Before Friday night, it’s possible that the starting quarterback job in Tennessee was Jake Locker’s to lose.
And it’s possible that he lost it.
On Saturday, coach Mike Munchak said no decision has been made as to a Week One starter, and that there’s no rush to do so.
“We have two more weeks to see plenty, so I guess when we feel we’re at that point we’ll make our announcements when we feel the time is right,” Munchak said Saturday, via the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The choices are Locker, the eighth pick in the 2011 draft, and Hasselbeck, a post-lockout free-agent acquisition who played extremely well last season for the Titan.
Previously, Munchak said he didn’t want to pick his Week One starter during the week preceding the Week One game against the Patriots. Now, it’s looking like the process could take a while longer.
At some point, Munchak needs to embrace the possibility that having the Pats not know who they’ll be facing could provide a strategic edge. It’s a tactic that former Bill Belichick pupil Eric Mangini tried a few years ago in Cleveland, with Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson vying for the job.
Then again, in Mangini’s case it’s possible that he was hoping that Brian Sipe would come out of retirement.