Nashville, Tenn, ? Music City has seen this story many times before. A big, popular star nears the end of his run and isn’t welcome anymore. Then there’s the big comeback, the triumphant return.

Cue Steve McNair.

The quarterback Titans fans still believe was done wrong by his team in a painful and ugly separation is coming back to the town. He returns happy, a winner with his new team – the Baltimore Ravens – and in perfect position to take some revenge.

“A lot of people say, ‘Well, maybe you’ve lost a step. Maybe you don’t have it all anymore,”‘ McNair said Wednesday in a conference call.

“When a team is willing to bring you in and put you in as a starter, that lets you know they see something left in you. All I’ve got to do right now is manage the game and put this team in position to win games week in, week out.”

Instead of being stuck with the young and struggling Titans (2-6), McNair is with the 6-2 Ravens atop the AFC North.

“It takes a little getting used to, but I obviously like him on my sideline rather than the other one,” Ravens coach Brian Billick said.

It’s not that McNair wasn’t wanted after 11 seasons with the Titans’ organization. But the Titans wouldn’t pay the winningest quarterback in their history $9 million for 2006, with a $23.46 million salary cap hit. Not after drafting his successor, Vince Young.

McNair said he knew that salary cap number made it impossible for him to stay with the franchise that drafted him No. 3 overall in 1995.