The Tennessee Titans fans across the country are quoting Lloyd Christmas as they look at the practice notes from the offense on Tuesday.
“So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”
For the first time since the Houston Texans game, A.J. Brown returned to practice.
Since he is still technically on I.R., he doesn’t get a practice designation so it is really hard to tell what he actually did with the team on Tuesday. However, just seeing the Pro Bowl receiver out there should fill the Tennessee Titans offense with some enthusiasm that they haven’t had in a while.
A welcome sight: A.J. Brown (@1kalwaysopen_) back on the @Titans practice field on Tuesday. 🏈 pic.twitter.com/8X58Z2tDTu
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) December 21, 2021
What makes it even more exciting is that Julio Jones was also on the practice field monitoring the reps from his fellow receivers even though he wasn’t taking part in anything.
Given how he was ruled out at halftime on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, no one should have expected that he was even going to be on the practice field on a short week.
However, there is a chance that the Titans get A.J. Brown and Julio Jones back on the field together for the first time since November 7th when Tennessee went on the road and beat the L.A. Rams on Monday Night Football without Derrick Henry.
The fact is, this offense desperately needs receivers. I’m not even talking about the Pro Bowl-caliber players that A.J. Brown and Julio Jones can be when they are healthy, I am just talking about players who can catch the ball and take two steps without fumbling.
Despite the “gritty” effort from the guys the Titans have to trot out there, the fact is that all of the guys you see on the field came into training camp behind Brown, Jones, Josh Reynolds, and Marcus Johnson.
No quarterback in the NFL should be expected to make an offense work when his best weapon is a guy who started 2021 as a roster bubble player who might be active on game day because of special teams.
Now the bad news for the Tennessee Titans
The good news is, the Titans could get their top two receivers back in a game where they desperately need them. The bad news is that Tennessee could end up without either of them on the field.
Jones is a game-time decision and while Brown is out there practicing, the Titans coaching staff is trying to get creative to check and see if Brown is going to be in game-shape on a short week (at least it isn’t Chipotle related this time).
Still, heading into this week it looked like A.J. Brown was a long-shot and Julio was going to be sidelined with a hamstring injury for who knows how long.
Now fans should just be excited at the chance to get these two back. Oh…and don’t look now, but if Derrick Henry’s return date really is the first part of January then that means this would be the last Titans game without the future Hall of Famer.