With starters limited in preseason games, perhaps the most important work the Titans will get all training camp is happening this week on the practice field as they host the Seahawks in a pair of joint practices at Ascension St. Thomas Sports Park.
The Titans top offensive and defensive units played brief stints in Saturday’s preseason-opening win over the 49ers, but they were on the field for the majority of Wednesday’s two-and-a-half-hour practice, ramping up the competition against a new opponent.
“It was good,” Titans head coach Brian Callahan said. “There was a lot of talking and jawing, but that’s football. We all played within the rules today and I thought that was good. We’re going to take it to the edge. That’s how it works, and they are too. But it was good to see it not escalate past that and we played good clean football for most of that practice.”
The competition was evident right from the very first one-on-one period at the beginning of practice. The back and forth continued throughout the day, allowing both sides to take away some positives while knowing there’s still a lot they can improve upon.
“It was up and down,” Titans quarterback Will Levis said. “We need more consistency. I thought we showed some good things. It was a good test for us and I’m proud of how we went out there and operated, but yeah, we just have to be more consistent.”
The practice serves as a good stress test for the Titans’ understanding of their new offensive and defensive schemes. It also allows the entire roster to show what they can do while learning from a new opponent.
“Especially for young guys who maybe haven’t played a lot of ball, or it’s their first time in the league, it’s good to see and get a feel for different teams and what they do,” Titans Safety Amani Hooker said. “You know, different techniques that guys do against you, you might pick that up and learn how to counter it.”
The defense seemingly had a good day. Jeffery Simmons and company consistently put pressure on Geno Smith and the Seattle quarterbacks.
And while the secondary did give up a long touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf, it also delivered a pick-six as Eric Garror intercepted a tipped pass and returned it for a touchdown.
“I think we had a helluva day,” Simmons said. “The front – I’d seen guys getting out of stacks and running to the ball. I don’t know how many sacks we had today. We had helluva sacks today and it’s just good to get work from another team.”
The Seahawk's defense provided their own test. Similar in scheme to what the Titans now do under Dennard Wilson, they brought consistent pressure from multiple levels.
Seattle also boasts one of the league’s best secondaries with Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen at cornerback and Julian Love at safety.
“It’s great, man, when you play against great players with great instincts like (Seattle),” Titans Tight End Chig Okonkwo said. “(Witherspoon), (Woolen), (Love), all those guys are really good on the back end. So if we’re able to beat them we’ll be really confident going against a lot of different guys.”
The Titans' first unit was pretty clean but struggled at times to consistently move the ball. Will Levis and Calvin Ridley just missed on two deep balls on a couple of the rare chances they had to stretch the field.
The biggest highlights came from the backups. Mason Rudolph threw a pair of touchdowns to rookie Jha’Quan Jackson, who showed his speed by catching both balls across the middle and running away from everyone. Malik Willis also delivered a couple of nice balls to receiver Bryce Oliver.
“There’s definitely times that you get frustrated or you get angry that we left something out there or I thought that we could’ve executed a particular play better,” Callahan said. “The flip side is that too, though, that you get to see where you’re at and where you need to go. It’s more for us, though, trying to evaluate our players against their players, and getting an evaluation against someone else other than our own people.”
Now the Titans will look to clean up the mistakes and take the next step on Thursday as they practice once more against the Seahawks. With starters on both sides not expected to play much in Saturday’s preseason game, they are looking at these practices like they are games.
The intensity was there Wednesday and they promised to dial it up once again for another good day of work Thursday.
“I definitely learned a lot,” Titans Wide Receiver Calvin Ridley said. “I’ve never went against these guys ever, so tomorrow should be better because now I’ve got an idea a little bit on them. So I’m excited for tomorrow and I’m definitely competitive, so I’m going to be ready.”
Several players hobbled off the field or required attention towards the end of a long, hot day of work. Titans rookie left tackle J.C. Latham appeared to be favoring his left leg towards the end of practice and receiver Treylon Burks hobbled into the locker room after pulling up on a deep route late in practice, but Callahan said that both were just struggling with cramps.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Steve.Layman@newschannel5.com
Most Popular
Comments / 0