Mike DiNovo/USA Today Sports
Report: Tannehill to Start for Titans on Sunday
It is Ryan Tannehill’s time.
Multiple NFL Network reporters Tuesday night said that Tannehill will replace Marcus Mariota as the starting quarterback when the Tennessee Titans face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Coach Mike Vrabel said Monday that he and general manager Jon Robinson along with their respective staffs would weigh their options Monday and Tuesday and make a decision prior to Wednesday, the start of the NFL players’ work week.
“I just want to make sure that we’re going through everything that we need to go through and what we want to do offensively, not use the emotion of the game to make a decision,” Vrabel said Monday. “Just sit back here with our coaches, talk to the trainer, find out what the injury report looks like, find out what the game plan is going to be, find out how we need to beat (the Los Angeles Chargers) and then figure out who we’re going to do it with offensively and defensively.”
Tannehill replaced Mariota late in the third quarter of Sunday’s 16-0 loss at Denver. Neither directed a scoring drive. With Tannehill, the offense gained 91 yards and made six first downs in four possessions at a time when Denver’s defense was willing to trade yards for time off the clock. With Mariota, that unit managed 99 yards and six first downs on nine drives.
It was the first time in Mariota’s career that he was pulled based on performance – he finished the day with a career-worst 9.5 passer rating. It also was the first time in Tannehill’s career that he entered a contest as a backup. In seven seasons with the Miami Dolphins, he started all 88 games he played. His record as a starter is 42-46.
“I have a ton of confidence in myself,” Tannehill said Sunday. “I think you have to to be able to play this position. You have to believe in yourself first and foremost, so you can lead the guys around you. I know I believe in the guys in the locker room and I know I believe in myself a whole lot.”
Six weeks into the season Tennessee’s offense ranks 27 in the league in total offense, 29 in yards per play and 28 in points per game. It has been held scoreless in the first half of three of the last four contests.
Mariota has appeared in 62 games since Tennessee drafted him second overall in 2015. The only time he was not a starter was Week 3 in 2018, when he came on for an inured Blaine Gabbert and led the Titans to a victory over Jacksonville. He had missed the previous contest with an injury and was not considered healthy enough to start that week.
This was just the second time in his career he stayed healthy enough to start each of the first six games. It’s not an injury that sidelines him in Week 7.
“No matter what though, I’m a team player,” Mariota said Sunday. “… I just try to be the best team player I can be and support my teammates and support somebody (Tannehill) that has supported me this entire year.”
