Tennessee Titans RB DeMarco Murray ruled out for Sunday’s must-win game
Suffering from an MCL tear, Tennessee Titans veteran running back DeMarco Murray will not play on Sunday against the Jaguars.
The 2017 season has been a painful one for Tennessee Titans RB DeMarco Murray, both figuratively and literally. Murray has dealt with many aches and pains that he has played through, but they have seemed to sap a lot of his 2016 form and limited his effectiveness for much of this year.
Now dealing with a third degree MCL sprain that he suffered in last Sunday’s loss against the Los Angeles Rams and forced him out of the game, Murray will not be available for the Week 17 do-or-die game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There was a suspicious midweek tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter that indicated the TItans might let Murray play through the injury, as he’s done throughout this entire season with less-severe knocks.
MRI revealed that Titans’ RB DeMarco Murray has a 3rd degree MCL tear, per source. Murray believes he can play through it Sunday.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 26, 2017
But that was never a realistic option, and the Titans finally had the cojones to tell Murray he can’t play through this one. Time and time again, Murray has seemed to coerce the coaching staff into letting him play when he’s not at 100 percent. He might do that because he loves his team or because he doesn’t want to get Wally Pipp’d by Derrick Henry. Regardless of the true reason, this was the right decision by the medical and coaching staff.
With Murray sidelined, the backfield will be all Henry’s. For much of this season, Titans fans have been calling for Henry to get the bulk of the carries at Murray’s expense, while Murray would still play the third down and passing down role. Now that Murray is unavailable, Henry will be tasked with being effective on all three downs.
David Fluellen will spell Henry, and even practice squad RB Khalfani Muhammad might get some run, but it is finally Henry’s time to shine. Considering two of his best performances came against the Jaguars (16/60/1 and 4/37 receiving, 14/92/1 and several trucks of Jalen Ramsey), Sunday could be a field day for the second-year stud.