The season finale of Thursday Night Football between the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys isn’t exactly going to feature the highest of stakes. In fact, the stakes are so low that the Titans are making a quarterback change.
According to NFL insider Justin Melo, the Titans have decided to give tonight’s start to Joshua Dobbs over rookie Malik Willis. Dobbs was only recently signed by the Titans and has only 17 passing attempts since being drafted in 2017.
The Titans have approached this game with an abundance of caution given the stakes. Their game against the Cowboys has no bearing on their playoff hopes.
Their only way into the postseason is to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18. As a result, there’s no need for them to risk any injuries by playing starters against the Cowboys.
For the rest of the NFL world, the decision is a combination of amusement and eye-rolling. Some believe that it’s going to result in yet another terrible Thursday Night Football game while others think that the Cowboys should be looking forward to an easy win. Still others are just happy that Dobbs is finally getting his first NFL start:
Some would argue that this is the smartest possible play for the Titans and that this game might as well be a tune-up game for their backups ahead of what is effectively a playoff game next week.
But others would argue that resting players makes them susceptible to rust and that they won’t be well-prepared for the game after.
The decision has been made though and both teams will have to deal with the consequences.