Preseason Tennessee Titans vs. Jets: Quick Recap
By Luke Worsham
The Tennessee Titans just finished their first preseason game of 2017, falling to the New York Jets by a score of 7-3. Here’s a quick list of ten things that stood out during the game.
1. Mariota is back. During his limited action Saturday night, quarterback Marcus Mariota showed that he has indeed fully recovered from the leg fracture that ended his 2016 season. He completed a pass on the run to Rishard Matthews for a 15 yard gain on the first play of the game.
2. Ryan got torched. On the Titans’ first defensive series of the game, cornerback Logan Ryan gave up a 53 yard completion to receiver Robby Anderson on a go route. Ryan was in complete chase mode for the latter part of the route, and Josh McCown made a nice throw.
3. McCain gave up a TD. Nickel cornerback Brice McCain gave up a red-zone touchdown to Jets WR Charone Peake on the first drive of the game. He was playing a slot Cover 2 technique and completely neglected to cover Peake. It’s fair to wonder if Logan Ryan could see some time at nickel in the future.
4. Stout run defense. From the start, the Titans’ run defense did a nice job of stopping everything the Jets threw at them. Jurrell Casey and Kevin Byard each had a good night, both making multiple tackles for a loss.
5. Good day for Douglas. Receiver Harry Douglas, who is fighting for Tre McBride and Eric Weems for a roster spot, looked pretty good when he was on the field Saturday night. He ran several crisp routes, got open, and made really good catches in traffic.
6. Tanney took a beating. From the very first snap he took in relief of Marcus Mariota, quarterback Alex Tanney was under constant pressure. He was sacked seven times, including a hit on his first snap of the evening that forced him to come out of the game and be evaluated for an injury. As a result, he didn’t look very good. He struggled with his accuracy and threw a bad interception to Ronald Martin.
7. Big game for Brown. Fifth-round rookie linebacker Jayon Brown, who has been one of the more impressive for the Titans throughout the entirety of their offseason program and Training Camp, played tremendously against the Jets. He made four tackles, one for a loss, and did a nice job of covering tight-ends.
8. Plenty of touches for Taylor. As has been the case throughout all of Training Camp, the Titans’ offensive coaching staff made a distinct effort to get the ball into the hands of rookie receiver Taywan Taylor. He was targeted a team-high eight times in the passing game, and even ran for a nine yard gain on an end-around. His biggest play of the night was a 42 yard catch on a deep ball from Alex Tanney.
9. Third down inefficiency. Brett Kern got a good amount of work in during the Titans’ preseason opener. He punted the ball eight times, and backup punter Jordan Gay punted twice. The multitude of punting came as a result of the Titans being incredibly inefficient on third down throughout the game, They converted only three of their fifteen third down snaps for a pathetic percentage of 20%.
10. It was boring. The game was one of the sloppiest and most boring preseason games for the Titans franchise in recent memory. Hopefully things will be much more entertaining when Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey, and the Carolina Panthers come to Nashville next weekend.
Stay tuned to the site and @Titan_Sized on Twitter tomorrow for more in-depth analysis of the game.