Out again

McNichols (concussion) is out for Sunday's game in New England, Turron Davenport of ESPN.com reports.

McNichols still hasn't returned to practice and now will miss a second straight game. Last week, Dontrell Hilliard stepped in as the passing-down back and caught eight of 10 targets for 47 yards in a 22-13 loss to the Texans, adding seven rushes for 35 yards while playing 63 percent of snaps on offense. That's a bigger workload than McNichols has seen all year, and while a repeat isn't likely, Hilliard does have less competition for playing time with both McNichols and Adrian Peterson (released) out of the lineup. It appears the injury-ravaged Tennessee offense will have D'Onta Foreman as the lead runner and Hilliard as the substitute and passing-down back this Sunday against a red-hot Patriots defense, though the Titans also have RB Rodney Smith as a backfield option from the practice squad.