At least they now have a chance—a slim one, but a chance, nonetheless.
Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel’s decision to start Josh Dobbs at quarterback after only being with the team for eight days proved to be the correct one. Dobbs wasn’t perfect last night, but at least he could complete a pass, operate the offense, and give the Titans somewhat of a passing game that the defense had to defend. With rookie third-rounder Malik Willis under center, the Titans had no chance to throw the ball, nor did the defense worry about anything other than Willis running around. Now, heading to Jacksonville next week in a “winner gets in” game, the Titans have ten days to build from what Dobbs was able to accomplish against the Cowboys. Despite his less-than-perfect statistical numbers, Dobbs played well enough for them to have a fighting chance to win the South, assuming they get Derrick Henry and Jeffrey Simmons back from their injuries.
Remember back in April at the draft, when all the “so-called” draft experts had Willis going in the first round, then were outraged when he slipped all the way to the 86th pick? Many loved his talents; thought he would develop into a starter by his second year with one so-called expert saying: “has all the tools to be a great NFL starting quarterback.” He has athletic tools, not quarterbacking tools, and it was obvious from his Liberty tape, Willis was going to be a developmental player who might be a year away from being a year away. Fooling the draft experts isn’t hard, but fooling an NFL personnel man who watches practices and studies game tape carefully isn’t easy.
So, how could the Titans enter the regular season with Willis as the number two man, when it was clear from the preseason games he wasn’t ready for game action? Remember Vrabel pulled him during a game because he wasn’t giving the other players a chance to execute the offense. His “in-game” demotion was a signal he was far from being ready, and the Titans front office convinced themselves he would improve. And guess what? He didn’t—at least not this season. (Side note—all of us make a similar mistake when picking games. We hold onto a belief that isn’t correct, and we make our bets believing—without evidence—the belief will come true. I made this mistake last week, believing the Broncos would play well on Christmas day with no evidence to support the belief. And before the first quarter was over, I knew I had made a poor choice, which pains me. The moral of the story: Don’t chase beliefs. Don’t build your decision-making foundation on a hope and a prayer—they never get answered.)