Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

September 20, 2018 at 12:52 am.

Mariota at mercy of nerve issue

Since it is Nashville, perhaps it is only right that Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota used a musical reference to describe the nerve injury that is causing weakness and numbness in his throwing hand.

“The way they explained it to me, is when you strum a guitar string. When that string settles down, that’s kind of similar to the way my nerve is. My nerve has kind of been strummed and it’s going to take a while to settle it down,” Mariota told reporters after Wednesday’s practice.

Mariota quarterback suffered the injury on a hit from Miami’s William Hayes in the season-opening loss. He was held out of last week’s game against Houston, giving way to backup Blaine Gabbert, who helped the Titans to a 20-17 win over the Houston Texans.

This week, both Mariota and Titans head coach Mike Vrabel are playing a waiting game to see if the quarterback can make the start Sunday in Jacksonville.

“I think that’s all you can do, is make sure to get guys ready that could play in the game for anything that may come up. Then, have to make a decision that you know is in the best interest of the team later in the week,” said Vrabel, who added that Mariota’s situation is about the same.

Mariota did open up a bit more when questioned about the injury and his situation.

“I wake up and the first thing I do is kind of mess around with my hand. Honestly I think it’s close, but I’m really just taking it one day at a time,” Mariota said.

Mariota was wearing a glove as he threw in practice on Wednesday in limited work and indicated that the glove is to help with his grip. Mariota added that while only a couple fingers are numb, his entire hand remains weak. He said he is trying to rebuild strength in the hand.

“Honestly, it’s the whole hand, but the numbness and tingly-ness is a couple of fingers. The weakness is kind of the whole hand and that’s what I’ve been working on,” Mariota said.

SERIES HISTORY: 47th regular-season meeting. Titans lead series, 26-20. Tennessee won both meetings against the Jaguars last year, but Jacksonville had the last laugh by winning the AFC South while the Titans were a wild card. The Jaguars also advanced to the AFC Championship Game.

BY THE NUMBERS: 5 — The Titans have won five consecutive games against AFC South competition, including a home win last week against the Houston Texans.

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