The Tennessee Titans hit the road on Saturday and will be at the Superdome in New Orleans today for a week nine matchup with Drew Brees and the Saints. Kickoff is scheduled for 1PM Eastern on CBS. If you are out and about, you can listen to the game on Sirius channel 137.
More at Titan Sized: This weekend is huge for the Tennessee Titans
The New Orleans Saints won a shoot out last week at home against the New York Giants 52-49 that saw Drew Brees throw for over 500 yards and seven touchdowns. After a slow start to the 2015 season they have won 4 of the last five games and are 4-4 on the season.
It’s been a crazy week for the Titans since Zach Mettenberger was mauled in Houston by Whitney Mercilus and J.J. Watt last week in a 20-6 loss that ultimately cost Ken Whisenhunt his job.
Titans lead owner, Amy Adams Strunk was in attendance at NFG Stadium and decided to end the Ken Whisenhunt experiment when she fired him on Tuesday morning and appointed tight ends coach, Mike Mularkey to interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
The former Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguar head coach has already made some changes around Saint Thomas Sports Park that should be evident today in New Orleans.
Mularkey is attempting to establish an identity with this team that includes running the football more and playing with more of an attitude than they have for the most of the past two years under Ken Whisenhunt.
He has proclaimed second year running back, Antonio Andrews as the workhorse back with Dexter McCluster as the change of pace option. He has also made some changes to the offensive line that will give them a better chance to run the ball and protect Marcus Mariota.
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He refused to go into details about the changes to the press, citing he didn’t want to give away competitive information prior to the game.
Speaking of Marcus Mariota, the rookie will be back under center after missing the last two weeks due to a sprained MCL that he got from the Miami Dolphins.
The Titans will be without the services this week of both Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Jason McCourty in the secondary. They will get Perrish Cox back on the field today, but it might be a tough day for the back end of the defense, especially trying to defend against Drew Brees.
To get the roster right for today’s game, the Titans cut tail back Terrance West yesterday. West played in only two games and rushed for 51 yards on 16 carries. He fumbled his first attempt in his first game with the Titans against his former team in Cleveland.
They are intending to bring their 5th round draft pick, David Cobb back next week but he won’t be on the roster today in New Orleans.
Kendall Wright has been ruled out for today’s game so we will get a chance to see rookie, Dorial Green-Beckham with a full workload. Harry Douglas is also expected to be back in the lineup today, giving Mariota another of his favorite targets.
The New Orleans Saints are close to the bottom of the NFL in defending the run, and I expect to see a heavy dose of Antonio Andrews pounding the ball up the middle which should give our rookie quarterback a little extra time to throw the ball.
If they can move the chains on the ground with some success, that should open up the play-action in the passing game.
If Mariota’s supporting cast can start catching some passes and quit catching penalties that shut drives down, the Titans stand a chance in this game.
Next: Something about the Superdome
The Titans have had a lot of success in the Superdome, and that streak could continue today if this team can run the ball and start making some plays for their rookie quarterback.