Titans to ride 'hot hand' at running back

The Tennessee Titans plan to run the ball and then run it some more in an offensive approach head coach Mike Mularkey called "exotic smashmouth" earlier this offseason.

They just don't know which running back will do most of the heavy lifting.

The Titans traded for DeMarco Murray in early March, then used a second-round pick on Derrick Henry.

It sounds like whichever running back gets hot will be the one who gets the ball.

"I believe in just doing whatever we have to do, whatever is necessary to win the game," new offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie said, via Jim Wyatt from the Titans' website. "Obviously we’ll have it situated going into the game, and figuring, 'Hey, we want to go this way or go that way.' If we get to going in the game and some guy gets the hot hand and that’s what it takes to win the game then that is what we are going to do.

"We are not going to sit down before the game and say, 'So and so has to have 20 carries, or he has to touch it 25 times,'" Robiskie added. "We are going to go into the game and we’ll run the offense and try and get it called and try and execute it and whatever we feel we need to get done to win the game, that’s what we’re going to get done. But we don’t sit down and structure, so and so has to have 25 carries, so and so has to get 30 carries."

It's likely Murray will get the first crack at handling workhorse duties, but if he's slow out of the gate (like he was for most of last season with the Philadelphia Eagles) then it might not be long before Henry, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, takes over.