NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans’ experiment with rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger nearly took a turn for the worst in Sunday’s 45-21 loss to the Houston Texans.

Mettenberger was knocked from the game in the third quarter when Texans star defensive lineman J.J. Watt drove him into the ground, landing on his throwing shoulder and causing a mild sprain of the AC joint.

Mettenberger did not return, and Jake Locker handled mop-up duty. After the game, Mettenberger said his intention was to play this Sunday against the New York Giants, and on Monday, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt offered hope that that could happen.

“I hope so. I think a lot of it’s going to be determined by how much he can throw and how it bothers him,” Whisenhunt said. “I don’t anticipate that it’s going to bother him or affect him throwing. It may earlier in the week, but I think we’ll get past that. There’s obviously going to be some soreness with it, and that’s going to be a big part of it.”

The Titans are trying to get full evaluation of Mettenberger over the final games of the season. Even though the team is 0-5 since the rookie took over, that has not been totally as a result of his play. He is saddled with a bad team that can’t run the football and a defense has has gotten progressively worse since the season began.

Given that, his play hasn’t been bad. Yes, he has thrown an interception in every game he has played in, but he has also had at least one touchdown pass in every start. Overall, he is 93 of 155 passing for 1,287 yards with eight touchdowns and six interceptions with a passer rating of 87.8 and a 8.3 yards per attempt average.

As for the rookie being able to play through the pain and gut it out in an otherwise meaningless final month, Whisenhunt said that is a good sign of the rookie’s desire to be a leader.

“He wants to play. I don’t think it’s a thing about trying to prove his toughness. I think he legitimately wants to play. He wants to be the guy. He feels like he has to prove that he can do that. That’s part of it. That’s a good motivation,” Whisenhunt said.

NOTES: LT Taylor Lewan, who missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, might be able to play either this week or next week, depending upon how quickly his ankle regains strength. … T Michael Oher might be able to practice and play this week after missing Sunday’s game with a toe injury. … G Chance Warmack suffered an ankle injury in the game Sunday and is sore, but might be able to practice and play this week. … WR Justin Hunter will spend 24 to 48 hours in the hospital recovering from a lacerated spleen. He will almost assuredly not play this week. His status for the rest of the season is not yet known. … LB Kamerion Wimbley sat out with a hamstring injury on Sunday. His status is not yet known for this week.

REPORT CARD. VS EAGLES

PASSING OFFENSE: F – Zach Mettenberger’s first pass was picked off for the second time in three weeks. After he was injured, Jake Locker threw two more interceptions and lost a fumble on a sack and strip.

RUSHING OFFENSE: F – The Titans don’t even seem to be attempting to run the football anymore. Granted, they are often playing from behind, but they haven’t run for 100 yards as a team now since Oct. 5.

PASS DEFENSE: F-minus – They allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw for 358 yards with six touchdown passes with no interceptions. That says about everything in terms of how the Titans played in pass defense.

RUSHING DEFENSE: D – They held Arian Foster to 79 yards, which was much better than when he ran for 151 yards in the first meeting. That’s progress, but the Texans didn’t need it since the passing game was so effective.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C – There were no major blunders on special teams this week, but few opportunities as well. Kicker Ryan Succop seems used so seldom on field-goal attempts, he almost seems like a forgotten man.

COACHING: F – This team seems ill prepared, especially on defense, but part of that problem lies with poor personnel. Still, the Titans have to be more flexible on both sides of the ball and try to tailor the game plans to their personnel instead of the other way around.