Tennessee Titans crush Falcons in preseason opener: 4 Takeaways

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 13: Cameron Batson #13 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons during the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 13, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 13: Cameron Batson #13 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons during the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 13, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Logan Woodside, Tennessee Titans
Logan Woodside, Tennessee Titans (Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports) /

3. Tennessee Titans offense, the backup quarterback competition

The offense was not anything special tonight, which was to be expected due to the backups playing.  They did much of their damage in the running game, as only 23 of their 60 offensive plays went through the air.

Mekhi Sargent and Brian Hill showed that they have potential as legit backups for Derrick Henry, and Darrynton Evans was looking strong before he went out with an injury on the second drive.  It would have been nice to see Todd Downing call more passing plays, but the offensive line’s ineffectiveness made it impractical to do so.

It is too bad because Logan Woodside actually looked decent.  Besides one errant throw, he looked poised and dropped a dime to Cameron Batson for the team’s first touchdown of the game.  He also made a great throw to rookie Mason Kinsey on a fourth-down play, who also looked pretty good in his debut.

Matt Barkley did not look bad either, and he did throw a touchdown pass to rookie Miller Forristall in the fourth quarter.  The quality of throws he made were not as good as Woodside’s, so he should be second on the depth chart for the Titans as of right now.

4. Here’s the bad news about this Tennessee Titans team

While this was a very good game for the Titans, it was far from perfect.  The glaring issue the entire night was the offensive line, and mainly the tackles David Quessenberry and Christian DiLauro got beat all night.  The starters better stay healthy the entire season, because there is no reason to have faith in the backups after this game.

Trending. Titans who will play smaller roles than expected. light

Besides the aforementioned injuries to McCann and Evans, the Titans suffered several more injuries throughout the night.  The names of the players who went down include Brady Breeze, Trevon Coley, and BJ Bello.  It is reasonable to assume that these injuries were mainly due to the team still re-adjusting to game speed, but let’s hope this does not have to do with the lack of conditioning in training camp.