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Vols and Titans fans would struggle with Tom Brady to Nashville

By Caleb Calhoun

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 04: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots talks with the media during a press conference after the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 04: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots talks with the media during a press conference after the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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If New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady signs with the Tennessee Titans, Volunteers fans who love Peyton Manning may have a hard time.

As the Tennessee Titans built up a fan base in the state during the early 2000s, it was always hard for Tennessee football fans who loved Peyton Manning since Manning played for the Indianapolis Colts, a division rival. Now, though, Tom Brady could make things way more complicated.

Rumors are circulating that the longtime Pats quarterback may sign with the Titans. Reports were just recently saying that they are actually the favorite to land him, and even CBS Boston picked up on that news.

It makes sense. Mike Vrabel was close with Brady when the two were teammates, they both seem to share a distaste for Bill Belichick, Titans General Manager Jon Robinson spent 12 years with the Patriots organization, and other former Pats like Dion Lewis and Malcolm Butler are on the team.

Taking all that into account along with what is happening in New England right now, and there’s a very good chance that the NFL world witnesses Tom Brady in Nashville. However, this would be a brutal internal struggle for fans of both the Vols and Titans, of which there are many.

While the rest of the world hates the Patriots for their dominance and their alleged cheating, Vol fans hate them because of the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning rivalry. UT fans never let that go, even as Brady pulled away in rings. Each one was a more bitter pill to swallow, and Rocky Top will still point to Manning’s five MVPs and his winning record over Brady in the playoffs.

So if Brady joins the Titans, fans of both the Vols and Titans will be in the tough position of doing something that’s the opposite of what they’ve religiously done for years. They’ll have to root for Brady to win a Super Bowl.

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Vol fans who rooted for Manning when he was with the Colts but love the Titans always found a way to reconcile the situation. They only met one time in the playoffs, way back in 1999-2000, when they weren’t in the same division, it was Manning’s second year in the league and the Titans first year as the Titans. So that rivalry never got too tough to deal with.

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However, these fans always rooted for Manning over the New England Patriots in the playoffs. The Brady-Manning rivalry was real in Tennessee. In 2003-04, these fans took the biggest hit, as the Pats eliminated the Titans in what would be Steve McNair’s last playoff game in a Tennessee uniform, and then they eliminated Manning and the Colts.

The bad blood has never really subsided. Vol Nation felt like Manning’s Super Bowl with the Colts was their Super Bowl. They felt it for legitimate reasons when he won his Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, as Malik Jackson had a defensive touchdown, and Britton Colquitt was superb in that game as a punter.

Anyway, Peyton Manning has always been sort of a second rooting interest for fans of both the Vols and Titans, and that always meant rooting against Brady. That makes him going to Nashville, which is ironically where Belichick was born, tough for many of them to deal with.

Of course, there are football reasons for Titans fans to be against this. How good will Tom Brady really be at 43 this year? Will he truly be better than Ryan Tannehill was for the Titans? And with Teddy Bridgewater and Phillip Rivers both younger and on the market, is this really the right decision for them to make? They did just bounce out the Pats with Brady.

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UT fans in Nashville will think about these things. Manning has always generated strong, positive feelings out of such fans. As a result, any excuse to not sign Brady will come to the minds of such fans, and if the Titans do, well, it will be a very awkward relationship.

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