Mike Vrabel and Tennessee Titans OC Todd Downing didn’t need a reason to create another boring, conservative offensive game plan on Sunday, but they got one anyway.
After Friday’s practice, Vrabel stood in his favorite spot on the field and continued his time-honored tradition of letting people down before the weekend.
The most injured team in NFL history (I don’t even know if this is hyperbole after the last 18 months) continued its streak of disappointment by saying that safety Amani Hooker would miss another game and cornerback Elijah Molden wouldn’t even be activated off of I.R.
Hooker missed a large portion of the game against the Houston Texans last week just a week after returning from another injury. The promising safety signed an extension before the season, but fans are already starting to have some buyer’s remorse since this will be the ninth game in two seasons where Hooker has missed more than half of the game.
You can understand why fans might be slightly angry that Molden wasn’t activated considering that he practiced fully for three days and that the team kept a roster spot open for him all week long.
No one wants key starters to miss any time, but having the two players responsible for guarding the tight end miss a game where you are going against the best tight end in the NFL is incredibly aggravating.
Tennessee Titans still don’t know who will start at QB
Not being able to slow down Travis Kelce on Sunday means that the Tennessee Titans are going to hand Patrick Mahomes layups all game long. At full strength, the Titans’ defense has been very good and it gave them a chance against anyone in the NFL, but this is bad news for a pass defense that finally started to look like it was getting better.
The only way that Tennessee will be able to slow down Mahomes is by limiting the number of times that he is allowed to touch the ball. Normally with Ryan Tannehill, they would still have a puncher’s chance if they needed to pass the ball, but his status is up in the air as well.
While he did practice is some form on Friday, Mike Vrabel said that he would be a game-time decision.
After what we saw from Malik Willis last week, fans should know that if #7 is starting at quarterback then we can expect to see runs…and a lot of them.
The difference is, the Chiefs aren’t the Houston Texans, and not only are they better at stopping the run, but they are also better at scoring points. If the Titans get down by more than a possession with Malik Willis on the field, they can’t change up their offense because giving the ball to Derrick Henry is the only way to move the ball.
Maybe this is gamesmanship with Ryan Tannehill, but if not, Tennessee Titans fans should just accept 5-3 before kickoff and look for any silver lining they can.