The Tennessee Titans will start Matt Hasselbeck in place of injured quarterback Jake Locker in Sunday's game against the Vikings, coach Mike Munchak announced Wednesday.
"We're going to start Matt at quarterback this weekend and ... (have) given Jake the week off," Munchak told reporters. "Jake's sore today as he was yesterday. ... Even though he'll probably be better the next couple days, we don't want to have him suit up as the backup. We felt that if he couldn't start, we'd rather him not suit up ... let him rest the next couple days."
Locker was knocked out of last week's 38-14 loss to the Houston Texans with an injury to his left, non-throwing shoulder. It's the same shoulder Locker separated in the season-opening loss to the New England Patriots.
Munchak said he was uncertain about Locker's status beyond this week, adding the Titans are taking it "day by day."
"It's just as fast as my body can respond to it," Locker said, according to The Associated Press. "I'll do my best to get back there as soon as I can, and as coach Munch (said), we'll just take it week to week."
Hasselbeck, for his part, told The Tennessean that he suffered the same injury Locker did when he was younger and eventually underwent surgery. Hasselbeck also said Locker's injury is worse than his was.
