–With Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jurrell Casey on injured reserve following a left knee injury in Saturday’s win over the Redskins, the Titans will have to dig deep to find answers along the defensive front. Casey led the Titans with seven sacks this season, and had earned his fourth straight Pro Bowl bid before going down.
To replace him, the Titans are going to have to have more from the defensive line unit collectively, as no one player can be expected to fill in for all that Casey could do. That means the likes of Austin Johnson, DaQuan Jones, Darius Kilgo, Bennie Logan, and rookie Matt Dickerson, who has been a healthy scratch for most of the season, will all have to contribute more in such a pivotal game.
Kilgo, who has done well in a limited role, is one who could get more playing time in Casey’s absence.
“I would say that you could insert anybody for an injured player and Darius (Kilgo) would be one of those d-lineman who’s going to play more. Hopefully, he can be productive in that role,” Vrabel said.
–Of course, the Titans are no strangers to having players go down with injuries this season. They lost their best player on offense in the first game of the season when tight end Delanie Walker went down with a broken fibula.
As time as gone on, other key players have been lost for the year, including cornerback Logan Ryan, right tackle Jack Conklin and now defensive tackle Jurrell Casey among others.
In last Saturday’s win over the Redskins, the winning touchdown was a pass from backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert to tight end MyCole Pruitt, who was signed off the Texans practice squad after Walker went down, and has toiled in virtual anonymity all season long.
Linebacker Wesley Woodyard said the mentality of guys being able to fill in capably has permeated the whole team.
“A next-man mentality,” Woodyard said. “We really incorporate that in everything we do. It’s not a player going down, but that somebody else gets to step up and honor their teammate,” Woodyard said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 10 – The number of times in a row the Titans have lost to an Andrew Luck-led Colts team without a win. The Titans will be hearing that stat a lot this week and in perpetuity until they figure out a way to defeat Luck.
