robinson
WR5: Byron Pringle
WR6: Gehrig Deiter
TE1: Travis Kelce (pass-catching Tight End)
TE2: Blake Bell (blocking Tight End)
LT: Orlando Brown, Jr.
LG: Joe Thuney
OC: Austin Blythe
RG: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
RT: Mike Remmers
 
The only real change is Cornell Powell basically replaces Marcus Kemp.