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Titans will pick quarterback starter based on “gut feel”

Jake Locker, Matt Hasselbeck

This July 30, 2011 file photo shows Tennessee Titans quarterbacks Jake Locker (10) and Matt Hasselbeck, right, talking during NFL football training camp in Nashville, Tenn. The Titans lost out on the Peyton Manning sweepstakes Monday, March 19, 2012, and owner Bud Adams acknowledged the team’s pursuit of the four-time NFL MVP put quarterbacks Matt Hasselback and Jake Locker in tough situations. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

AP

The Tennessee Titans will hold a training camp battle at quarterback, and they’re not planning to use any scientific methods to choose between Jake Locker and Matt Hasselbeck.

I’m not a huge stats guy,” explained G.M. Ruston Webster, per John Glennon of the Nashville Tennessean. “It will probably be a gut feel more than anything else. I think they’ll both do well. But I think it will be a gut feel, so you kind of just go with what you feel is best -- [the player] who, in a tight race, we feel like has the best chance to help us win, even though we’re comfortable with either one of them.”

Webster’s comments do suggest the Titans won’t make the quarterback decision based on a feeling of need to get Locker playing time.

“Like I said, you’ll have a gut feeling,” he reiterated.

Webster already downplayed the statistical factor, but it’s worth noting that Hasselbeck faded badly down the 2011 stretch. The 36-year-old managed a 5:8 touchdown-to-interception ratio and 6.68 yards-per-attempt average in the Titans’ final eight games.

Locker appeared in four games, coming off the bench. His TD-to-INT ratio was 4:0 with an 8.2 YPA.