Jake

Locker

Locker was sacked on his first drop-back and found Lavelle Hawkins for 12 yards on 3rd-and-15 two plays later for a three-and-out series. He’ll head back to clipboard-holding for next week’s game against the Colts.

The Tennessee beat writers consider Hasselbeck the favorite, but Locker is certainly talented enough to overtake him. “These two guys are competitive and they understand no one’s going to be given the job,” Munchak said. “We’re gonna let it play out. ... As a staff, you hope it becomes obvious fairly early on, and hope it doesn’t take until the last week of camp, because someone has to play.”

The Titans sound committed to giving Jake Locker a chance to overtake Matt Hasselbeck. Locker was dynamic in short bursts last season, while Hasselbeck struggled mightily after getting off to a hot start. Following the Titans’ Week 6 bye, Hasselbeck posted a 75.2 QB rating and 9:10 TD:INT ratio. Even if he’s able to hold off Locker in camp, he’ll be on a short leash during the season.

Kuharsky is an ex-Titans beat writer, and his former colleague at the Nashville Tennessean, Jim Wyatt, believes Hasselbeck will beat out Jake Locker, too. Kuharsky notes that the Titans’ coaches “love” Hasselbeck, and Locker would either need a “tremendous” camp or a Hasselbeck injury to wrest away the position. Hasselbeck posted a 5:8 TD-to-INT ratio and 6.68 YPA in the Titans’ final eight games last year. The 37-year-old (in September) could have a limiting early-season effect on an otherwise potentially explosive Tennessee offense.

More specifically, Wyatt believes Hasselbeck will "(hold) the kid off.” Wyatt is a highly respected beat writer, but we’re not so sure we agree with him. The Titans have gone to great lengths to make it clear that Hasselbeck and Locker will be staging an “open competition,” something they’d have little incentive to do if they weren’t genuinely prepared to go with Locker. Hasselbeck also struggled mightily down the stretch last season, while Locker injected life into a stagnant offense whenever he took the field. We’d call Locker the slight favorite.

Early signs on Hasselbeck are good. He was able to hobble back onto the field for one fourth-quarter play, said he wasn’t in pain after the game and the damage is not thought to be to his Achilles’ tendon. The veteran also said he could have finished out the game if he really needed to. Still, the Titans could use this injury as an excuse to turn to promising rookie Jake Locker.

It’s a very interesting development for two-QB leaguers, because Locker has difference-making athleticism and a rocket arm. In 50 pass attempts off the bench this season, Locker is averaging 8.7 YPA with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and he’s also rushed for 47 yards and a score. The Colts’ defense has been awful all season. The Titans may give Hasselbeck the week off, and turn to Locker to close out the season if the rookie continues to play well.

It indeed appears that the Titans are leaving the door open for No. 8 overall pick Jake Locker to make his first career start. Munchak said Hasselbeck is “walking around well,” so it sounds like he could play if necessary, but the Titans might simply be ready to see what they have in their quarterback of the future. The situation will be updated on Wednesday.

Locker missed one play Sunday after taking a big hit, but is expected to be fine for Week 15 if called on to start in place of Matt Hasselbeck (calf). Coach Mike Munchak said Wednesday he’s in “wait and see” mode before determining who will be under center against the Colts. We should get a better idea on Thursday.

Hasselbeck said his calf “feels pretty good” after making it through half of practice. Jake Locker has gotten the majority of the snaps the past two days, but coach Mike Munchak is confident that Hasselbeck will start unless he experiences a setback in Friday’s practice.