Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger has been much better than former first-round pick Jake Locker, whom I once had high hopes for, and that was clear in yesterday’s loss to the Houston Texans. Mettenberger went down with a right shoulder injury in the third quarter after putting up some more nice yards per attempt numbers, and Jake Locker promptly came in and looked inefficient when leading the offense.
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Mettenberger expects to play next week against the New York Giants with a Grade 1 AC joint sprain, but I’m sure he’ll be in a good deal of pain if he does end up slogging through the injury. At this point, we should tentatively expect the Titans to trot out Mettenberger, who will almost certainly be without Justin Hunter, as the Titans official Twitter account passes along a statement from head coach Ken Whisenhunt that Mettenberger’s injury isn’t serious. Per Whisenhunt, the Titans hope the LSU rookie can suit up, but I would still consider him highly questionable at this point.
This is definitely a situation to monitor closely, and it will be a day-to-day process for Mettenberger and the Titans. Again, he gives this team the best shot at winning on any given Sunday, as he is averaging an efficient 8.3 yards per attempt with a respectable completion percentage and TD:INT ratio. The Titans need every chance they can get to evaluate him, because he’s looked better than expected.