It’s not just Tennessee Titan fans who were haunted by the team’s 19-16 playoff loss to the Bengals—the game lived rent-free in quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s head for a while as well.

“It’s a deep scar,” Tannehill said of the loss in which he threw three interceptions. “Every time I closed my eyes I kind of rewatched the game. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep for weeks. I was in a dark place, and it took me a while, a lot of work to get out of it.

“I’ve worked through it, but therapy, talking to people, time helped. It took a lot of work to get through it.”

He added that he’ll carry the loss with him for the rest of his life, but it will give him a “desire to win like he never had before.”

He’ll get the chance to get back to work and avenge that loss soon. When he does, he’ll get to practice with the quarterback the team just drafted in the third round (86th overall pick): Malik Willis. The veteran signal-caller had some interesting thoughts on the soon-to-be-rookie.

“I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him,” Tannehill said. “But if he learns from me along the way, that’s a great thing.”

Tannehill added his thoughts on the A.J. Brown trade:

“I was shocked,” he said. “When I first found out, I’m like, ‘This isn’t real, this isn’t happening, it’s a rumor.’ And then, I talked to A.J. and found out it was real. I slept terrible that night and kept thinking it was just a bad dream, but that’s where we’re at.”

The Tennessee Titans will be entering the season as a massive playoff contender in the AFC. The Titans are looking to have a deeper playoff run than last year. However, Tennessee’s offense will look very different from last year’s unit. Former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith left to become head coach of the Falcons. This is a significant loss because Smith vastly improved the offense. However, the Titans recently acquired stud wide receiver Julio Jones in a trade, making this team’s offensive firepower scary good.

Todd Downing was promoted to offensive coordinator and will become Smith’s successor. He will get the opportunity to work with quarterback Ryan Tannehill, last year’s leading rusher Derrick Henry, as well as two All-Pro wide receivers in Jone and AJ Brown. So the big question is how Downing will do as the team’s new offensive coordinator.

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Tennessee Titans Schedule:

• Week 1: Sun 09/12 vs Arizona Cardinals
• Week 2: Sunday 09/19 at Seattle Seahawks
• Week 3: Sun 09/26 vs Indianapolis Colts
• Week 4: Sun 10/03 at New York Jets
• Week 5: Sun 10/10 at Jacksonville Jaguars
• Week 6: Mon 10/18 vs Buffalo Bills
• Week 7: Sun 10/24 vs Kansas City Chiefs
• Week 8: Sun 10/31 at Indianapolis Colts
• Week 9: Sun 11/07 vs Los Angeles Rams
• Week 10: Sun 11/14 vs New Orleans Saints
• Week 11: Sun 11/21 vs Houston Texans
• Week 12: Sun 11/28 at New England Patriots
• Week 13: BYE
• Week 14: Sun 12/12 vs Jacksonville Jaguars
• Week 15: Sun 12/19 at Pittsburgh Steelers
• Week 16: Thu 12/23 vs San Francisco 49ers
• Week 17: Sun 01/02 vs Miami Dolphins
• Week 18: Sun 01/09 at Houston Texans

AFC South: The Titans are going to be battling the Colts for supremacy in the division. Last season, the Titans won the division and split their games against Indianapolis. After acquiring Jones, Tennessee is probably the favorite over Indianapolis, but either team could easily win the division. No matter what, Tennessee will finish either first or second in the division.

Matchups: The Titans will have a tough first half of the season. The team will have exciting games against the Bills, Colts, Chiefs, Seahawks, Steelers and Rams.

Overall: The Titans will have a winning season and be a force not to take lightly come postseason time. This team is built to win now. Tennessee could very well make a run at the Super Bowl.

Prediction: The Titans will finish with a 12-5 record, good for first place in the division.

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The Tennessee Titans and quarterback Ryan Tannehill agreed to a restructured contract on Tuesday.

The need to restructure Tannehill’s contract comes amidst the recent trade acquisition of seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones. Jones publicly asked for a trade from the Atlanta Falcons, and the Titans were able to land him on Sunday. The Titans sent a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick in exchange for Jones and a 2023 sixth-round pick.

Acquiring Jones brought an issue due to the salary cap of Tennessee. Tennessee had about $2.36 million of salary-cap space, which meant that they had to create additional room for the deal to be official. The team turned to quarterback Tannehill to create the space needed for Jones.

On Tuesday morning, it was revealed that the team had restructured Tannehill’s contract. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network announced on Twitter the new deal.

The quarterback recently signed a four-year, $118 million deal with the team last offseason. He was set to make around $24.5 million in salary this coming season, but the Titans turned a portion of that salary into a signing bonus. The guaranteed salary has been converted to a signing bonus and will spread over the next three years. The newly restructured contract frees up $15.6 million in salary-cap space. This space is necessary for the newly acquired wide receiver, who has a guaranteed salary of $15.3 million this season.

However, the downside is that Tannehill’s contract will increase in the following years. Tannehill’s cap figure for 2021 is going to be $13.8 million, but it will rise to $41.808 million in 2022 with a guaranteed base salary of $29 million. The quarterback will have a projected cap hit of $39.8 million in 2023.

The acquisition of Jones strengthens the team’s offense for the upcoming season. Jones is the NFL’s all-time leader in average receiving yards per game, at 95.5.

The Titans have officially re-signed Ryan Tannehill to a four-year deal worth up to $118 million with incentives.  A source told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington the deal will include a yearly salary of $29.5 million and include $62 million guaranteed. Darlington also reported that $91 million is the amount in total guaranteed money .

Tannehill made the announcement on his Twitter page Sunday afternoon confirming his excitement to re-sign.

Tennessee was rumored to be interested in signing Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady, but ultimately signed Tannehill two days before the start of NFL free agency which begins on March 18 ending speculation. Titans’ coach Mike Vrabel and Brady are good friends from their time in New England together and experts weree convinced Brady could lead an already exceptional team back to the Super Bowl after coming up just short in the NFC Championship game.

Instead, they re-upped Tannehill with the hopes of going on another run deep into the playoffs. Tennessee previously defeated the Patriots and Ravens in consecutive playoff rounds while playing as the underdog before losing to Kansas City. The organization appears to be confident in the 31-year-old’s ability throwing accuracy and his impressive season that consisted of 2,742 passing yards, career-highs in passer rating (117.5), yards per pass attempt (9.6) and completion percentage (70.3%). He was named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 2019, replacing Marcus Mariota as the starter in Week 6.

Originally the 8th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Tannehill was acquired from Miami in exchange for two late-round picks. His record as a starter is 49-49 through seven seasons.

The conference championships have arrived and the NFL is ready to see what will be two highly anticipated games. Veteran quarterbacks take on rookies as established franchises seek to hold firm against rising ones. The AFC and NFC Championship games are set to kickoff tomorrow.

AFC: Tennessee Titans (9-7) @ Kansas City Chiefs (12-4)

Tennessee heads to Kansas City after coming off two giant wins against the number one defense of the New England Patriots in the Wild Card round and the number one offense of the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional round. The Titans have won seven of their last nine games.

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The Titans offense, led by quarterback Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry, have proven to be a powerhouse, especially in the playoffs thus far. The defense will find difficulty in stopping Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but does carry a lot of momentum into Kansas City after their two previous games.

Mahomes will take key lessons learned from last year’s AFC Championship loss and apply them here in hopes of avenging that loss to the New England Patriots.

“Last year they caught us a little off guard with the coverages they played at the beginning of the game,” Mahomes said. “We made adjustments and were able to score points later in the game, but you want to make sure that you’re just preparing for everything. You know that [the Titans have] a good defense. They do a lot of different things, play a lot of man, play a lot of zone and so you know they’re going to throw different coverages out there against you.”

Kansas City is favored to win. Line, Over/Under: KC -7, 53

Date/Time: Sun, Jan 19/ 3:05 p.m. ET

Channel: CBS

NFC: Green Bay Packers (13-3) @ San Francisco 49ers (13-3)

The Packers enter hostile territory in what is set to be a great NFC Championship game. This is the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams and just the second NFC Championship Game.

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Green Bay will look to quarterback Aaron Rodgers to step up and land some key shots against a mighty 49ers defense. He has famously avoided throwing in Richard Sherman‘s direction, so that matchup between Davante Adams and any other 49ers cornerback will be key.

The Packers offensive line has proved to be one of the best in the NFL and will have to hold Nick Bosa, the favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year, at bay.

San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will look to George Kittle early and often, as Kittle has proved his worth and been a dominate force for the 49ers offense.

In response to his ups and downs throughout the season thus far, Garoppolo said, “That’s just part of being a quarterback. In football, bad things are going to happen at some point. No one’s ever going to play a perfect game, so it’s just how you react to those things.”

San Francisco is favored to win. Line, Over/Under: SF -7.5, 46.5

Date/Time: Sun, Jan 19/ 6:40 p.m. ET

Channel: FOX

NFL fans and those around the league were stunned by yesterday’s AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens (14-3) and the Tennessee Titans (11-7). The Titans knocked out the number one seed 28-12 in front of a Baltimore home crowd, ending the Ravens season.

After some early mistakes, the Ravens seemed to only continue the disappointing trend. Not used to being down, they looked tight and couldn’t find a rhythm that seemed to carry them through most of the season.

The Ravens saw points on the board late in the first half and whatever momentum they had died in the third quarter after a failed conversion turned into a Tennessee touchdown.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who was dominant in both the run and pass game this season, couldn’t find that composure that’s carried him through thus far. Jackson was 31 of 59 with one touchdown and two interceptions. On 20 carries, Jackson accumulated 143 yards, while Mark Ingram II, returning from injury, only had six carries for 22 yards.

The Titans, who won the Wild Card game against the New England Patriots 20-13, have continued an impressive playoff run.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was 7 of 15 with two touchdowns, one of which connected with tight end Jonnu Smith on an impressive throw and catch. But Titans weapon Derrick Henry once again ran through the defense with 30 carries for 195 yards. Henry has proved to be a powerhouse and even showed off his passing ability when he connected with wide receiver Corey Davis on a short throw for a touchdown.

A historic and dominant season for the Ravens ends in a disappointing home loss. Drops, penalties and turnovers were the Ravens kryptonite against a Titans team who came ready to play.

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As the long offseason now begins for the Ravens, the Titans will face the winner of Houston and Kansas City in what will be another must-see game.

Stepping out of the Wild Card round, NFL fans will tune in for what is set to be some exciting Divisional Round games. Saturday will see two dominant teams take on the survivors of the Wild Card round as the first set of teams from the AFC and NFC seek a victory to continue their path to the Super Bowl.

NFC: Minnesota Vikings (10-6) @ San Francisco 49ers (13-3)

After a Wild Card win over the Saints, the Vikings, led by coach Mike Zimmer, quarterback Kirk Cousins and running back Dalvin Cook, will enter hostile territory to take on the mighty 49ers. Safety Anthony Harris who proved a nightmare for Drew Brees will be critical in keeping Jimmy Garoppolo uneasy, as he led the Vikings with six interceptions on the season. Minnesota may be without wide receiver Adam Thielen due to an ankle injury.

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San Francisco despite its dominance has their work cut out for them as a Vikings team comes to town carrying some serious momentum. The 49ers defense will have a much easier time if they can keep Cook at bay. They also need constant pressure on Cousins the whole game. Cousins, who usually takes the conservative route under pressure, will be forced into tight corners and may influence him the entire game. Garoppolo needs time and if the 49ers offensive line can give him that, he can pick the Vikings cornerbacks apart.

Time: Saturday, 4:35 p.p. ET on NBC

Open: 49ers -7, O/U 45.5

Current: 49ers -7, O/U 44.5

AFC: Tennessee Titans (9-7) @ Baltimore Ravens (14-2)

After taking down the Patriots in Foxboro in the Wild Card round, the Titans will march in Baltimore to face the impending league MVP Lamar Jackson and the league’s most dangerous offense.

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The Titans will have to match Baltimore’s aggressiveness in order to compete. They have a serious weapon in Derrick Henry who ran circles around the Patriots top-ranked defense. Ryan Tannehill will have to channel that accuracy and consistency he’s shown throughout the year in order to go head-to-head with Jackson.

The Titans will have to find a way to stop the versatile Jackson who has proved his running and passing abilities are both top-tier. The Ravens have an edge in the kicking game as Justin Tucker went 28 for 29 on field goal tries this season. Despite a questionable tag, Mark Ingram is expected to play, adding to the Ravens dynamic offense.

Spread: Baltimore -9

O/U: 47 points

The New England Patriots saw their earliest playoff departure since 2009 as the Tennessee Titans took over Foxboro to defeat the Patriots 20-13.

The Patriots offense was quiet the whole game, as it has seemed to be most of the season. New England quarterback Tom Brady and his offensive corps didn’t seem to figure it out, and to top it off, Brady threw a pick-six with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Brady was 20 of 37 for 209 yards and that fateful interception.

Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill seemed to be as quiet as Brady, but with a running back like Derrick Henry, he didn’t have to make a lot of noise. Henry had 34 carries for 182 yards and a touchdown, while Tannehill was 8 of 15 with a touchdown and 11 yards rushing.

“That’s the way we like it”, Henry said. “We don’t want nothing easy. We want it gritty. We want it dirty. That’s the mentality we got to have. Our main focus is just finishing, each and every drive.”

Former Patriot and Titans coach Mike Vrabel was appreciative of Henry and his entire team. “That has to be the formula…to be able to run the football, stop the run, was huge. We’re appreciative of everything he does and the way our offensive line and tight ends and fullbacks- it takes all 11 to run the football. But certainly, Derrick’s a huge part of that.”

New England’s defense, who was top-tier in the league, struggled to contain Henry as he seemed to keep punching his way through. He was ultimately the Achilles heel of the Patriots defense whose domination seemed to end quite abruptly.

The Titans head to Baltimore to face the top-seeded Ravens. Baltimore is favored and the Titans will once again be forced to head into hostile territory to keep their season alive.

As for the Patriots, they lock up shop for the offseason and the focus will now be on Brady’s decision to stay, or go.

The AFC Wild Card games are set to kickoff with stakes raised for all four teams. Not only is elimination on the line, but pride. Buffalo looks for their first playoff win since 1995 and the New England Patriots enter a Wild Card game they haven’t played in since 2009.

Buffalo Bills (10-6) at Houston Texans (10-6)

The Buffalo Bills are set to take on the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston today with kickoff at 4:35 p.m. ET. The game is sure to be back and forth, but what to watch for is which quarterback will find more success with the run game. The Bills’ Josh Allen (third) and Texans’ Deshaun Watson (fourth) were among the top quarterbacks in rushing yards this season.

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Houston defensive end J.J. Watt will return after suffering a torn pectoral, something the Texans’ defense will welcome with open arms.

Eyes will be on Tre’Davious White in the secondary as the Bills hope he can shut down DeAndre Hopkins, limiting Watson’s ability to rely on him. White ranks in the top five for interceptions and passes defended.

Tennessee Titans (9-7) at New England Patriots (12-4)

Taking the field at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the New England Patriots find themselves in the unfamiliar position of a Wild Card game. The Titans closed with a 5-2 mark earning a wild-card berth, but come into hostile territory against a very tough Patriots defense.

The Titans offense, led by quarterback Ryan Tannehill and running back Derrick Henry, have given them hope. Henry totaled 896 of his 1,540 rushing yards after Week 10, but did so against teams that did not qualify for the playoffs.

Tannehill’s totaled 2,742 yards and sits middle of the pack with 22 touchdowns. His role will be outsmart the Patriots defense and continue the momentum his team has coming into the playoffs.

New England faces some concern in aging star quarterback Tom Brady whose passing numbers have taken a downward turn. Tennessee’s passing defense has not been anything great, but Brady may have an out with James White if he can utilize his run and pass game.

Both games will be fierce with clearly a lot at stake for all four teams. Side stories surround both games, but the biggest may be Brady’s return to either the Patriots or the NFL, and that is yet to be known.

The Miami Dolphins have officially signed Ryan Tannehill to a contract extension through the 2020 season, worth $96 million with $45 million guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Now, this is interesting on two fronts. First, Miami coach Joe Philbin publicly called out Tannehill last year for poor play, which resulted in the QB finishing the 2014 season strong. By the end, he threw for 4,045 yards with a completion percentage of 66.4, 27 touchdowns, only 12 interceptions and had a 92.8 passer rating.

Great numbers, but is he worth $100 million – especially with the team’s inability to get over the playoff slump – only one appearance in the last 13 seasons? This question is going to plague Miami, but they must have enough confidence in the eighth overall pick to give him this type of cash.

“We are thrilled that we were able to sign Ryan to an extension,” Dolphins vice president Mike Tannenbaum said in a press release. “He is an ascending talent, a team leader and checks all of the boxes you are looking for at the position.”

Furthermore, after over-spending on Ndamukong Suh and now Tannehill, GM Dennis Hickey has obviously not been shy about doling out the cash this offseason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7K41FW6gDk

Secondly, this signing sets a precedent for the 2012 QB draft class. Out of all the guys taken that year, who could have really expected that Tannehill would be the first to get a contract extension? And what does this mean for arguably the best QB in league Andrew Luck, Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson and the injury prone Robert Griffin III?

Well, it certainly means that they will be paid more: if Tannehill got $96 million, then Luck’s figures just skyrocketed. Obviously, each case will be decided by cap space and how the money will impact the team, but it definitely raises the pay line for the quarterbacks in that class and in general. Heck, even Nick Foles could make more money because of this deal.

Lets just hope Tannehill lives up to the deal and is not the next Ryan Fitzpatrick.