Titans QB Marcus Mariota has sprained MCL, out against Texans

The Titans will start Zach Mettenberger inplace of Mariota. He tried to grab it but just wound up knocking it farther away. The performance highlighted a stellar effort by New England’s front-seven, which tallied five sacks on the afternoon, including a forced fumble by Chandler Jones that led to a touchdown for Akiem Hicks after recovering the loose ball. “To go through the change with the head coach, the injuries that he’s had early, to overcome multitudes of injuries (to other players), it’s just been different personnel, the offensive line to be moved around as much as it’s been”, Mularkey said. “You’re a bigger guy like, ‘OK, I’ve got to make sure I’m with it.’…”

As a rusher, Mariota struggled to protect the football.

The rookie has thrown for 2,818 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions despite being sacked 38 times this season.

The Titans aren’t committing to shutting down Marcus Mariota for the season, with coach Mike Mularkey holding out some hope he might return for the regular season finale.

“Marcus is the toughest kid I know, ” Mettenberger said after Sunday’s game. Regardless of what the Bengals do next week, a New England win over the Jets will clinch home field advantage for the Patriots in the AFC playoffs. Butler also made an nice tackle on third down to keep a receiver one yard short of gaining a first down.

With LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis on injured reserve, the expectation was that the Patriots would turn to Brandon Bolden and James White to carry a heavier load in the running game. Wilson became the first quarterback with three or more TD passes and no interceptions in five straight games. No information about their conditions was immediately available. He has emerged as a go-to guy in a Patriots’ offense that continues to score points in bunches, no matter who’s in the lineup.

-TE Delanie Walker was quiet most of the day but did catch two touchdown passes, a 7-yarder and one that covered 57 yards. He left the game in the second quarter after running back Antonio Andrews failed to block linebacker Jamie Collins.

The Titans have two games left in their season, playing the Houston Texans on December 27 and the Indianapolis Colts on January 3.

It could very well come down to how this team preforms over the next two weeks, whether or not Mularkey gets a positional coaching job or a coordinator coaching job next year.