PLAYER NOTES
–QB Marcus Mariota has not been running much the past couple of weeks. He had one scramble for 24 yards, but had just two runs on the day for 25 yards. He ran twice for 10 yards against Buffalo. Teams have been using a spy of late more often on Mariota, but the Titans have not been able to take advantage in the passing game.
–TE Anthony Firkser was activated from the practice squad last week and caught two passes in his first NFL game. Firkser appears to be a possible receiving tight end option to help pick up some of the slack for the loss of Delanie Walker, as Titans tight ends have virtually disappeared from the offense after Walker went down in Week 1.
–DT Bennie Logan returned to practice on Wednesday after missing last week’s game with a foot injury. In Logan’s place, the Titans used rookie Matt Dickerson and Darius Kilgo as potential depth behind the starters on the defensive line.
–LB Wesley Woodyard, out two weeks with a shoulder injury, practiced again on Wednesday. If Woodyard can make it back onto the playing field, it would be a big boost to the Titans defense, which has struggled the past two games – especially Sunday vs the Ravens.
–LB Will Compton remained out of practice on Wednesday with a hamstring injury. The Titans brought up Robert Spillane from the practice squad last week to help fill in for Compton and Wesley Woodyard.
–S Kenny Vaccaro returned to the practice field on Monday wearing a sleeve to protect his injured left elbow. He dislocated the elbow against the Eagles three weeks ago. Vaccaro was limited in Wednesday’s work.
–LB Derrick Morgan did not practice and is expected to miss some time after suffering a shoulder injury in the first quarter of the loss to Baltimore.
–G Quinton Spain did not practice due to a shoulder injury on Wednesday. Spain suffered the injury Sunday vs. Baltimore and was said to be “day-to-day” according to head coach Mike Vrabel.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: LB Rashaan Evans. Evans, the Titans’ first-round pick, was one of the few bright spots against Baltimore last week. His performance was certainly better than it was the week before in Buffalo. With Wesley Woodyard on the verge of coming back, Evans may be back to having a role in the base defense only while Jayon Brown works in sub-packages.
GAME PLAN: The Titans have a tall order facing the Chargers in London and going against an offense that averages 29 points per game. The Titans, who have not found the end zone the past two weeks and have scored only 87 points all year, might have to go back to something that resembled last year’s squad on offense. That means somehow jump-starting a running game that has been terrible all season, and using it to set up play-action and grind the clock to keep the ball away from Philip Rivers and the Chargers.
Defensively, the Titans know Rivers has weapons and a quick release, plus a good running game with Melvin Gordon. It will take a much more disciplined effort than what they put out against the Ravens, and it means somehow getting off the field on third down. The pass rush has been missing for the past two games. Rivers isn’t overly mobile at this stage of his career, but neither was Joe Flacco, who picked the Titans apart in part because of Tennessee’s lack of pressure.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Titans CB vs. Chargers WRs. The Chargers have a deep group at receiver, led by Keenan Allen. But they also have Travis Benjamin, Tyrell Williams and Mike Williams as weapons for Philip Rivers to throw to. And that doesn’t even count venerable tight end Antonio Gates, who has been a nightmare matchup for Tennessee over the years. Malcolm Butler has been victimized time and again by his own aggressiveness and last week was demoted to third cornerback. Look for the Titans to have to play a lot of nickel, and maybe even use safety Kevin Byard to help out their corners on occasion. Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, still being paid for his disastrous tenure as Titans head coach, would love nothing better than to find some matchups to exploit down the field for Rivers and his receivers.
–Titans interior OL of Ben Jones, Josh Kline and Quinton Spain vs. Chargers DL. The Chargers line isn’t as big as some others, and the Titans interior three (provided Spain doesn’t miss the game due to a shoulder injury) were embarrassed last week by Baltimore. They should be eager to try and redeem themselves both in run blocking and pass protection after last week’s debacle. Look for the Titans to try and get Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis going early to establish some sort of tempo and maybe ease the pressure on Marcus Mariota.
