The Titans show Norm Chow the door
Norm Chow has been fired by the Tennessee Titans as offensive coordinator.
“I appreciate all of the hard work and contributions he made to the organization during his time here, but I have decided to go in a different direction and will start the process of finding a new offensive coordinator,” Fisher said in the statement.
The move may come as a surprise to some given Chow’s reputation as an offensive guru, but observers closer to the situation would argue it was inevitable given Chow’s growing impatience with Vince Young’s development. There are reports that Chow will return to the Pac-10 as UCLA’s offensive coordinator; but either way, his time under Jeff Fisher has now come to a close.
Was Chow’s time in Tennessee a success? It’s difficult to say considering Chow stepped in at the very end of Steve McNair’s tenure and was asked to mentor a raw but promising young QB in Vince Young. For comparison sake, let’s look at Tennessee’s offensive rankings in Chow’s three seasons compared to the three prior seasons (under OC Mike Heimerdinger):
Rushing Offense: League Rankings, 3-Year Comparisons
| Year | RushAtts | RushYds | RuTDs | YPR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-2004 | 12.0 | 17.0 | 15.7 | 21.3 |
| 2005-2007 | 13.3 | 11.0 | 13.7 | 16.0 |
Chow’s rushing offense was more productive, on average. The Titans produced more rushing yards and more rushing TDs with fewer carries. But remember this included a mobile Vince Young, and even with the improvement, Tennessee failed to produce top-10 offensive rushing totals in any category over Chow’s 3-year span.
Passing Offense: League Rankings, 3-Year Comparisons
| Year | Atts | Yards | TDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-2004 | 15.7 | 11.7 | 9.0 | 12.3 |
| 2005-2007 | 20.3 | 22.0 | 26.3 | 16.3 |
This is where Chow failed to earn his paycheck. Vince Young regressed mightily in 2007, and overall Chow’s passing offenses paled in comparison to Heimerdinger’s. Chow’s star was bright BECAUSE of the work with young quarterbacks. He was responsible for developing Steve Young and Ty Detmer while at BYU, Philip Rivers while at NC State and Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC. His inability to bring Young along is, no doubt, where the rubber failed to meet the road.
Total Offense: League Rankings, 3-Year Comparisons
| Year | TotalYards | TotalPts | Turnovers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-2004 | 12.0 | 11.0 | 12.3 |
| 2005-2007 | 21.7 | 19.7 | 18.3 |
When your passing numbers are pedestrian, it usually guarantees that total offensive rankings aren’t going to be complimentary, either. In Chow’s case, his Titans ranked just 22nd in total yards and 20th in total points, on average, a material drop from the 12th and 11th place, rankings, respectively in the 2002-2004 period.
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While the stats do tell some of the story…it fails to acknowledge that McNair was at the end of his career, and they cleaned house getting rid of valuable veterans along the way like Mason at WR. It also fails to show that an injured VY…which he was most of this year makes him virtually a drop back QB, and that is not what he is. This was the first year Tennessee had a decent OL, they had terrible talent at RB and WR ever since Chow was there. Never mind that VY wasn’t Chow’s first choice…he wasn’t even Jeff Fisher’s. You can rip on Chow’s offense not taking advantage of Vince’s strengths this year (running) but this isn’t Texas and we’ve seen this year that Vince can get injured and that’s not a way to keep a QB around.
Comment by braddahmike — January 16, 2008 @ 11:06 am