Tennessee owner Amy Adams Strunk shot down speculation that Mike Mularkey’s job is at risk http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-j.t.-compher-jersey , saying her coach is going nowhere after helping change the Titans’ culture and getting their first playoff victory in 14 years.
National reports first had Mularkey potentially fired if the Titans lost their regular-season finale and again if Tennessee lost its AFC wild-card game at Kansas City. Instead, the Titans pulled off a major comeback after trailing 21-3 at halftime.
Strunk tried to stop all the talk with her statement on Mularkey’s job security Sunday .
”I regret that outside rumors gained a life of their own,” Strunk said. ”No one has been a bigger supporter of Mike Mularkey than I have over the last two-plus seasons. … Just to eliminate any distractions moving forward, Mike Mularkey is our head coach and will be our head coach moving forward.”
Strunk made Mularkey interim head coach in November 2015 after firing Ken Whisenhunt who went 3-20 in his short tenure. Mularkey went 2-7 before Strunk gave him a three-year contract as head coach in January 2016, two days after hiring Jon Robinson as general manager.
Mularkey addressed the national reports that his job was on the line after the Titans beat Kansas City 22-21 on Saturday.
”No,” Mularkey said. ”I haven’t had any support to say that I was (secure). No. I just assumed the worst.”
Hours after his owner’s statement of support, Mularkey said that the Titans ”absolutely” are on the same page together. He also called Strunk’s statement nice and that he had only wanted to talk about the Titans beating a good team in their own backyard after the game.
Asked if the statement has put his mind at ease, Mularkey said he’s addressed the situation with his staff and won’t talk about it anymore.
”I’m already onto New England,” Mularkey said. ”It’s been addressed, and I’m full-speed ahead getting ready for New England with our staff.”
Strunk credited Mularkey and Robinson with changing the culture of the organization and said she’s so happy they’ve been able to win 19 games over the past two seasons, including the first playoff victory since Jan. 3 Ryan Johansen Jersey , 2004. She said the Titans have plenty of work ahead starting with the AFC divisional round, visiting No. 1 seed New England (13-3) on Saturday night.
”I am looking forward to the journey,” Strunk said.
With the win over the Chiefs, Mularkey now has a victory in his first postseason game. He also is 21-21 since taking over the Titans. Their latest win needed an amazing comeback from a 21-3 halftime deficit, tying for the second-largest rally by a road team in the playoffs. They tied Dallas’ comeback from an 18-point deficit in 1972 in the divisional round to beat San Francisco.
Only Detroit’s rally from 20 points down in 1957 to beat the 49ers in the divisional round was bigger than Tennessee’s comeback.
Tennessee rallied by sticking with the run. The Titans set a postseason franchise record by running for 202 yards against the Chiefs. Derrick Henry ran for a career-high 156 yards, while Marcus Mariota added 46.
Cornerback Logan Ryan, a free agent signee this past offseason, says the Titans have done a lot with the first playoff appearance since 2008 and first playoff win in 14 years.
”That’s a pretty good coach to me,” Ryan said.
NOTES: Mularkey says RB DeMarco Murray, who has missed the past two games with an injured right knee, will be day to day this week and might have a limited role. Mularkey says having an extra day would have helped. The coach also needs to see Murray run.
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Super Bowl champion Philadelphia will host Atlanta to kick off the 2018 NFL season on Thursday night Braden Holtby Jersey , Sept. 6.
Green Bay hosts Chicago in the first Sunday night matchup on Sept. 9, while the Monday nighters on opening weekend feature the New York Jets at Detroit, followed by the Los Angeles Rams at Oakland.
The Eagles also will play at England's home of soccer when they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 8 at Wembley Stadium.
That's one of four international games. The other match at Wembley will be the previous week with the Los Angeles Chargers hosting the Tennessee Titans. Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium, also in London, will be the site for a Raiders home game on Oct. 14 against Seattle.
For the third straight year, the NFL will stage a game in Mexico City: the Rams will host Kansas City in a Week 11 Monday night game.
Thanksgiving will provide a feast of divisional games. The traditional doubleheader in Detroit and Dallas has the Lions playing the Bears, followed by the Redskins at the Cowboys. At night, it will be Atlanta visiting New Orleans.
Other intriguing matchups include Cleveland, which lost all 16 games last season, hosting archrival Pittsburgh on opening day; New England at Jacksonville in a rematch of the AFC title game in Week 2; the Eagles and Vikings in an NFC championship game redux in Philly on Oct. 7; and the Steelers vs. Patriots in Pittsburgh in Week 15.
"We like to open at home in front of our great fans and this will be the second season in a row we do it against the Steelers," Browns coach Hue Jackson said. "We start with the best in our division."
Fox Scott Hartnell Jersey , which will do 11 Thursday night games, begins its package in Week 4 with the Vikings at the Rams. Those contests also will be televised by NFL Network and in Spanish on Fox Deportes. NFL Network has seven exclusive broadcasts.
Flexible scheduling in which a Sunday afternoon game can be switched to the evening because it is a better matchup than the previously planned game will be in use for Weeks 11-17. But two Sundays in Weeks 5-10 also can have a game flexed to night.
In a new twist, flex scheduling will be used for Saturday games in Weeks 15 and 16. In Week 15, two games will be played on Saturday, Dec. 15: Houston at the New York Jets and Cleveland at Denver, with game times of 4:30 p.m. EST and 8:20 p.m. EST to be determined. In Week 16, two of four possible matchups will be scheduled for Saturday: Baltimore at the Chargers, Jacksonville at Miami, the New York Giants at Indianapolis, or Washington at Tennessee. Start times for Saturday games for Week 15 and 16 will be announced no later than following Week 8, with the contests not chosen for Saturday to be played on Sunday on the 16th weekend.
No Sunday night game has been scheduled for the last day of the season Youth Jordan Weal Jersey , Dec. 30. That will be chosen after Week 16 games conclude.
The 2018 schedule has three three-game road trips, down from seven last year. The Saints, Rams and Ravens will have those three-game journeys, but the Ravens and Rams also have three-game homestands. In all, 12 franchises are home for three straight weeks, and Baltimore and Indianapolis have a bye in there, meaning neither club will leave home for a month.
Also, no team plays a road game following a road Monday night match. That occurred last year five times.
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed.
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