The inactives are out for today’s game at Raymond James Stadium between Marcus Mariota and Jameis Wi… oh, darn, I guess the rest of the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing too. Anyway, the people not playing:
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: DE Kourtnei Brown, WR Mike Evans, DE T.J. Fantinikun, QB Ryan Griffin, RB Mike James, CB Mike Jenkins, C Eric Kush
TENNESSEE TITANS: RB Antonio Andrews, TE Chase Coffman, NT Sammie Hill, CB Jason McCourty, DE Ropati Pitoitua, G Quinton Spain, QB Charlie Whitehurst
One minor surprise for the Titans, as Andrews is a scratch (EDIT: weekend obligations meant I forgot that he was listed on the injury report). He was the #1 kickoff return on the unofficial depth chart. Do we see Dexter McCluster there? Or Bishop Sankey? Or maybe even Jeremiah Poutasi, since that would still be fun and it’s not like as a right tackle he needs to run a lot on offense. I expected Perrish Cox to dress, and he does.
For the Buccaneers, the big question was whether Mike Evans’ hamstring would let him play this week. He’s down, so the Titans can, if they want, tilt their coverage toward Vincent Jackson instead of relying on some not-plus-sized cornerbacks to battle against three really big targets (including TE Austin Sefarian-Jenkins). But the key to the game will be how well Dick LeBeau can confuse Jameis Winston. LeBeau has been tremendously successful against young quarterbacks, and I expect a couple turnovers from Winston this game, probably under pressure, and some real duress on Winston which may or may not lead to sacks. This seems like a very winnable game for Tennessee, even if you think Tampa Bay would do just as well or better in a full 32-team home-and-home round robin.
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