Jeff Fisher hasn’t been coach of the Titans for quite a while now, but Titans fans may still be happy to hear one of his thoughts on the team he coached for 17 seasons.
Fisher, who is now coaching the Rams, thinks that running back Chris Johnson will rebound from a poor 2011 season. Fisher thinks a perfect storm of things came together to hinder Johnson, who ran for more than 2,000 yards playing for Fisher in 2009.
“I didn’t watch all that much of him last year, but that kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight,” Fisher said, via John Glennon of the Tennessean. “C.J. is still a tremendously talented running back and he’s still got a lot ahead of him. You had coaching changes, you had philosophical changes, you had a lockout and you had no offseason. So you just delete last year and move on with high expectations.”
Fisher leaves Johnson’s holdout and lack of conditioning when it ended off that list, but that’s just one more factor to stuff into the argument that Johnson’s troubles last year weren’t a sign of deteriorated skills. As for people still with a stake in the outcome of the Titans season, offensive coordinator Chris Palmer has expressed optimism about Johnson’s return to form and Johnson says he’s still the best back in the league.
He doesn’t have to be quite that for better results in 2012, but no one in Nashville would complain if it turned out to be the case.