Tennessee
Tennessee Titans’ best moments: When AJ Brown shook off four Ravens for TD
It is here, at No. 19 on our countdown of the best Tennessee Titans moments, I can reveal that this is our only entry primarily about a wide receiver.
We’ll mention some other guys here and there. Kevin Dyson, Drew Bennett, Derrick Mason, Chris Sanders, Courtney Roby, Justin McCareins, Kenny Britt, Nate Washington, Lavelle Hawkins and Corey Davis are all going to come up. But the arc of Titans history bends away from wide receivers.
Is this the burden of following the Titans? Your team can develop generational running backs, safeties and punters, but excitement from the most exciting position on the field must always elude you. Are the Titans a modern-day Tantalus, and star wide receivers nothing but the juicy, dangling fruit just outside of your reach?
Honestly . . . maybe?
Think back to Nov. 22, 2020.
The Titans are facing the Baltimore Ravens in an eerily quiet COVID-restricted stadium. Baltimore’s up 21-16 with two minutes left, but the Titans are driving. QB Ryan Tannehill drops back and finds A.J. Brown running an in-breaking route just across the 10-yard line. Brown makes the catch and is immediately apprehended by safety Chuck Clark, about six yards shy of the first-down marker.
Brown shrugs Clark off, flipping his hips and reorienting toward the sideline. Cornerback Marcus Peters lurches, but Brown wiggles away and reorients again, this time toward the end zone. Now it’s cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s turn to take a swing at Brown, who sidesteps Humphrey and lowers his shoulder into linebacker Patrick Queen, leg-driving him six yards into the end zone.
Clark, Peters, Humphrey and Queen have combined to make nine Pro Bowls and six All-Pro teams. Brown ran through them like tearaway banners before a high school football jamboree.
In so many ways, Brown was the ideal Titans receiver. Big, strong, muscled like a running back, yet graceful and agile enough to glide through the open field and down the sideline. A modern-day Terrell Owens, both on the field and, well . . . you know the rest.
This moment stands out for precisely that reason. Brown wasn’t just the best young receiver the Titans ever developed. He was a great, young, homegrown talent who so perfectly encapsulated the identity the Titans spent 20 years forging up to that point.
This play highlights that. This moment is the precise instant when the Titans finally found their kind of star receiver.
For however briefly it lasted.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.
Tennessee
More than 8,500 layoffs hit Tennessee in 2025, nearly 19% increase from 2024
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Tennessee employers laid off more than 8,500 workers in 2025 compared to 7,320 last year, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.
This is about a 19% increase in layoffs, with WARN notices impacting 8,691 Tennesseans to date. As of 2023, 5,168 Tennessee workers were laid off through WARN notices.
Counties in Middle Tennessee impacted include:
- Davidson
- Sumner
- Maury
- Rutherford
- Williamson
- Wilson
- Coffee
- DeKalb
- Bedford
- Lawrence
- Putnam
The largest layoff this year was in Maury County. Come January, 710 employees will be laid off from GM Ultium Cells’ Spring Hill facility. Research Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville Michael Kofoed tells FOX 17 News that the facility is is likely impacted by the rise on steel tariffs ruled out by the Trump administration. He adds steel tariffs raise input costs for employers which directly impacts employees’ salary or employment.
The second largest layoff impacted 658 workers at Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC in Rutherford County with 615 workers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center permanently laid off. WARN notices are reports a company is required to file with the state to give workers time to find future employment.
Kofoed states that Tennessee is seeing a troubling trend, with layoffs skyrocketing since 2023.
“That is a very big and concerning number,” Kofoed said.
According to CNBC, more than 1.1 million U.S. employees were laid off this year, the highest 11-month total since 2020.
Tennessee
Nonprofit rescues 11 ‘emaciated and suffering’ animals from Tennessee property ahead of dangerous cold snap
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Animal Rescue Corps (ARC) is asking for donations after rescuing 11 animals Friday.
ARC said it was contacted by law enforcement in an unidentified rural Tennessee area to rescue five dogs and six cats in what the nonprofit is calling “Operation Cold Snap.”
In the rescue, the nonprofit took in two emaciated Great Danes, three Pit Bulls and six cats. ARC said some of the animals are emaciated and suffering from untreated bite wounds and infections.
The nonprofit said the animals were kept without heat or regular care.
ARC shared a video of the rescue. In it, you can see the property s in disarray with trash littering the floor and overturned furniture.
This rescue comes just days before Middle Tennessee is expected to see its coldest temperatures of the season.
Now, ARC is asking for donations to help the 11 animals rescued Operation Cold Snap. Those interested in donating can do so on the nonprofit’s website.
Copyright 2025 WSMV. All rights reserved.
Tennessee
Alex Golesh hires former Tennessee analyst as Auburn’s coordinator
Alex Golesh was introduced as Auburn’s head coach on Dec. 1. He served as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator and tight ends coach from 2021-22.
Golesh announced the hiring of Jacob Bronowski as Auburn’s special teams coordinator. He served as the Vols’ special teams analyst in 2021 under head coach Josh Heupel. Bronowski was also under Heupel at UCF in 2020 as special teams quality control.
“His track record is outstanding,” Golesh said of Bronowski. “He developed multiple national award contenders, including a Lou Groza Award winner, and has led some of the top special teams units in the country.
“I saw up close when we worked together before that coach Bronowski understands that special teams can be a championship difference-maker, and he’s proven he can develop elite specialists. He brings exactly the attention to detail and relentless work ethic we need in our program.”
Auburn will play at Tennessee on Oct. 3, 2026.
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