Titans at Packers Preview

Packers attempt to contain Henry as Titans head to Lambeau

Various Sources

TENNESSEE (6-3) at GREEN BAY (4-6)

TIME / TV: Thursday, November 17, 2022 7:15 p.m. CST, Amazon Prime

SERIES RECORD: Titans lead 7-6

LAST MEETING: Packers beat Titans 40-14 on Dec. 27, 2020, at Green Bay.

LAST WEEK: Titans won 17-10 over Denver Broncos at home; Packers won 31-28 over Dallas Cowboys in overtime at home.

TITANS OFFENSE: OVERALL (32), RUSH (9), PASS (31), SCORING (26)

PACKERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (13), RUSH (12), PASS (16), SCORING (25)

TITANS DEFENSE: OVERALL (23), RUSH (2), PASS (31), SCORING (8)

PACKERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (9), RUSH (26), PASS (3), SCORING (16)

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Titans plus-3; Packers minus-5

Aaron Rodgers appreciates the way the Tennessee Titans have turned their season around. The reigning MVP quarterback hopes his Green Bay Packers can dig themselves out of an even bigger hole than Tennessee. First, the Packers must find a way to cool off those AFC South-leading Titans at Lambeau Field on Thursday night. “They lost their first two games, and I think just like happens in this league, there’s probably overreactions and what the hell’s going on and what are we going to do,” Rodgers said. “And I think they rattled off like five or six wins in a row and kind of quieted everybody up.” The Titans (6-3) bounced back from that 0-2 start by winning six of their next seven, including five in a row. Derrick Henry has rushed for 923 yards, 8 behind NFL leader Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. Green Bay (4-6) had lost five straight — its longest skid since 2008 — before rallying from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Dallas Cowboys 31-28 in overtime on Sunday. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon combined to run for 203 yards of the Packers’ 207-yard total. The Packers are winning when running instead of leaning as much on Rodgers’ arm. That’s caught the attention of the Titans, who have the NFL’s second-ranked run defense. “The biggest thing for us going to this game is going to be our rush defense versus their rush offense,” Titans safety Kevin Byard said. “Three out of four of their wins, they ran for over 200 yards and I feel like their best skill players are in the backfield. A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones are two top players in this league, so we’re going to have to stop them.”

SURGING RECEIVERS

Each team has a wide receiver coming off a breakthrough performance. Packers rookie Christian Watson had four catches for 107 yards and three touchdowns against the Cowboys. The second-round pick from North Dakota State had 10 catches for 88 yards all season before that game. Tennessee’s Nick Westbrook-Ikhine had eight catches for a career-high 119 yards and scored both of the Titans’ touchdowns in a 17-10 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Westbrook-Ikhine had entered that game with 15 catches for 138 yards and no touchdowns this season.

DEFENSIVE TITANS

Not only are the Titans second in the NFL in defending the run, they also have the NFL’s best third down defense. Opponents are converting just 27.9% of their third down opportunities. Tennessee also is coming off a six-sack performance for a league-high 16 over its past four games. The Titans also have at least three sacks in six straight games along with at least one interception. It’s the NFL’s longest streak since the then-Oakland Raiders in 1998, and one more such game would be the longest streak since Chicago had seven straight in 1985. They’re also getting healthier even with safety Amani Hooker ruled out for a third straight game. Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, a 2021 Pro Bowler, sat out the win over Denver resting a sprained left ankle and hopes to play Thursday night. Cornerback Elijah Molden, who left the previous game with an injured groin in his season debut, is questionable.

KICKING CONCERNS

Titans kicker Randy Bullock apparently hurt his right calf in pregame warmups and still kicked two extra points and a field goal against Denver. The Titans signed veteran Josh Lambo to the practice squad Tuesday as an insurance policy, then added him to the active roster Wednesday with Bullock ruled out. Lambo last kicked in the NFL last season with Jacksonville, making five of seven extra points and missing all three field goals he attempted. Tennessee used rookie punter Ryan Stonehouse to kick off in the second half last week. For the Packers, Mason Crosby has been dealing with a back issue, though he still made a game-winning 28-yard field goal in overtime Sunday. Ramiz Ahmed handled kickoffs in Crosby’s place on Thursday.

EARLY FREEZE

The previous time the Titans visited Lambeau Field, the Packers romped 40-14 in the snow. While it snowed Tuesday in Green Bay, it’s supposed to be clear Thursday night. The forecast calls for a high temperature of 31 degrees and a low of 24. That could make this the coldest pre-December game the Titans have played going back to 1999, when the franchise formerly known as the Houston Oilers became the Titans. The kickoff temperature was 25 degrees when the Titans hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 17, 2014.

CHANGE IN SPECIAL TEAMS

The Packers released wide receiver/punt returner Amari Rodgers on Tuesday, two days after his fumble led to a Cowboys touchdown. Rodgers had fumbled five times this season and lost two of them. Keisean Nixon had handled Green Bay’s punt return duties in the Dallas game after Rodgers’ fumble.

TITANS PLAYER TO WATCH

QB Ryan Tannehill. With defenses focused on stopping two-time NFL rushing champ Derrick Henry first and foremost, Tannehill has to make them pay. He rebounded from missing two games with a sprained right ankle to throw for 255 yards and two TDs. He has eight TD passes with only three interceptions. Better yet, Tennessee’s patchwork offensive line allowed him to be sacked only once last week.

PACKERS PLAYER TO WATCH

WR Christian Watson. The second-round pick from North Dakota State was struggling with injuries and inconsistency for much of his rookie season before catching four passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns against the Cowboys. His continued emergence would give QB Aaron Rodgers the downfield threat the four-time MVP has been lacking for most of the season.

KEY MATCHUP

Henry vs. Packers run defense. Henry is coming off his second-worst game of the season after Denver held him to 53 yards on 19 carries, snapping his streak of five straight 100-yard rushing performances that had pushed him to the top of the NFL in rushing. He has a chance to bounce back against a Green Bay defense that is allowing 4.8 yards per carry.

INJURY REPORT

TENNESSEE: DNP: K Randy Byullock (right calf), OLB Bud Dupree (hip), WR Cody Hollister (back), CB Lonnie Johnson (hamstring), C Ben Jones (concussion). LIMITED: DE Jeffery Simmons (ankle), CB Roger McCreary (calf), S Amani Hooker (shoulder). FULL: DE Denico Autry (NIR-resting player) G Aaron Brewr (toe), CB Kristian Fulton (hamstring), RB Derrick Henry (NIR-resting player), ILB David Long (neck), CB Elijah Molden (groin), DT Kevin Strong (ankle), QB Ryan Tannehill (ankle). GREEN BAY: DNP: OT David Bakhtiari (knee), ILB De'Vondre Campbell (knee), WR Romeo Doubs (calf), CB Shemar Jean-Charles (ankle), OT Elgton Jenkins (knee). LIMITED: CB Rasul Douglas (calf), OLB Kingsley Enagbare (ankle), RB Aaron Jones (shin), WR Allen Lazard (shoulder), DB Keisean Nixon (calf), QB Aaron Rodgers (right thumb), G Jon Runyan (knee), OLB Preston Smith (shoulder/groin). FULL: LB Krys Barnes (concussion), K Mason Crosby (back), WR Christian Watson (ankle), DT Devonte Wyatt (foot).

SERIES NOTES

This is only the second time Titans coach Mike Vrabel has faced off against his former offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, who was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in 2018 before being hired as the Packers head coach. LaFleur is 1-0 against Vrabel. The Titans are 3-0 in Tennessee against the Packers and 4-3 at Lambeau Field, but have lost their past two visits by a combined score of 95-21. The winning team has scored at least 40 points in four of the past five Titans-Packers matchups. When Green Bay and Tennessee previously met, Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes and A.J. Dillon ran for a career-high 124 yards and two more scores as the Packers romped at a snowy Lambeau Field.

STATS AND STUFF

The Titans are 14-5 against the NFC since 2018 when Mike Vrabel was hired as head coach. That .737 interconference winning percentage is tied for third in the NFL in that span… The Titans have won six of their past seven… The Titans are 9-2 in games on short rest during Vrabel’s tenure… The Titans have an NFL-best 16 sacks over the past four games… Tennessee has used 24 defensive starters this season… The Titans are holding opponents to 27.9% conversions on third down to lead the league in that category… The Titans have three or more sacks in six straight games, the franchise’s longest streak since 1979 as the then-Houston Oilers. It’s also the longest active stretch in the NFL… Tannehill has 37 total wins, including playoffs. That’s the most by any quarterback in his first four seasons in franchise history… Titans WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine had a career-high 119 yards receiving and two TDs against the Broncos… The Titans have limited their opponents to 10 points three times in their past four games and have allowed more than 22 points only once… Titans rookie P Ryan Stonehouse leads the NFL with a 53.2 punting average… The Titans haven’t scored more than 24 points in a single game this season… The Packers are the only NFL team with two overtime wins this season. Denver and Indianapolis are the only other teams to play multiple overtime games… The Packers have rushed for at least 200 yards in two of their past three games and three times this season… Packers RB Aaron Jones can move into third place on the team’s career rushing list with a big game. Jones has 4,901 yards rushing. John Brockington ranks third in Packers history with 5,024 yards rushing… Watson’s big performance Sunday made him the first Packers rookie to have at least 100 yards receiving and three touchdown catches in the same game since Hall of Famer James Lofton did it in 1978… Packers S Rudy Ford had two interceptions against the Cowboys. Ford had just one interception in his previous 65 games… In their last two home games against the Titans, the Packers have scored a combined 95 points while allowing just 21. The +74 point differential is the most over a span of two home games by Green Bay against a single opponent since outscoring the Falcons, 79-3, in the 1966 and 1967 seasons… The Packers overcame a 28-14 deficit entering the fourth quarter to beat the Cowboys on Sunday, 31-28. Green Bay has four comeback wins when trailing by 14+ points at the end of the third quarter over the last six seasons, which is the same amount the franchise had from 1925 to 2016… Christian Watson notched the first three touchdown catches of his career in the win over Dallas, becoming the first Packer to have his first three career receiving TDs come all in the same game since hall-of-famer James Lofton did so in 1978… Tennessee has allowed 20 or fewer points and 100 or fewer rushing yards in each of its last six games, the longest such streak in franchise history. The last NFL team with such a streak within a single season was the 49ers in 2011 (8 straight)… Ryan Tannehill made his 50th regular-season start for the Titans in their 17-10 win over Denver. Tannehill is 35-15 (.700) as the starting QB for Tennessee after going 42-46 (.477) during his time in Miami… Despite a 6-3 record, the Titans have the fewest net yards gained of any team in the league this season. No team has finished a season with the fewest net yards in the NFL while also winning at least two-thirds of their games since the Detroit Lions in 1969.

The Tennessee Titans arrived on Wednesday evening.

NFL WEEK 11 SCHEDULE

Thursday, November 17
Tennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers, 7:15 p.m., Prime Video

Sunday, November 20
Chicago Bears at Atlanta Falcons, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Carolina Panthers at Baltimore Ravens, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Washington Commanders at Houston Texans, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Philadelphia Eagles at Indianapolis Colts, 12:00 p.m., CBS
New York Jets at New England Patriots, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Los Angeles Rams at New Orleans Saints, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Detroit Lions at New York Giants, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos, 3:05 p.m., FOX
Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers, 7:20 p.m., NBC*

Monday, November 21
San Francisco 49ers vs Arizona Cardinals (Mexico City), 7:15 p.m., ESPN