PLAYER NOTES
–RB David Fluellen has returned to the practice field and is limited with a knee injury. He has not played since suffering the injury against New England.
–CB Logan Ryan was placed on injured reserve after he suffered a broken left fibula against the Giants last week.
–CB Kenneth Durden, who had been on the active roster earlier this season, was restored to the 53-man roster after Ryan’s injury.
–LB Brian Orakpo still has not practiced since suffering an elbow injury against the Jaguars two weeks ago.
–LB Sharif Finch suffered a shoulder injury against the Giants, and could be out for the season, though as of Thursday the Titans had not made a roster move.
–LB Wesley Woodyard was added to the injury report on Wednesday due to a flare-up in his back.
–WR Tajae Sharpe was held out of practice on both Tuesday and Wednesday due to the ankle injury that has plagued him for several weeks.
–DE Jurrell Casey has been out for two days with a knee injury. Casey should be able to play on Saturday, if at all possible.
–S Kenny Vaccaro is in the concussion protocol, but practiced fully on Wednesday and could be cleared to play against the Redskins.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: RB Derrick Henry followed up his record-setting 238-yard effort against Jacksonville with a 170-yard performance against the Giants. Look for the Titans to continue to ride Henry, as long as he is hot. The former Heisman Trophy winner has been dominant in his running the past two weeks after a sluggish start this season. He now has 882 yards rushing.
GAME PLAN: The Titans offense will likely keep feeding Derrick Henry, as long as he continues to battle and stiff-arm his way to 100-yard games. Henry’s sudden burst of success should also improve the Titans’ play-action passing game and allow them to have favorable matchups and more single coverage downfield, if the Redskins are busy working on stopping Henry.
Defensively, Tennessee will want to keep Adrian Peterson bottled up, as they have Leonard Fournette and Saquon Barkley the past two weeks. If they can do that, they can put the game in the hands of quarterback Josh Johnson, who was on the street three weeks ago and hadn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 2011.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Titans QB Marcus Mariota vs. Redskins LB Zach Brown. Brown is a former Titan, who blossomed after he departed Tennessee as a free agent. Mariota will need to make the right reads against the Redskins defense and try to take advantage of opportunities in the passing game as well as run occasionally on his own to complement Derrick Henry’s production.
–Titans WR Corey Davis vs. Redskins CB Josh Norman. Norman is probably the best of the Redskins’ cornerbacks, and likely will draw Davis for a good part of the game. The Titans, even though they have been reliant on Derrick Henry of late, can’t forget about getting the ball into Davis’ hands when possible to open things up down the field.
