The Tennessee Titans are going to be shorthanded on Thursday night, and in a big way. In the final Week 17 injury report, the Cowboys’ opponent has ruled out seven starters, five of them on defense including 3/4th of their linebacker corps. In addition, their lone offensive weapon, RB Derrick Henry, is doubtful to play.
Dallas will be facing the B squad, especially if the three doubtful players can’t go. Teams are allowed to have 48 active players but even with two practice squad callups, 11 players sitting would give the Titans a maximum of 44 players available. Meanwhile for Dallas, they’ve ruled out linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and could be without stars Micah Parsons and Tony Pollard. Aside from those three and the ones on IR, everyone else is expected to play.
Vander Esch has begun his rehab work doing cord drills, so there’s hope the middle linebacker will be back for the playoffs in a couple weeks. There’s also hope that IRd DT Johnathan Hankins will be activated for the wild-card game as well. Here’s a look at the full injury report from both teams.