Tennessee Titans first preseason game review: Offense
Participation Information
Let me stress these numbers are unofficial and you should not trust them. I track them to the best of my ability, but this is my first time getting a look at a number of guys in a Titans uniform.
Matt Hasselbeck lined up at quarterback 16 times, including one play where the Titans called a timeout. Jake Locker was in 19 times, including one timeout. Rusty Smith got 27 plays, including one false start (assuming he was in the one play the Seahawks broadcast didn't show), while Nick Stephens got the final six plays.
The Titans rolled out the following offensive lines:
Roos-Hutchinson-Velasco-Harris-Stewart: 24 times (all of Hasselbeck's plays plus Locker's first two drives)
Stingily-Durand-Velasco-Matthews-Otto: 11 times (the rest of the first half, including the rest of Locker's plays)
Stingily-Durand-Matthews-DeVan-Otto: 27 times (Rusty!)
Stingily-Bias-Morris-Vlachos-Kropog: 6 times (Nick!)
N.B. The Gamebook lists Chris Morris as Did Not Play. At least in this case, the Gamebook is wrong.
The Titans used the following running backs: Chris Johnson-17 times; Javon Ringer-18 times; Jamie Harper-7 times; Darius Reynaud-12 times; and Herb Donaldson-11 times.
The Titans used the following fullbacks: Quinn Johnson-10 times; Collin Mooney-9 times; and TE Cam Graham-once.
Tight ends: Craig Stevens-15 times, Jared Cook-19 times, Taylor Thompson-29 times, and Cam Graham-17 times (not including as FB).
Wide receivers, and here's where the count is most likely to be wrong: Nate Washington-14 times, Kendall Wright-32 times (on 35 first-half chances), Damian Williams-25 times, Lavelle Hawkins-15 times, Marc Mariani-13 times, Michael Preston-17 times, James Kirkendoll-19 times, D.J. Woods-8 times (maybe), Devn Aguilar-5 times (maybe), LaQuinton Evans-6 times (probably), and Chase Deadder-2 times (maybe). I did not see Marcus Harris in the game, and the Gamebook lists him as Did Not Play.
Miscellaneous Notes
- On CJ's first carry, a 4-yard loss, Jason Jones wrecked Leroy Harris and then Quinn Johnson to blow up the play.
- Quinn Johnson remains a real tough watch at fullback, rarely making an effective block.
- I noted this on Twitter, but the Titans showed a couple times Craig Stevens in-line and Jared Cook in the slot, which wasn't something they ran much last year.
- At this point, it's probably fair to assume "Chris Johnson doesn't dance when he sees a defender" is one of the signs of the impending apocalypse.
- First timeout appeared to be on Fernando Velasco not snapping the ball despite Hasselbeck calling for it.
- Hasselbeck had good chemistry with Washington last year, and that continued over this game.
- I don't feel too badly about either of Hasselbeck's interception. The first was obviously a fluke aftermultiple deflections. On the second, he clearly determined pre-snap he was throwing deep for Williams against man coverage and Sherman just beat D-Will to the ball in the same way Edwards would later beat Tommie Campbell.
- The Seahawks' second-team defense was in as of Locker's first possession. He played with every Titans starter except Washington for at least one series, so it's worth taking his numbers with a grain of salt.
- Unless the short pass to Stevens was a real fastball, that's a catch Craig has to make if he's going to get the additional targets I (and tight ends coach John Zernhelt) want him to get. Note Wright almost catches the ball off the deflection, which I'm guessing meant he wasn't in the exact right place he should've been again.
- The later fourth down incompletion to Williams on the sprint right option looked like another fastball from Locker.
- The Titans went shotgun empty-formation with Locker a fair amount, with Ringer in the game but split out wide. They went hurry-up as well, forcing the Seahawks to use a timeout in the two-minute drill and the refs to stop the game one other time.
- Kendall Wright gained at least 15 yards on all of his receptions, but I didn't think any of them was more than 10 yards downfield. Overall, I had him with 18 YAC on 47 receiving yards.
- Harper ran with more decisiveness, but still tried to bounce everything.
- On Rusty's deep pass to Mariani, it seemed like Thompson may have been just as fine a target in the seam on the other side. Still a good throw/catch.
- Good job by Ryan Durand and particularly Kevin Matthews blocking on Reynaud's TD run. Matthews blocked his DL, allowing Durand to get to the second-level clean, then made joined Durand in making another block at the second level.
- On the other hand, Matthews and Kyle DeVan both got wrecked by the defensive tackles on Jamie Harper's draw when the Titans were at the 4. Ugly stuff.
- Mixed results at LT for Byron Stingily. Some okay blocks, some not so good ones. Failed to pick up a delayed blitzer, forcing a dumpoff. I was not impressed by Kyle DeVan at RG.
- Remember Troy Kropog, fourth-round draft pick? Yeah, neither do the Titans.
- Despite his work, Michael Preston did not have the ball thrown his way once. Aside from maybe once, this appeared to be the result of pre-snap reads pointing elsewhere, making it effectively impossible to evaluate his performance.
I attended about 70% of Locker's college games and watched all other's (multiple times) on TV. I don't remember him firing rockets like this in college very often. He's putting heat on almost every throw. Anyone have an opinion why Palmer is not having him tone it down a notch? I'm an old tight end and the anticipation of every pass being thrown this hard makes it tough on the pass catchers.
My second question is why isn't he being Coached better on using his eyes and head to look off receivers in order to freeze the defense?
All that said, I still think he has a good chance to be a long time starter and an above average one ... that's what I'm hoping for.
@duane_allman Yeah, he's really ripping passes. Maybe it was nerves, maybe he was just overthrowing. I haven't seen a lot of people talking about seeing that in training camp. We'll see if it happens again this week.
Eye discipline is certainly something he needs to work on. You did see it a couple times last year. Maybe it's the lack of gameplanning. Again, something to watch this week.
As always, thanks for commenting.
Good write up Tom...I was wondering your impression of CJ and the run game. CJ looking like he was running hard, was making moves and was avoiding tackles. He did not look like he was avoiding contact and curling up in the fetal position like last season. That was good to see. The run blocking though is atrocious still. I don't know why they cannot fix this, but perhaps it is a lack of talent on the o-line. Harris is not an NFL caliber starting guard in my opinion. Cj drops on those screen passes was inexcusable.
I think Locker looked really good and in control of the offense. Things seemed to run better when he was in there compared to Hasselback. I do not give Hasselback a pass on his interception on the throw intended for Damian Williams. That was a horrible throw. He overthrew Williams and it was into double coverage. If you watch the replay, Jared Cook was open going down the seam. If Hasselback throws it there, it is a first down.
Washington and Wright looked good and Wright is certainly fast.
That end around to Lavelle Hawkins was pathetic...That play ruined Locker's first drive (maybe it was his second) because it end up as a 3 and 20-something. Also, Damian Williams dropped a couple of Locker's passes, especially the one on fourth down. Do you think Locker is throwing too hard?
Jamie Harper is garbage. I am tired of seeing him try to get the edge on every run..he is so slow.
And I agree with you on Quinn Johnson. It appears all he does is run towards the line of scrimmage and get in CJ's way...it would be nice if he blocked a defender...I am not sure what the coaches see in that guy
@dragak1981 I didn't see anything that made me think either the blocking or CJ would be significantly improved. This game reminded me of the Panthers preseason game back in 2010, which I thought presaged a number of the problems we saw that year we didn't see in 2009.
I think if Hasselbeck doesn't lock on to Williams early, Thomas in his single-high position shuts down the seam route to Cook. As it was, Hasselbeck got the throw down the sidelines fast enough that Thomas wasn't a factor.
That Locker passes looked like vintage Michael Vick-style bullets to me.
I think if the Titans could cure Harper of the urge to bounce everything, he can be sort of decent. As much as I hated LenDale, he made that transition.
As always, thanks for commenting.
