The Tennessee Titans head west on Sunday to face the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Riding the momentum of their overtime win over the New England Patriots last week, the Titans look to continue their winning ways on the road.
But the 5-3 Chargers have their own agenda on Sunday, and they aren’t going down without a fight. The Chargers’ defense is tougher than the Patriots’ defense, and their offense is led by a more experienced quarterback in Justin Herbert than the Titans’ faced in Drake Maye.
This week’s matchup is different in a lot of ways, and while any team can win on any day, there are three causes for concern for the Titans heading into Week 10.
Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Continued quarterback controversy
Even though Mason Rudolph was the quarterback in both of the Titans’ victories, head coach Brian Callahan still says that Will Levis will play if he’s healthy. Levis has been sidelined with a shoulder injury he sustained in Week 4 against the Miami Dolphins. He returned after the bye week and failed to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, and he’s been on the injury report ever since.
The biggest problem with this scenario this week is that Lloyd Cushenberry, the Titans’ reliable center, is done for the season with an Achilles injury. So on top of not being sure who will be throwing the ball on Sunday, the Titans don’t know who will play center either. If Dillon Radunz is healthy, Daniel Brunskill gets the nod. If not, we see Corey Levin again, which did not go well last week.
The Titans’ offense has some critical questions to answer before kickoff on Sunday, and preparing for a game in these circumstances is less than ideal.
Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Injuries continue to pile up
As mentioned above, Lloyd Cushenberry left last week’s game with an Achilles injury and his season is over. But he’s not the only one who’s dealing with an injury. The Titans have a slew of players on both sides of the ball with some kind of injury. Tony Pollard and Calvin Ridley have been playing through injury, and so have Amani Hooker and T’Vondre Sweat. Three of the four offensive players on injured reserve are offensive linemen, and there are five additional players with a questionable status.
On defense, there are six players on injured reserve and two more with a questionable designation.
The Titans can barely field a team at this point, and while they managed to eke out a win last week, it’s not likely to be the same story this week
Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
The Chargers are not the Patriots
The Chargers are a much more established team than the Patriots. The Titans managed to overcome the Patriots in overtime, but the Chargers’ defense is much stronger. The Titans’ offensive line is in shambles, and they don’t know who the quarterback will be. The Chargers will exploit that and do everything they can to get to the quarterback. And, depending on who the quarterback is, they might find success.
L’Jarius Sneed sitting out with injury for a couple of weeks has paved the way for Amani Hooker and Mike Brown to make some plays, but the Titans would really like to get Sneed back on the field. The defensive front, save for T’Vondre Sweat, is relatively healthy, and the Titans will rely heavily on their strongest piece. But they can’t do it all, either.
The Chargers are one of those teams that is hard to gauge this season because of who they’ve played. Still, it won’t be an easy task for the Titans to walk away with a win on the road. We’ll see if they’re up to the task on Sunday.