Jeff Fisher overrated? Sal Paolantonio thinks so

In an ESPN article taken from his book, “The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches and Moments in NFL History,” Sal takes a shot at our very own Jeff Fisher.
In Sal’s mind, the long-time Titan general is an overrated head coach.

In the excerpt, Sal openly wonders why Fisher is the NFL’s longest tenured coach:

“Fisher has gone to the postseason in just five of his 13 full seasons as a head coach. Five winning seasons, four losing seasons, four 8-8 seasons…and how exactly is that anything but mediocre?”

Wait! There’s more:

“Every year, Fisher is bathed in media holy water as one of the bright, young coaches in the league…but strip away the carefully crafted Fisher veneer and you get one mediocre head coach who doesn’t deserve the constant doting of the national media.”

Sal conveniently forgets to mention the job that Fisher has done in spite of the salary cap purgatory the Titans faced just a couple of years ago. After their 2003 playoff appearance, one consisting of a hard-fought 17-14 loss to the eventual champs, the New England Patriots, Fisher had to navigate the stormy waters of salary cap hell as key players departed for other NFL cities.
Fisher has overcome recent salary cap woes to build the Titans back into a playoff contender, and for that, (as well as his past accomplishments) Fisher is more than deserving of the worthy distinction of being the league’s most tenured coach.
Speaking of overrated, what about the coach of the team that Sal covers regularly? The Philadelphia Eagles, led by Andy Reid, have won a lot of regular season games but have failed to win a championship while appearing in the same amount of Super Bowls (1) as the Titans.
Sure, Reid is a very good coach who has persevered despite some family issues, but in terms of winning the big games, he isn’t any better than Jeff Fisher.
Fisher’s earned the right to be considered one of the game’s best coaches and is now equipped with an up-and-coming young team fresh off of a playoff birth last season.
Contrary to Sal’s opinion, Fisher is anything but overrated.