Zach Mettenberger Injury: Updates on Titans QB's Shoulder and Return

Tennessee Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger left Week 13's game vs. Houston after suffering a shoulder injury in the third quarter, but was active for Week 14.

Continue for updates.

Sunday, Dec. 7

Mettenberger Active for Week 14

The Titans announced Mettenberger's status vs. the Giants:

Friday, Dec. 5

Mettenberger Questionable for Week 14

Terry McCormick of Titans Insider has the latest on Mettenberger:

Wednesday, Dec. 3

Mettenberger Comments on Injury

Terry McCormick of Rivals.com provided Mettenberger's thoughts on his status:

Mettenberger Practices, Wisenhunt 'Optimistic'

Terry McCormick of Rivals.com has an update on Mettenberger:

Monday, Dec. 1

Mettenberger Confirms He Expects to Play vs. New York

Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean passed along comments from Zach Mettenberger on his status for Week 14:

Ken Whisenhunt later spoke about Mettenberger and his injured shoulder, via the Titans:

Sunday, Nov. 30

Mettenberger Injures Shoulder vs. Texans

The Titans confirmed the news via their Twitter account:  

Mettenberger suffered the injury after taking a hit from JJ Watt in the second half. Jake Locker took over for Mettenberger and threw an interception on his first play under center, via Sunday Night Football:

Following the game, Mettenberger was telling teammates he would be ready for Week 14 and revealed his diagnosis, via Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean:

A sixth-round pick in May's draft, Mettenberger stepped into the starting lineup before Week 8's game against the Houston Texans. The Titans made the switch after a 2-5 start saw Charlie Whitehurst and former starter Jake Locker consistently struggle to make plays. Locker, a former first-round pick in the last season of his contract, was selected by a previous coaching regime and wasn't given a chance to regain his job after suffering a hand injury.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Mettenberger has battled through fits and starts since taking over. Given the past success (or lack thereof) of past sixth-round rookies, it could only be expected that he'd face challenges in certain spots.

But he has also impressed in certain areas. Excluding Marc Bulger and Mark Rypien, who were rookies via technicality only, there is only one rookie sixth-round quarterback (min. 50 pass attempts) with at least as many touchdowns as interceptions: Bruce Gradkowski in 2006, per Pro-Football-Reference.com. Before his injury Sunday, Mettenberger had thrown eight touchdowns against six interceptions.

He is also playing his first minutes of regular-season football since tearing his ACL, which brought a premature end to his senior season at LSU.

In other words, there were a number of factors working against Mettenberger when he entered the lineup—not the least of which was Tennessee being a below-average football team.

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