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The Ohio State
football team has had a plethora of players excel at the next level, but now
they have a former player excelling as a head coach.
Mike Vrabel is one
of the best defensive players to ever play for the Ohio State football team as
he was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year. He then went on to
have an excellent career in the NFL, winning three Super Bowls, earning a First
Team All-Pro selection and a Pro Bowl selection in 2007, and being named to
Sports Illustrated All-Decade Team from 2000 to 2009.
Now, he is excelling as a
head football coach.
Vrabel
found success as Ohio State’s linebackers coach and defensive line coach from
2011 through 2013, and then as the Houston Texans linebackers coach from 2014
through 2016, and their defensive coordinator in 2017. That success at both
stops led to him becoming the Tennessee Titans head coach in 2018.
Yes, the Titans went 9-7 the two seasons before Vrabel and have
gone 9-7 the two seasons since Vrabel has been the lead-man, but this team
actually plays like a contender under him.
In 2017 the Titans’ defense was a middle-of-the-pack unit,
allowing 22.3 points per game. Last year under Vrabel they were third in the
entire league in points allowed, giving up 18.9 points per game, and this year
they allowed 20.7.
He then made a huge decision this season that improved his team
drastically.
The
Titans’ organization put a lot of stock in quarterback Marcus
Mariota as they selected the former Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 2
overall pick in 2015.
During Vrabel’s first season, Mariota started 13 games, played
in 14, and only threw for 2,528 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The Titans’ offense ranked 27th out of 32 teams that season, scoring 19.4
points per game.
This year, after Mariota started six games and the Titans
started 2-4, Vrabel decided to make the change to Ryan Tannehill at
QB. This has helped the Titans to become one of the most explosive offenses in
the league as he threw for 2,742 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions in
10 starts. The Titans also rank 10th in the league this season in scoring,
averaging 25.1 points per game.
That switch led to the
Titans making the playoffs as a wild card and then ultimately beating the
reigning champions and the best dynasty in all of sports, the New England
Patriots in the Wild Card Round last week.
This team is playing
incredible.
Vrabel has this team
playing hard and believing they can beat anybody. They play the same way he did
– with a tough attitude. They will have a difficult challenge this week,
playing the Baltimore Ravens, but win or lose Vrabel is coaching like he played
– he’s dominating.
