Not that it wanted any clarification after what we noticed in Week 17, however Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel defined his resolution to start out Joshua Dobbs as a substitute of Malik Willis on Thursday evening.
The outcomes spoke for themselves, as Dobbs clearly offered an improve over Willis and now offers the Titans the perfect probability to win going right into a do-or-die Week 18 recreation towards the Jacksonville Jaguars for the AFC South.
Primarily based on his clarification, Vrabel and the Titans had been attempting to do what’s finest for the workforce as of this very second and aren’t centered on something past that.
“Ultimately, it’s the identical at each [position]: Who offers you the perfect probability to win, to win one recreation,” Vrabel stated after the 27-13 loss.
“That’s the place we’re at — that’s the one factor that issues, is successful one recreation, getting wholesome, getting recovered after which successful one recreation, and discovering out who’s going to try this.”
Vrabel’s quote ought to give warning to those that are nearly utterly out on Willis after what transpired this week.
In fact, Dobbs coming in off the road and out-performing Willis isn’t a great search for the rookie, but it surely’s just about what ought to’ve been anticipated. In any case, Dobbs has a six-year benefit by way of growth.
In actuality, no person of their proper thoughts believed Willis can be able to take over an NFL workforce in his first yr, and particularly not with all of the obstacles round him.
Now, that’s to not say that Willis goes to positively work out, however speak of his demise is untimely and the Titans taking a win-now strategy shouldn’t be an indictment on his future.
That stated, the Titans can have an fascinating state of affairs on their arms going into the offseason, as Willis merely hasn’t proven sufficient for the workforce to place all of its eggs in his basket for 2023.
However that’s a narrative for the offseason.
As for Dobbs, Vrabel was pleased with what he noticed but in addition rightly pointed on the market are issues the signal-caller wants to enhance, one thing Dobbs wasn’t shy about admitting after the sport.
“A variety of positives, plenty of issues we’ve got to enhance on,” Vrabel stated of Dobbs. “We’re excited [Josh] is right here, and I believed he took benefit of his alternative. We’ll see the place that leads — we’ll see the place we go subsequent week.
“Each resolution that we make we need to put some thought into it and ensure it’s thought out, and we’ll see what goes after this weekend.”
Vrabel wouldn’t go so far as to substantiate that Dobbs is the starter for Week 18, but it surely doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that’s the way in which Tennessee will go.