Just a quick post for now, but the Tennessee Titans’ preseason win streak at LP Field is over as the Washington Redskins rallied for a 22-21 victory tonight. The Titans got big touchdown runs from both Chris Johnson and Shonn Greene in the first half and re-took the lead in the fourth quarter, but their third- and fourth-stringers couldn’t get the stop they needed against Washington’s third- and fourth-stringers for a victory.
While I didn’t highlight him specifically in my preview, Jake Locker looked like a quarterback in a first preseason start, attempting a lot of short passes and finishing 7 of 11 for 58 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions and two sacks, both at least heavily influenced by protection breakdowns rather than his fault. He ended up playing 25/26 plays, about as long as the Titans indicated, and the overwhelming amount of his work was dinking and dunking. Nothing too unusual for a first preseason game, especially with a revamped offensive line.
Both touchdown runs were in large part the product of excellent blocking, with Craig Stevens getting the seal on CJ’s 58 yarder and Chance Warmack crushing a defensive back on Greene’s 19 yard romp. Both also featured the back taking advantage of Redskins safety Baccari Rambo. That play was Warmack’s highlight on an up-and-down night-one of Locker’s sacks came from getting beat by Ryan Kerrigan on a lousy first series where he was also beat on CJ’s only other carry.
Like Warmack, the defense seemed to be up and down some. With RG3 out, Kirk Cousins played two drives, one ending in a score. I thought the run defenders struggled to find their fits at times, and the Redskins had more success on the ground more consistently than I’m sure Jerry Gray wanted. I didn’t notice anybody particularly standing out on defense. Lavar Edwards had the only sack, of the cleanup variety. Karl Klug had some success with interior penetration and some play that seemed less impactful at defensive end. Even as the second man in, too many passes were completed in Tommie Campbell’s vicinity. Tackling as a whole was also not impressive.
More on this game later, after a re-watch.
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