Tennessee Titans fans are already struggling to find reasons to watch their favorite team finish out this wasted season. It certainly didn't help when their tandem of rookie receivers Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor missed time with injuries in Sunday's Week 11 loss to the Houston Texans.
As the week progresses, it looks like both have a chance to be available against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in some capacity. The coaching staff will have to consider how much they want those rookies to be on the field against a physical Seahawks defense.
Dike and Ayomanor need to return to full strength as soon as possible in order to help Cam Ward's development. In the meantime, the Titans could consider taking a different approach on offense against the Seahawks.
Injury setbacks could trigger major shake-up in Titans' Week 12 approach
Mike McCoy will have to rethink how he game plans for the Seahawks. Calvin Ridley and Bryce Oliver are both on IR, so the Titans don't have the depth needed at the position to plug up the holes with other receivers.
Instead, the offense should lean into featuring its three most potent pass-catchers.
When it comes to discussing a player's impact on the passing game, "yards per target" is an easy metric to analyze. You can't name a stat that provides a better snapshot of how much a player does when the offense wants to throw the ball than to look at how many yards plays like that yield.
The leaders on the Titans roster in that category are Chig Okonkwo (8.0), Gunnar Helm (7.2), and Tyjae Spears (6.7). If Ayomanor and Dike aren't healthy, the Titans won't have enough wide receivers who understand the offense to run their normal playbook. Two tight-end-sets against the Seahawks should be the answer.
Unfortunately, that probably means more running attempts by the Titans' struggling rushing offense, but it should also set up some nice chances for play-action shots to those three playmakers.
Ward isn't going to sit back and dump the ball off to his checkdowns all game, so expect some shot plays. For the most part, the Titans could be content to keep Ward off the ground by metriclating down the field by targeting their most effective weapons. Trusting Okonkwo, Helm, and Spears to make plays would be a wise strategy.