Surprise! It was a good practice for Titans, Cam Ward versus champion Seahawks | Estes
· Yahoo Sports
This could’ve been bad. You know it. I know it.
Visit een-wit.pl for more information.
The Tennessee Titans, winners of six games in two seasons, had struggled the previous week against a good NFC West team. The San Francisco 49ers, clearly, were better than the Titans. And the Seattle Seahawks, last season’s Super Bowl champs and current “Hard Knocks” darlings, might be even better than the 49ers.
So imagine my surprise in being able to tell you that …
The Titans held their own against these Seahawks.
No, really. They might’ve even come out ahead. If you made me pick a winner of this Aug. 21 joint practice in Nashville, I’d think about it. But I’d end up raising the Titans’ arm, and it was clear among the Titans that they came away from this practice feeling good about themselves.
“Felt like we had a great day,” Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said.
The Titans’ highlight, defensively, was a pick-six by cornerback Alontae Taylor in a late 2-minute drill.
(For more on the Titans’ defense, please check out my Tennessean teammate Nick Suss’ work. He was monitoring that field during practice.)
Offensively, Titans quarterback Cam Ward – outside of a pick-six of his own – was consistently successful dinking and dunking and finding teammates with short throws. Ward started 5-for-5 in 11-on-11 and ended up 20-of-26 in those team possessions. Wan’Dale Robinson and Gunnar Helm each figured prominently, as did the running backs. It wasn’t sexy, but it moved the chains throughout.
"When you play a defense like Seattle,” Ward said, “they really don't give up the big play. So you've got to beat them with the underneath looks, and you've got to beat them with run-after-catch for receivers. You've got to make those guys tackle. So we stuck to what we felt we had to do to have a productive day.
“It ended up paying dividends for us all over practice, and it's something that me and the receivers have to continue to harp on so we don't overdo something unless the time comes to it.”
Bounce back continues for Cam Ward
The difference in Ward was that he looked confident zipping the ball around against a highly respected defense. He typically knew where to go. He didn’t appear rushed when he was flushed from the pocket by the Seahawks’ interior pressure. And he made plays.
He scrambled and threw a dart back to Elic Ayomanor for an early touchdown in 7-on-7. He found Robinson with a deep ball soon after that. He hit Calvin Ridley in stride on a beautiful crossing route that Ridley would’ve had the chance to take the distance in a game.
For Ward, this practice a noticeable step in the right direction. It capped what has been a nice bounce-back week for him after a poor preseason game against the 49ers.
“He’s had days where he’s played elite quarterback. I’m sure he wants to have a couple of days back,” Titans coach Robert Saleh said approvingly of Ward. “But I think you can make the case that more often than not, he’s doing a hell of a job.”
As for the bad?
Ward’s pick-six to Seattle’s Ty Okada was a terrible throw over the middle. Okada read it perfectly and jumped the route. That can’t happen.
Another major gripe offensively: Rookie Carnell Tate didn’t have catch (though one likely reception was nullified by a defensive pass interference against him) and he dropped one pass during a brief low point in the Titans’ day offensively.
That was about the time that Seattle’s first defense, which was practicing without linebacker (and “Hard Knocks” star) Derick Hall, woke up after a slow start. The Seahawks began to stuff runs and pressure Ward, with rookie right guard Fernado Carmona being exposed a couple of times in pass protection.
Titans end strong
The Seahawks probably weren’t thrilled with their No. 2 and No. 3 defenses during this practice. Titans backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky had perhaps his best day of this training camp. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 Titans offenses drove for touchdowns during 2-minute work to end the practice.
On that final drive, Ward threw deep to Ayomanor and drew a defensive pass interference. That was followed by Ward rolling out and finding tight end Daniel Bellinger in the end zone as time expired. Then Trubisky beat a Seattle blitz by finding Xavier Restrepo all by himself in the middle of the field.
That would’ve been the best part of the day, offensively, if it wasn’t for how well the Titans continued to run the ball, especially against the Seahawks’ second and third units. That’s been a recurring preseason theme for this offense. It looks like it’ll be able to run the ball.
Extra Points
- Ascending Titans linebacker James Williams continues to work with the top defense and had a few impressive pass break-ups.
- PGA Tour golfer Brandt Snedeker of Nashville attended practice alongside Titans radio announcer Taylor Zarzour (who calls golf, too) and was greeted afterward by several of the football players. Snedeker has a big stretch ahead of him. He’ll be captaining the U.S. team at the Presidents Cup in late September.
- Titans kicker Joey Slye made all seven field goal attempts against the Seahawks during that portion of practice. It’s probably time to shelve that mid-camp storyline of the Titans trying out other kickers.
Quotable
“They may be hungry. We’re starving.” – Jeffery Simmons on the Seahawks.
“The defense is going to be really good this year.” – Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold on the Titans.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Surprise! It was a good practice for Titans, Cam Ward versus champion Seahawks | Estes