Tannehill 'Questionable' for Sunday

Coach Mike Vrabel says he will wait as long as possible before he decides whether his quarterback will play against the Houston Texans.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans’ quarterback situation took a cloudy turn on Friday.

Ryan Tannehill (ankle) did not practice for the second time this week, and he is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at Houston. He was limited on Thursday.

“We’re going to try to give him as much time as we possibly can, and feel like we’re prepared with whatever may happen,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “So hopefully, again … we’ll see how it goes. We still have some time before the game.”

The fact that Tannehill is a 10-year veteran – in his fourth season with the Titans – could help him overcome a very limited amount of practice snaps this week.

“Yeah, he’s executed a lot of these plays, I’d say over 90 percent of them,” Vrabel said. “He’s had a lot of experience running and operating (the offense).”

Tannehill sustained a right ankle injury in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s win over Indianapolis, but returned to the game and threw two passes – completing one to Austin Hooper. He sat out Wednesday’s practice and was a limited participant on Thursday before missing Friday.

The 34-year-old has made a franchise-record 49 straight starts at quarterback, including regular-season and playoff games. Tannehill has led the Titans to 34 regular-season wins and 36 victories overall, both numbers tied for the franchise record for most wins in the first four seasons of a player’s career with the organization.

If Tannehill is unavailable, the Titans would turn to rookie Malik Willis, one of the team’s third-round picks last April.

Willis has played 20 snaps this season – 17 during mop-up duty in a blowout Week 2 loss to Buffalo, and three last Sunday against Indianapolis. He’s completed one-of-four pass attempts for six yards, and he’s run four times for 16 yards – fumbling once.

In three preseason games, Willis completed 28-of-51 passes (54.9 percent) for 318 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He ran 14 times for 159 yards (11.4-yard average) and one touchdown.

Vrabel praised Willis’ work in practice this week.

“I thought he took advantage of his opportunities, trying to lead and function as our quarterback,” Vrabel said.

Willis said he tries to prepare like he’s a starter every game, so things didn’t change too much this week – outside of the number of snaps.

The former Liberty University standout thanked Tannehill for his guidance during practices.

“It’s been really cool,” Willis said. “He’s always been able to answer questions if I had them. He was just being a good guy out there and helping (Logan Woodside and I) out, telling us what he thinks. That’s what it’s about, how we’re thinking out there more than anything, decision-making.”