Following up on an item in this week's Team Notes. ... Kenny Britt's one-game suspension is over, but don't expect him to instantly step into a starring role on the Tennessee Titans' offense.
Britt returned to practice Wednesday and should make his season debut Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, after serving a one-game suspension for his offseason arrest on suspicion of DUI. Head coach Mike Munchak confirmed previous reporting when he told Nashville Tennessean staffer Jim Wyatt that Britt will play in the "15 to 25 snap range."
According to ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky, they could be 25 snaps that tell us a lot about how Tennessee’s offense will be this year. Britt is coming off a reconstruction, clean-up surgery on both knees and a one-game suspension under the league’s personal conduct policy.
If he can give the sort of spark he’s provided when healthy in the past, the Titans will be able to open things up in new ways. They can conceivably be a throw-first team when they want to be, which would make it easier to shift the offensive burden away from running back Chris Johnson. As Kuharsky suggested, if Johnson continues the lifeless play we saw last year and on opening day, then that's the direction the team needs to be heading.
“Everything is just off my shoulders now, I can just think about football and think about helping my team,” Britt said. “That’s what I want to do for the rest of the year.”
How effective can he be right away?
“I’m not too sure, they’re baby-stepping me right now. ... I’m just trying to get my eyes back, seeing the defense and what’s out there, trying to get my feet back, trying to run my routes as clean as I can.”
Jake Locker, who practiced some Wednesday with a banged up left shoulder and is in line to play, called Britt a “difference-maker” who’s one of the league’s best receivers when he’s healthy.
Britt had just one preseason appearance in 2011 as he was coming off a hamstring injury. And in his first game he caught five passes in Jacksonville for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Bottom line? Britt and Kendall Wright can take the top off a defense, and the Titans need to find big plays, especially if they are absorbing runs for losses and no gain along the way. ...
Other notes of interest. ... Running back Javon Ringer remained in the hospital receiving antibiotics for an infection in his left elbow. ... Receiver Nate Washington (bruised leg) did not practice but is expected back Thursday.
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