mdi construction barMIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The Titans are taking the safe approach with Marcus Mariota, with ESPN and NFL Network reporting he's out with his strained hamstring. Now Matt Cassel needs to follow suit and be safe too.CDB6703A B50F 47AD A0FA B791343F063B

The receipe for Tennessee to get its third win is pretty simple: Play significantly better defense, hand the ball to DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry, get some supplementary passing game help from Cassel and have him play a clean game while finding a boost from special teams.

Cassel's No  1 mission is to not make killer mistakes. Hs arm looked terrible in relief last week, so look for catch and runs as opposed to run and catches. The passing-game yardage is more likely to come after the catch.

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Paul Kuharsky has covered the Tennessee Titans since 1996, first for The Tennessean, then ESPN.com and now independently at paulkuharsky.com. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and one of the longest-tenured Titans beat reporters in the franchise's history.