The Tennessee Titans offense has the tough task of matching up against one of the best defenses in the NFL when they host the Seattle Seahawks in Week 12. Despite the daunting task, Titans fans should be excited when they see Cam Ward take the field this weekend.
Whether fans have been pleased or disappointed by Ward's rookie season, everyone should be rooting for him to succeed. The current injuries at wide receiver are going to force Ward and the offense choose between two outcomes.
Elic Ayomanor is one of the team's promising rookies, and he has become a Jenga piece for this offense. He, Calvin Ridley, and Van Jefferson are the receivers that the Titans play on the boundary most frequently. Ridley is on I.R. and Ayomanor is missing Sunday's game with a hamstring injury. hich Chimere Dike will join Jefferson as a boundary receiver.
Titans must play Xavier Restrepo, exciting TEs vs. Seahawks in Week 12
With Dike and Jefferson locked into roles as boundary receivers, that leaves two paths for the Titans to take, and fans have been clamoring for both all year long.
The first one is to call up rookie slot receiver (and Cam Ward's best friend) Xavier Restrepo. The team has been hinting at that option all week, and it will almost certainly be a move that they make heading into this game.
While no one is suggesting that Restrepo gets every snap, a dozen or so snaps would be huge for the rookie. If he and Ward can replicate even a fraction of the chemistry they had at Miami, Restrepo could take the slot role over and never look back.
The other thing that the Titans could do is shift to more 12 personnel (two tight ends). For weeks now, the most consistent pass catchers on the Titans have been tight ends Chig Okonkwo and Gunnar Helm.
If the Titans don't feel comfortable with their makeshift receiver room, that could force the coaches to call a game centered around passing out of these two-tight end sets. There is a risk that doing this condenses the field for Ward and forces more precision out of him, but the team can at least rely on the fact that they have been great out of these formations all year and that Helm and Okonkwo have shown up in big spots.
Devil's advocate here, there is always a chance that the Titans do the least fun/interesting thing possible and use Mason Kinsey and James Proche to fill the voids left behind at receiver. That would be tragic, and it is another way that this coaching staff and franchise could push fans away from their product; however, let's hope for the best and trust that they can at least get this small issue correct.