Despite the fact that it was obvious the Tennessee Titans might have to roll with quarterback Malik Willis for the Week 9 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, defensive lineman Chris Jones hinted that defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons may have accidentally tipped the team’s hand about it’s situation.
The ankle injury to Ryan Tannehill was one of the biggest storylines of the week going into the game, and it was clear he was 50/50 at best to play after getting in only one limited practice during the week.
However, Jones said it was a conversation with Simmons prior to the contest that gave some insight into what the Titans were going to do under center.
“No, we [weren’t] surprised [Willis was the starter],” Jones said. “I talked to Jeff Simmons earlier during the week and we knew. You know, you got to pick their brain. We knew that he was going to play. Tannehill was in a boot, so we prepared for [Willis] well. I don’t think we gave up that many rushing yards against him. Second half, I just [saw it was] 27 plays, seven yards. Kudos to the defense. We played a hell of a game — second half I would say, first half we kind of gave up some leaky yardage. But, a heck of a team win.”
In reality, the Chiefs didn’t need any kind of inside information from Simmons to know what was coming.
It was always very possible — if not likely — that Willis would start for Tannehill, who had also missed the Week 8 contest and didn’t appear to be making much progress with his injured ankle during the week.
