Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher, who is now leading the USFL’s Michigan Panthers, recently defended himself against critics who believe he ruins quarterbacks.
Fisher was a guest on the Number One Ranked Show and cited people on social media mockingly calling him the “quarterback whisperer” and saying he doesn’t know how to develop or coach players at the position.
However, Fisher defended himself and noted his past with the Titans as evidence that his record with quarterbacks isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.
“I got caught up in some of the social media stuff,” Fisher admitted. “They were calling me – facetiously – ‘quarterback whisperer,’ like I just ruin quarterbacks. Well, go fact check your world … before you start saying things.
“We had success [with the Titans]. We had a lot of success.”
Fisher did oversee at least some success with drafted quarterbacks like Steve McNair and Vince Young, as well as with an already-established Kerry Collins.
McNair won a co-MVP and helped lead the Titans to their lone Super Bowl appearance, Collins was a Pro Bowler in 2008, and Young won Offensive Rookie of the Year in his first season.
“We were patient with him,” Fisher said of McNair. “He was just a fierce competitor, and it took us some time. At that time, we laid it out and said, ‘Look, this is going to be our guy. We’re going to take him. We can’t tell you when he’s going to be ready. But we’ll know.’
“He got all the experience he needed to get over a couple of years, and then we took off and we ran with him. And we did very well with him.”
However, the rapid decline of Young, who has admitted in the past to having issues with Fisher, remains a stain on the head coach’s tenure in Nashville.
Fisher’s stint with the Rams was not good. On top of shoddy quarterback play from guys like Sam Bradford, Nick Foles, Case Keenum and Jared Goff, the Rams went 31-45-1 under Fisher over four-plus seasons.
Fisher, who remains the winningest coach in franchise history, will now be tasked with bringing along quarterbacks Paxton Lynch and Shea Patterson, both of whom were drafted by the Panthers after unsuccessful stints in the NFL.