Titans hope Marcus Mariota can play Sunday

The Tennessee Titans desperately need to beat the Miami Dolphins this Sunday down in South Beach. At 2-2, their season has been a struggle to this point, leaving them in a. three-way tie for first place of the AFC South with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.

Speaking of Houston, the Texans put it on the Titans in every imaginable way last weekend, winning 57-14. Making matters even worse, quarterback Marcus Mariota was forced to leave in the third quarter with a hamstring injury, one that has lingered into the week. The problem is serious enough that the team signed backup quarterback Brandon Weeden, a sentence that should send a shutter down the spine of everyone associated with Titans football.

On Friday, Mariota spoke to the local media and offered these thoughts, per NFL.com:

“I think if I’m able to move around and I’m able to hand the ball off, and am able to drop back, then I’ll definitely play,” Mariota said. “It’s a tough decision. … To that point, I’m going to do my best to get healthy, and hopefully, I’ll be ready to go.”

If Mariota can’t play against the Dolphins, it will be veteran Matt Cassel taking the reigns. Cassel was rancid in his effort against Tennessee, throwing two interceptions in less than a half of work. With Cassel at the controls on the road this weekend, things could get ugly against a desperate, if not terribly good, Dolphins team.

Miami is coming off two of the worst losses anybody could imagine. In Week 2, the Dolphins lost 20-6 to the New York Jets in a game that wasn’t even that close. New York, of course, was expected by many to win somewhere between zero and one games this year. If that wasn’t bad enough, Miami followed that stinker up with an even worse game, being shutout by the New Orleans Saints, 20-0, in London.

At 1-2, the Dolphins have to hold serve at home, their first home game of the year. This makes the chore all the tougher for the Titans, who could fall behind the pace should the Texans clip the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.

With Mariota on the field, Tennessee is a deserved favorite to go into a road venue and come away smiling. If he isn’t, the game’s tenor changes significantly, relying even more on the legs of DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry.

It’s only Week 5, but the Titans and their preseason expectations are fading a critical turning point in Miami.