The Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Chargers meet for a Week 9 battle in Nashville. The Titans are already big underdogs, and on top of that, they will be without some of their best players on Sunday.
The Titans have already ruled out Jeffery Simmons, Calvin Ridley, Arden Key, and Xavier Woods for this contest. None of those four practiced this week, and they have a few others who did not either. Blake Hance, Chig Okonkwo, and Jihad Ward also did not practice on Thursday. Darrell Baker Jr., Tony Pollard, and Kevin Zeitler were all full participants on Thursday, while Bryce Oliver and James Lynch were limited. The Titans will need all the help they can get when taking on this rising Chargers team.
Simmons missed the game against the Indianapolis Colts last weekend and will miss his second straight game. The star defensive tackle is one of the top in the league, and his 4.5 sacks on the season lead all defensive tackles in the NFL. He adds 30 tackles on the season and one forced fumble. The Titans will seriously miss their star DT.
Calvin Ridley is the team's top receiver, but that really isn't saying much this season. The Titans' passing game has been almost non-existent. Ridley has 16 catches for 290 yards and zero touchdowns. His hamstring injury is going to force Ridley to miss this contest, the second of the season for the veteran receiver. QB Cam Ward has only thrown three touchdown passes to wide receivers this season. Rookie Elic Ayomanor has two, and fellow rookie Chimere Dike has one. In fact, with rookie TE Gunner Helm also having a TD catch, the only person on the roster who has a touchdown catch that isn't a rookie is second-year TE David Martin-Robinson.
Ward may seriously struggle taking on this elite Chargers defense on Sunday with inexperienced offensive talent. Ward is already showing frustration with interim head coach Mike McCoy.
