Tennessee Titans face tough schedule to end of preseason
By Les Bailey
By the time the Tennessee Titans take to the field on Sunday night to take on former head coach Jeff Fisher and the St Louis Rams, it will have been 10 days since they saw action against the Atlanta Falcons. Things will be more intense through the remainder of their schedule.
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Ken Whisenhunts young team will only have five days to prepare for an away game in Kansas City next Friday and come home to host the Minnesota Vikings on September 3rd.
If you are counting, that turns out to be three games in the span of 11 days as preseason activities wind down.
For that reason, coaches are running very active practices, and are trying desperately trying to find pieces along the offensive line that has a little chemistry.
It was apparent after the 31-24 loss to the Falcons in the preseason opener at the Georgia Dome, that the starting O-line struggled in the early going.
They struggled to protect the new franchise quarterback, and were unable to open any holes in the running game for second-year running back, Bishop Sankey.
Sankey’s 1.9 yard per carry was anemic to say the least against arguably one of the NFL’s worse run defenses during the 2014 season.
Things will not get any easier on Sunday night against one of the better defenses in the league, so there has been some tinkering this week, and veteran guard, Andy Levitre may well be looking for a new job and new team before the 2015 season gets underway in Tampa on September 13th.
The practice sessions started out earlier in the week with everyone getting snaps with the first team, while later in the week, Levitre started to see fewer snaps with the first team.
David Climer at the Tennessean reported today that Byron Bell has started to see a lot of snaps at left guard, with third-round draft pick Jeremiah Poutasi and Jamon Meredith getting most of the snaps at right tackle next to veteran, Chance Warmack.
The Titans offensive line is very much a work in progress, and coach Ken Whisenhunt said after practice the team is trying to find the right combination up front.
When asked after the Thursday practice about his playing time with the first team O-line(or lack of) the seven-year pro had this to say:
"“I’m not really going to get into that. You’d have to ask Whisenhunt for that.”"
The big problem with the situation is of course, $$! Levitre got a huge contract when he signed with the Titans in 2013, and he is among the highest paid Titans.
Levitre’s four-year $46.8 million deal makes his 2015 base salary $6.5 million with another $2.1 million for part of his signing bonus. That’s totals up to a $8.6 million cap hit whether he plays of not.
That’s a lot of money tied up in a guy riding the pine, but if he can’t protect your franchise quarterback, maybe it’s time to gulp!! bite the bullet and like Shonn Green, show him the door.
It sounds like he may already have an attitude, and the Titans don’t need another locker room cancer with all of the young ears in the room.
Whisenhunt had this to say about the situation:
"“Like we said, we’re rotating through and looking at different guys,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve made any secret about that. Nothing’s changed. He’s gotten reps with a whole bunch of different groups like others have.”"
With game two and three being the last chance for the starters to get work, and the tight schedule, the Titans need to get the O-line at least partly sorted out this week.
I also expect to see running back, David Cobb getting some time with the first team on Sunday night. If the rookie out of Minnesota has any success, it may spell the end of Bishop Sankey as well.