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Titans reach early open date banged up but leading AFC South

AP photo by Alex Brandon / Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill hands off to Derrick Henry during last Sunday's road win against the Washington Commanders.
AP photo by Alex Brandon / Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill hands off to Derrick Henry during last Sunday's road win against the Washington Commanders. AP photo by Alex Brandon / Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill hands off to Derrick Henry during last Sunday's road win against the Washington Commanders.

By TERESA M. WALKER / The Associated Press 5 min read

NASHVILLE — The start to this season feels painfully familiar to both the Tennessee Titans and their fans.

Yes, it’s a bad case of déjà vu because of injuries. The Titans have 11 players on injured reserve five games into this season after setting an NFL record last year by using 91 players, the most in any season without a strike.

Mike Vrabel was named the AP coach of the year for 2021 after guiding Tennessee to the conference’s No. 1 seed, a second straight AFC South Division title and a 12-5 record despite his staff working with a rotating roster.

This time around, Vrabel and the Titans (3-2) face bigger challenges.

They are among the first four NFL teams to have an open date for 2022, leaving a slog of 12 straight games with no break; last year, they were off the first week of December. And an NFL rule change will limit Tennessee to bringing only eight players back from injured reserve; there was no such limit last year.