Is A.J. Brown playing tonight against the Bills in Week 6?
A.J. Brown has been a big piece in the Titans' ascendance out of the Marcus Mariota era. In his first two seasons, the wide receiver has earned more than 1,000 yards receiving and eight touchdowns each season.
Needless to say, the Titans will need their home-grown star to be firing on all cylinders to upset the Buffalo Bills. However, the wide receiver's availability is in question.
Will A.J. Brown play tonight against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football?
A.J. Brown was a full participant in practice all week but still landed on the injury report with an illness, according to CBS Sports. It appears that Covid-19 is ruled out, but it is unclear what the issue is.
The Titans are hopeful that his illness is a quick 24-hour bug and he's cleared for the game tonight.
This is a good sign for the #Titans: WRs AJ Brown and Julio Jones, both dealing with hamstring injuries, were full participants in practice. So was pass-rusher Bud Dupree.
If he doesn't play, though, it would hurt the team's ability to stretch the field vertically. That said, it wouldn't completely deplete their downfield threat, as Julio Jones is expected to be ready to play tonight.
Jones has had one game in which he earned over 100 yards and will need another to make up the difference.
.@juliojones_11 back on the practice field on Wednesday for the @Titans. https://t.co/WJrFm60uu2
On the other hand, there's a chance that his illness isn't as bad as it seems. Head coach Mike Vrabel comes from the Patriots coaching staff. During his time there, he may have picked up on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's habit of listing key players as questionable even though he fully expected them to play. Belichick does this to confuse opponents heading into the game.
By listing the player as questionable, the opponent has to either make multiple gameplans or guess if he will play or not. Either way, unless the opponent guesses correctly, it puts them behind the proverbial eight-ball before the first kickoff.
It seems as if that may be the case for A.J. Brown. If not, A.J. Brown's ability to make it through a full week of practice and get a day and a half off makes it hard to believe he won't be able to give it a go for Monday night.
The Titans are looking to upset the Bills
The Titans still have hopes of earning the top seed. If they can beat the Bills, they would own the tie-breaker at the end of the year, which could be the difference between a bye and a Wild Card Weekend appearance.
As such, the Titans will need to pull out all the stops. In other weeks, A.J. Brown may be given a little leeway. But against the Bills, the Titans have their work cut out for them.
Put simply, expect AJ Brown to be on the field tonight.
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