Tennessee Titans: A Look at Preseason Game 4
By Les Bailey
The Tennessee Titans, like all 32 teams in the NFL will take to the field for the final game of the preseason schedule tonight. The Titans will face the Minnesota Viking in the finale which kicks off at 8:00PM Eastern(7:00 local) at Nissan Field in Nashville.
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The latsest word is that we may see rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota for a series and probably no more. Mariota has proven himself in the three previous games, and why take a chance getting him hurt before the regular season starts on September 13th in Tampa Bay.
The keys to this game have more to do with the defense, but several jobs on the offense are up for scrutiny, especially with wide receivers, and backup quarterback, Zach Mettenberger can handle the passing.
The team must make a cut down to 53 players prior to Saturday evening, and you have to think there are some wide receivers on the bubble.
I think Hakeem Nicks will need to have a good night against the Vikes in order to make the cut, and I’m not too sure Justin Hunter is not close to finding works someplace else as well.
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt was high on the former Tennessee Vol coming out of training camp, but Hunter turned in a less than stellar performance against the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night.
He also missed a couple of practices this week, and will have a little rust when the game kicks tonight, but I think will need to go after some passes if he wants to be here Sunday morning.
The offensive line will get a final test tonight, with Byron Bell at left guard, and Jeremiah Poutasi at right tackle.
This has been the most productive the line has been during the preseason since game one, and I think Whisenhunt wants to see just a little more before we get to the business of the regular season and settling the starting five.
The first team defense has been pretty bad, especially against good quarterbacks like Matt Ryan, and Alex Smith, but they have not played much with outside linebackers and the teams top pass rushers, Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan.
Don’t expect to see much of those two tonight against the Vikings. The backups will have to carry the load especially Jonathan Massaquoi, Deiontrez Mount and Andy Studebaker.
The defense fell behind in games one and three, so lets see if they can get some pressure on the quarterback tonight, and let’s see if Zach Brown can make some tackles.
Nose tackle, Sammie Hill will not be available for the early part of the season due to injuries, so look for a lot of snaps for Angelo Blackson in the finale’
We should get a good look at Blidi Wreh-Wilson as he returns from his ankle problems. BWW has missed a lot of the preseason so far, and will get a lot of work tonight.
If the Titans want to consider trading Zach Mettenberger for some defensive help, they will need a good showing from the second-year QB tonight.
I personally don’t think they should trade Mett until around the trading deadline in November if they are going to move him. Let’s keep him around and get a real sense of security with Marcus Mariota, and hope he doesn’t get injured again.
Next: Marcus Mariota to Start Game 4