Key Takeaways From the Titans Victory Over the Saints

Written By Jack Loeb

Well, the Titans have officially ended their preseason and are now locked in to the Chicago Bears in 2 weeks time after going 3-0 in the postseason. The Titans 30-27 victory against the Saints was anything but boring. The starting offense moved the ball well in light of playing against the Saints backups on defense. However, it was still good to see how the offense as a whole operated and that both Levis and Mason Rudolph were kept clean by the starting OL. Levis was nearly perfect for the Titans two drives. Levis went 7/8 118 yards and two scoring drives. Tony Pollard was responsible for most of the yards in total. He finished with 17 yards rushing, 27 yards receiving, and 1 TD from the goal line. Whereas, Tyjae Spears didn’t get involved much with the first team offense. He did however see more snaps when Rudolph took charge of the offense. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine also made a couple of nice catches along with former Seattle pick up Nick Vannett who was heavily featured with the starting offense. Rudolph played solid football once again after going 11/15 and 114 yards. Unless Coach Callahan inconceivably pictures Willis as a more polished passer than Rudolph; I’d say Rudolph will most definitely be QB2 going into the season.

When the offense was at the helm with Willis in their first stint they struggled mightily to protect him in the third quarter. During his second drive things were a bit easier for him as he opened up with a big gain on a read-option sprung loose by Odukoya. Later ,on the same drive, Willis hit Bryce Oliver with a beautiful 34 yard TD pass, and a crucial TD catch on a slant in the end zone. Bryce Oliver is certainly making his case to get signed to the Practice Squad if not the main roster. He’s had a good preseason thus far. If an injury in season occurs I can see Oliver getting called up as the 6th WR. For now I don’t see how he fits unless Callahan makes the decision to cut Burks, which is conceivable but unlikely.

Defensively the Titans played well against the 2nd string New Orleans Saints. T’Vondre Sweat had two tackles for no gain and applied pressure on a crucial third down play. After all the hoopla about Sweat during the offseason it’s nice to see that he can be a force defensively. Keep in mind this is without Jeffrey Simmons lined up next to him. By week 1 we could see some fireworks from the two D-Lineman. The corners were less than spectacular outside of McCreary’s one PBU. Brownlee Jr. gave up a 21 yard TD trailing Equanimeous Saint Brown as Mike Brown was a tad late getting to the outside from his safety position. The best defensive CB’s today happened to be the hands of the New Orleans Saints WR corps. They dropped more passes than I can count when they had no business not catching the football. Thankfully, those issues shouldn’t spill over into the regular season as L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie will play at a high level.

Special teams was certainly an interesting group this game. Jha’Quan Jackson had several good returns via punt and kickoff. Eric Garror also had a nice punt return in the 3rd quarter — although he’s unlikely to make the team—then followed that up with a great return at the end of the game to set the Titans up in great field position with the game on the line. Ryan Stonehouse made his return punting the ball with a good boot inside the Saints’ 10 twice. Brayden Narveson nearly had a 59 yard go through the uprights but it was about 2 yards shy and to the right. However, for the more routine kicks he nailed going 2/3 overall on FG’s. Let’s not forget this enormous display of hustle from Thomas Odukoya to save a TD at the end of half. It’s not often a TE runs 150+ yards to save a play.

There were a few backend Titans that really showed up today and they include: Eric Garror, Thomas Odukoya, David Martin-Robinson, Jabari Small,and Nick Vannett. It will be interesting to see how the roster cutdown shakes out for those players. Coach Callahan is certainly in an unenviable situation position of making the roster cuts. I could see the Titans going in so many different directions with the backend guys. However, in a couple days time we’ll have all the answers we need. Hopefully some of the standout guys from the preseason find a role on the practice squad if they don’t get scooped up.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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