Gearing up for a massive Week 17 pre-playoff playoff game, the Tennessee Titans are getting healthier, but with some question marks.
Last weekend, the Tennessee Titans completed the first part of their duty by coming from behind to beat the Washington Redskins. Within that victory, QB Marcus Mariota was injured on a sack and the Titans had to rely on backup QB Blaine Gabbert. Gabbert came through when his team needed him and brought the Titans one step closer to the playoffs. The following day, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the New Orleans Saints, a loss which set up the Titans for a win-and-in game in Week 17.
While the team and fans were — and still are — extremely excited for the Week 17 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, especially after the game was flexed to Sunday Night Football, all eyes turned to Mariota’s health to start the week. Mariota didn’t take part and wasn’t spotted at practice during Wednesday’s first session of the week. That cast a cloud of doubt about his status for Sunday’s game, but Mariota was able to return to limited practice on both Thursday and Friday. With those practices under his belt, Mariota’s designation for Sunday’s game is now an ambiguous “questionable”, although many believe he will be out there for the must-win game.
#Titans OC Matt LaFleur on Marcus Mariota: “I think he’ll be good to go (Sunday).” #Colts
— Justin Beasley (@JBeasleyOpinion) December 27, 2018
Marcus Mariota, who was a limited participant at yesterday’s practice after missing Wednesday, was back on the practice field today. All signs point to him getting the start Sunday. We’ll get the final injury report in a bit.
— Erik Bacharach (@ErikBacharach) December 28, 2018
A final glimpse of MM8 before #Titans-#Colts on SNF: pic.twitter.com/dzEJ0jhbo8
With Mariota more than likely back, the Titans will be healthier than they have been in recent weeks. The only other Titans on the injury report, aside from Mariota, are OLBs Brian Orakpo and Sharif Finch and WRs Corey Davis and Tajae Sharpe. The latter three are all good to go and don’t carry an injury designation for the game.
Orakpo has officially been ruled out, and he will miss his third-consecutive game after going down with an elbow injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars back in Week 14. Orakpo’s loss will be felt because the Titans will also be without DT Jurrell Casey for this game, but Finch’s return from injury will soften the blow, especially considering that Finch has outplayed Orakpo in a limited role this season. That said, the Titans needed all hands on deck for this monumental matchup and Orakpo’s presence would’ve been welcomed.
With Mariota seemingly in line to start on Sunday night, the Titans’ odds of advancing to the playoffs skyrocket. We’ll see if he’s limited in any capacity throughout the game, but we all know what he can do in potential elimination games (google Week 17 vs. Jaguars of 2017 and the playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs).