FanHouse Jacob Ford

When the Titans host the Ravens on Saturday, it appears they won't be stuck bringing the B-team defense to the game.

Albert Haynesworth (knee injury) and Kyle Vanden Bosch (groin) will return to practice today and should be ready to play on Sunday. Haynesworth missed the Titans season finale, while Vanden Bosch hasn't played since Dec. 7 in an injury-plagued season.

It's not that Jason Jones and Jacob Ford haven't been very solid replacements, but with a spot in the AFC Championship game on the line, and the Ravens' relying heavily on their running game, Haynesworth is probably the most important player on the Titans team this week. If he can shut down LaRon McClain and Willis McGahee, the Titans' secondary should be able to handle Joe Flacco--they picked him off twice in their regular season win.

The bigger injury concern seems to be center Kevin Mawae. Mawae is questionable with an elbow injury. Backup Leroy Harris is physically talented, but asking him to figure out the infinite combination of Ravens blitzes would be a very difficult job in only his second career start.

So it's easy to tell that it's been a bad week for the Titans when this qualifies as good news: Albert Haynesworth will miss the next two games with a sprained knee, while defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch is also sidelined for the next two weeks after having surgery on his groin.

Sure it is good news if you compare it to the potential catastrophe that would have been the alternative: Haynesworth and KVB out through the playoffs, but it's never a good thing when two of the team's best players will be trying to get back into the flow of things during a playoff game.

"Any time he is not in there it is definitely a problem,'' safety Chris Hope said. "Our guys have come in and played well ... but consistently without Albert Haynesworth it is definitely something we have to be concerned about.''

Jason Jones will replace Haynesworth in the lineup while the Titans have gotten plenty of experience at playing without Vanden Bosch, who has missed four games and parts of a couple of others already. In fact Jacob Ford (six sacks) and Dave Ball (four sacks) have produced nearly as much of a pass rush as Vanden Bosch.

But the key is to get Haynesworth back. WIthout the big man in the middle, the rest of the Titans' defense is not nearly as frightening, but with Haynesworth destroying double teams, everyone else's job gets a whole lot easier.