Most teams use the fourth pre-season game to evaluate their back-up players for the last time before they cut the teams down to 53 players. Titans head coach Jeff Fisher believes that Tennessee’s game against the New Orleans Saints will be important for both the back-ups and the starters.
“It’s an important week for us,” Fisher said Monday as the Titans prepared to play the New Orleans Saints in Thursday’s preseason finale at LP Field. “We have a lot of things to accomplish inside, we’re getting people back — they’re healing up to be able to play, they haven’t played yet this preseason. It’s an important game, we have some tough decisions ahead. We’ve got some younger players that can make or break their opportunities this week on special teams.”
Included in the players returning from injuries are rookie defensive end Derrick Morgan, fifth year cornerback Cortland Finnegan, and veteran defensive tackle Tony Brown.
Derrick Morgan played in the last game, but Finnegan has yet to appear in a pre-season contest. Jeff Fisher believes that his defensive back will play on Thursday.
“He’s back on the practice field,” Fisher said. “Today he did pretty well. We’ll continue to push him through the week with the expectation that he probably can play.”
Cortland Finnegan knows that younger players have taken his absence as an opportunity to impress the coaches and he feels that he needs to prove that he is worthy to retain his place as a starter on the team.
“Vern (Alterraun Verner) and J-Mac (Jason McCourty) are playing so well, they’re on my heels if not surpassed me. I need to get out there and make some plays,” Finnegan said.
Jeff Fisher has said that the Titans starters will play most of the first half of the game and some will play into the third quarter.