Whitehurst completed nine passes off of 14 pass attempts for 78 yards in Sunday's win over Miami. Whitehurst came in to replace an injured Matt Hasselbeck, who is reportedly not optimistic about playing in Week 17, Kevin Bowen of Colts.com reports.
Whitehurst entered the game late in the second quarter and the Colts offensive approach changed dramatically. With Matt Hasselback under center, Indianapolis dropped back on 16 of 23 plays. Whitehurst, however, dropped back just 14 times on 30 plays. The fact that the Colts were nursing a lead can be cited as a reason for the team's conservative approach, but with their backup quarterback sporting a QB rating of just 50.3 it is hard to blame them. With Week 17 representing a must-win situation for Indianapolis, expect the team to keep their fingers crossed that Hasselbeck or Luck get healthy. Otherwise it will be Whitehurst taking on a Tennessee defense that, surprisingly, entered the week ranked No. 9 against the pass.