Vrabel: Dobbs 'Gives Us the Best Chance'

The Tennessee Titans will go with the recently signed quarterback as their starter in Saturday's season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA Today Network

NASHVILLE – Strange as it might have sounded just a week ago, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel made a perfectly logical choice in selecting Josh Dobbs as the team’s starting quarterback for Saturday’s winner-takes-the-division game against Jacksonville.

What Vrabel’s decision means in the long term for quarterback Malik Willis – a third-round pick of the Titans last April – remains to be seen. The rookie, who’d started three games this season, was bypassed for a player the Titans signed off Detroit’s practice squad on Dec. 21 – a player who’d never started an NFL game before last Thursday’s.

In the here and now, though, it’s hard to make an argument against the decision to go with Dobbs, given the small sample sizes we’ve seen from each player.

Against Dallas last Thursday, Dobbs went 20 for 39 for 232 yards, one touchdown and one interception, posting a quarterback rating of 67.5. Dobbs also completed three passes of 30 yards or more in that game, and got rid of the football – on average – in 3.03 seconds.

Those numbers aren’t spectacular, but considering how new Dobbs was to the team, they’re pretty solid.

His performance was certainly better than what the Willis showed in his three starts, as the former Liberty University standout completed 25-of-49 passes for 224 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions – good for a quarterback rating of 39.0. Willis didn’t throw for 100 yards in any of his three starts.

The question now for Dobbs and the Titans: How much better can the sixth-year pro be in his second start, which will include his first full practice week in the number-one role?

“I think there will be some things that we’ll try to add, maybe things that we practiced last week that we didn’t run,” Vrabel said of Dobbs’ workload. “I think it’s just going to be good having a full week, being able to have a first- and second-down (day), a third-down (day), red-zone emphasis (day). I think we need to dive into his knowledge of the overall red zone and everything that’s going on down there.”

In rewatching film of the Titans’ loss to the Cowboys, Vrabel said he found plenty to like about the performance of Dobbs, who also ran four times for 26 yards.

Under Dobbs’ guidance, the Titans produced 317 yards of offense, 17 first downs and went 7-16 (44 percent) on third downs. On the down side, Dobbs lost one fumble in Dallas’ territory, threw one interception and came close to throwing another.

“I think there was some good decision-making,” Vrabel said. “I thought he was decisive. I thought he did a nice job progressing through when we gave him time. In and around the line of scrimmage and coming out of the huddle and just getting us into the right football play. … I thought he tried to take the opportunity and run with it, and lead, and just think he gives us the best chance right now.”

Vrabel said he met with both quarterbacks Monday morning and let them know his decision, noting that Dobbs – a former University of Tennessee star – took the news in workmanlike fashion.

“Josh isn’t an overly excitable person,” Vrabel said. “I think he was ready for the opportunity and is looking forward to it. The message to Malik is to continue to do what he’s been doing, which is to continue to study, continue to use the practice reps to his advantage to help the game slow down for him when he’s out there. That’s the most important thing.”