The following story was originally published in PFW’s issue of Dec. 23, 2002.

Frank Wycheck stood alone in front of his locker following Tennessee’s impressive Week 15 Monday-night win over New England and turned to find a reporter asking for his thoughts on Titans QB Steve McNair.

Almost immediately, Wycheck’s face lit up and he warmly said, “I’d love to talk about Steve.”

For the next few minutes, it was like he had been transported into the future and found himself sitting on his front porch telling his grandchildren about a man who was “a great teammate” and “an inspiration” to Wycheck and the other Titans all those years ago.

But it’s not all those years ago. It’s happening now. And what McNair is accomplishing on a weekly basis is amazing. His performance also has gone largely appreciated. Until recently, that is.

Thanks to an inspired comeback over the Giants in New York that produced a dramatic OT victory, a clutch home victory over Indianapolis that forged a tie for first in the AFC South and a two-TD performance vs. the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots on “Monday Night Football,” McNair is beginning to get the recognition his teammates and coaches say he has deserved all along.

Those who play and coach alongside him know how important he is to the Titans. And those who play against him are fully aware of what he brings to the table. It has just taken the rest of us a little longer to catch on.



“The reason why everyone loves and respects him is because he’s a team guy and he doesn’t care how he gets it done, as long as we get it done. If it takes him rushing for 100 yards and throwing for 50, he’ll do it. It doesn’t matter. Winning is the only thing that matters. The way he plays the game, he’s like a throwback — he’s going to grind it out, he’s gonna lay his body on the line. … He’s very laid-back, yet he’s very intense at the same time. He’s got that quiet-storm attitude.”
— Titans TE Frank Wycheck



This topsy-turvy NFL season has had its share of heroic performances, but none can match that of McNair, who has willed his aching body to perform at a level of amazing brilliance, inspiring his team to make a dramatic push for the playoffs with a 10-5 record after a 1-4 start.

It says a lot about the character of the 29-year-old McNair about his competitiveness — no doubt developed while growing up on a farm in Mt. Olive, Miss. — that he hasn’t even thought about sitting out despite playing the last four weeks with ribs so sore that he has been unable to practice. The injury is painful enough that McNair has taken an anti-inflammatory shot in the ribs prior to each game. Add in a turf-toe injury and other assorted aches and pains, and McNair is his own mobile M*A*S*H unit.

“We know he’s hurting. I mean, he’s in there every day, living in the training room,” Wycheck said. “But we still know Steve’s gonna show up on Sunday and play well.”

He proved that this season by tossing a career-best 22 TD passes. He has completed 62.3 percent of his passes for 3,239 yards while rushing 85 times for 486 yards and three more touchdowns. He also has joined select company with three straight seasons of 3,000-plus passing yards and 300-plus rushing yards. In the history of the NFL, only Randall Cunningham, Steve Young and McNair have accomplished that.

Oh yeah, one other thing: He gets better as the season wears on. He led the Titans to the Super Bowl after the 1999 season and owns a sparkling 14-2 record in his last 16 games in December.

That’s why it was a surprise, and a bitter disappointment to McNair’s teammates, that neither he nor any other Titan was voted to the Pro Bowl when the AFC team was announced last Thursday,

“Everyone around the league calls him a warrior, this, that and the other,” said Titans LB Keith Bulluck, who was deserving of a Pro Bowl invite himself. “How does he not get into the Pro Bowl as a starter?”

“I think this team believes in me, regardless of how healthy I am. If I’m 50 percent and I think I can go out there and get the job done, then they have confidence in me. It’s just a matter of the coaching staff being willing to give me that opportunity. A lot of coaches wouldn’t give a guy like me that opportunity, but they know that in the past I’ve been injured and came out and played well. The things that we do offensively, like moving around in the pocket and spreading things out are built on what I do best. They feel like in order to do that, I need to be out there.”
— Steve McNair



“It’s remarkable. I can never imagine myself ever having to go into a game and not being able to practice,” said Boomer Esiason, the former star NFL quarterback and current TV analyst for CBS Sports and radio analyst for Westwood One. “I think I did it twice in my career and I had a couple of my worst games. What he’s doing is unbelievable. It’s hard to really describe.

“Practice is the most important part of a player’s preparation, obviously. Your teammates need to see you out there. You need to be able to show them you understand the game plan, and yet he just goes out there and makes plays. The way he’s making those plays — a lot of the stuff is spontaneous. He’s doing it with a rib problem, he’s doing it with a foot problem and I don’t know what other problems he has.”

That kind of admiration is echoed throughout the Titans’ locker room. To a man, Titans players respect McNair’s “warrior” mentality and the fact that his playmaking ability hasn’t been hindered by his injuries. He has set the tone for the team by playing hurt and playing well. When Tennessee needs a big play, McNair is there to make it. Just look at the three defining plays he has made this season (all coming after he hurt his ribs vs. Baltimore on Nov. 24):

• With Tennessee trailing the Giants 29-21 late in the fourth quarter, McNair had the Titans on the move when he was flushed out of the pocket. He got away from the pass rush and scrambled to the sideline, stopping the clock and preserving precious seconds. Moments later, McNair found Wycheck in the endzone with a TD pass, then scored on a QB draw for the two-point conversion that tied the score and sent the game into overtime. In the extra session, McNair led the Titans to the game-winning field goal for a stunning 32-29 win.

• The following week against Indianapolis, with the AFC South lead at stake, the Titans found themselves holding a narrow 24-17 lead with four minutes left and facing 3rd-and-2 at the Colts’ 32. McNair took the snap and almost immediately was grabbed by Colts DE Brad Scioli. But he spun out of Scioli’s grasp, turned the corner and sprinted ahead before sliding down at the Colts’ 16. That set up a game-clinching field goal and a 27-17 win.

• Then, under the MNF lights, McNair was at it again, breaking open a scoreless game in the second quarter. From New England’s 11, McNair dropped back to pass, saw no one open and decided to run for paydirt. He broke free of a neck-tackle attempt by Tebucky Jones and continued forward, driving through Ty Law and Terrell Buckley at the goal line, and into the endzone. He added a second TD run later in the quarter, giving the Titans a 14-0 lead and sending them on their way to a 24-7 victory.

After the win over the Patriots, Titans C Gennaro DiNapoli called the 6-2, 230-pound McNair “Superman.” WR Derrick Mason was even more effusive.

“You can’t say enough about him,” Mason said. “As Steve goes, this team goes. Not just the offense, but the defense and the special teams all feed off of what Steve’s doing.”

That’s the mark of a great leader, according to Esiason.

“That’s the key thing for any quarterback — to have the respect and to have the undivided attention of your teammates,” Esiason said. “If they recognize him as the ultimate leader on his team, that’s when you know you’ve arrived as an NFL quarterback.

“And if he’s playing hurt, taking the needle, guys are like, ‘I’ll kill for that guy. I’ll run through a wall for him.’ And when he’s running like he does in games, taking hits and making first-down runs and stuff like that, I mean guys just love that stuff. And it actually raises their level of play; it raises everybody’s level of play around him. That’s why every team wants to have the guy behind center to lead by example like that.”

Even opponents are left awed by McNair.

“Yeah, he’s an MVP candidate,” Buckley said. “Every tape you see, every game, he’s there. He’s like Jerry Rice. The guy is a player. Injured or not injured, you expect him to run.”

Patriots S Victor Green added, “(I’m impressed with) his heart. He doesn’t practice all week and then gets out there and plays at 110 percent. He’s strong, he’s hard to tackle and he’s got speed. So I mean, he’s the all-around type of quarterback you’d want on your team.”

Said Mike Heimerdinger, the Titans’ offensive coordinator, “The defensive line coach for Indianapolis (John Teerlinck) told me after we played them (Dec. 8) that (Steve’s) unbelievable because he’s so strong. He said, ‘I don’t know if we’ve ever faced anybody that strong. We had him down, in our arms and he got out of it.’ ”

“I mean, any other guy would shut it down in a heartbeat. This guy’s out there battling week-in and week-out. And the most amazing thing about him is he doesn’t take a snap during the week. And he can still go out there and make the reads and mentally know what to do. That’s the amazing thing — especially against a team like New England because they do so much crazy stuff. It’s just a tribute to Steve and the way he prepares mentally — he watches tape, he studies. He’s a great teammate. He’s an inspiration, there’s no doubt.”
— Wycheck



Although certainly deserving, McNair is not mentioned with the top candidates for MVP honors for several reasons. He is a quiet, all-business type of guy who doesn’t toot his own horn. He also doesn’t play in a major media market, and because the Titans were 7-9 last season, they were overlooked for national TV games, which meant few people saw him play. Finally, he doesn’t put up the flashy statistics of a Rich Gannon or a Brett Favre.

But his effectiveness is undeniable. He is such a dual threat — both as a passer and a runner — that he forces defenses to alter their approach in an attempt to stop him. That, in turn, makes those around him better. Mason has turned into a top-flight receiver thanks to McNair’s accuracy and his own ability to race under McNair’s beautifully thrown deep passes. RBs Eddie George and Robert Holcombe are running harder and more effectively with defenses respecting McNair’s passing ability. And the offensive line has benefited from McNair’s strength and mobility, allowing only 19 sacks in the first 15 games.

“I think it’s important in this league to have a guy like a Brett Favre, who, when the pocket breaks down, can move and make a play,” Heimerdinger said. “Those guys are special. They give you something extra. It helps the offensive linemen, it helps everyone on the team, and you get some different coverages because people are afraid that if this guy pulls it down, he’s going to go for 30 (yards) — like (McNair) did (vs. New England). You can’t cover everybody, so they’ve got to commit to one or the other. Steve’s athletic ability gives us a bonus.”

So, why doesn’t he get more recognition?

“I think a lot of people don’t know what we’re doing offensively. I think when people talk about the Titans, they say ‘Oh, they’re a running team,’ and I don’t think people realize what he did last year. About the fourth game on when Eddie got hurt, we put the ball in his (McNair’s) hands and said, ‘Let’s go do it,’” Heimerdinger said. “I think one of the best things to happen to him is we played in New York and played the Giants. People who had never seen him got to see him and he came back on Monday night and played pretty good. I heard all those experts on ESPN2 and all those guys talk about us and they say, ‘Oh, they run the ball 40 times a game.’ The great thing about Steve is he doesn’t care how we do it, as long as we win.”

And that’s really the bottom line for an NFL quarterback, isn’t it?

For a news story on the shooting of former MVP Steve McNair, click here.

PFW's Mike Wilkening reflected on McNair's NFL career in this April 17, 2008, column, written shortly after McNair retired.

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