Marcus Mariota and the Numbed Hand.

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When in doubt, take Blaine Gabbert out. That’s the motto the Tennessee Titans didn’t want but ended up having to do last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Marcus Mariota, the normal day one starter for the Titans, injured his throwing hand against the Miami Dolphins in Week 1. Mariota felt some slight numbness with several of his fingers and was forced to sit in Week 2.

The Titans signed Blaine Gabbert this offseason expecting him to fill in whenever Mariota goes out. The Titans just didn’t expect to be as soon as Week 1 when Mariota went down late in the third quarter.

Blaine Gabbert did what he had to do as a backup starting and that was to win the game against the high powered Houston Texans. The Titans snuck out with a victory in Tennessee 20-17, and Gabbert finished 13-20 for 117 yards and a touchdown which is everything you could ask for.

Coming into Week 3, Gabbert received the nod to start as Mariota was still not receiving full strength in his throwing hand. It didn’t look great for the Titans as they were traveling to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. In Week 2, the Jags executed almost perfectly against the New England Patriots and now they moved onto the Titans.

During the game, Gabbert got sacked and it didn’t look good. Below is the video of the hit:

Here's the hit that knocked out Blaine Gabbert. Jacksonville was called for a "lowering the helmet" penalty, giving the Titans 15 yards and putting them in field goal range. #TENvsJAX pic.twitter.com/rDboWt0SFI

— Justin Graver (@titansfilmroom) September 23, 2018

After the hit, Mariota came in and many of us didn’t know what to expect since he still didn’t have much feeling in his hand. However, Mariota did what he needed to steal a victory in Florida to take in the lead in the AFC South and upset the Jags.

It’s official that Mariota will be the starter against the Philadelphia Eagles this week. Many people including myself don’t see Mariota and the Titans defeating the Eagles. We also didn’t see them beating the Jags even if it was only by three points either.

Let’s just only hope that the defense for Philly doesn’t hurt Mariota even more. The Titans just signed third-string QB Austin Davis and no offense to Davis, that most likely wouldn’t go well for the Titans.