Tennessee Titans first preseason game review

SELF-PUBLICITY NOTE: Football Outsiders Almanac 2015, the annual tome previewing all 32 NFL teams, plus the college football season put out by Football Outsiders, is now available. I was a contributor for the sixth consecutive season, writing the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and, yes, once again, Tennessee Titans chapters. The PDF is currently available from the Football Outsiders website, while the dead tree version is now on Amazon. Buy it, buy it, buy it! /end plug  

So, the Tennessee Titans played a preseason game Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons. I gave some thoughts about the game afterwards, but those were mostly cursory notes based on a live viewing with no to modest rewinding. Thus, this post, based on a more comprehensive analysis where I sat in front of my TV for a window significantly longer than the time the game actually took. Like my past preseason game reviews, that the Titans lost the game 31-24 is mostly irrelevant to the substance of my comments, which are about how individual players performed. Like those past reviews, I will go position by position with an implied depth chart, playing time notes, and whatever insight I managed to glean from the Atlanta Falcons local broadcast shown to those of us watching on NFL Network.

General disclaimers apply in spades to this game. Preseason production values sometimes made player identification difficult. I do not have coaching film available and end zone/overhead camera angles were rarely shown, so judging things like passing windows, coverage, and just how big a running lane actually was was somewhere between difficult and impossible. What I write below, as is the case in about every post I write but is even more true here, is what I saw and think about what I think I saw, not definitive statement of fact. Snap counts are the official ones from the gamebook.

Quarterback
1. Marcus Mariota (20 snaps)
2. Zach Mettenberger (25 snaps)
3. Charlie Whitehurst (10 snaps)
4. Alex Tanney (7 snaps)

Mariota’s play got all the ink out of the game. I stand by most of my postgame comments. When he got the ball out, he did well aside from the failure to kill the screen pass that wasn’t there. There were a couple decisions I wasn’t sure about, one the 4-yard completion to Fasano when the other out, to Wright, probably would have produced more yards after catch. That might have been the read on the play, though. The other was highlighted by on Twitter during the game Chris Brown of Smart Football; when Mariota’s first read to the outside was covered, he skipped over Wright open in the slot right to the open checkdown for Coffman. Decent play, just could’ve been a better one. The wheel to Andrews was probably his best throw.

The negative plays…
1. The 11-yard loss sack Brian Schwenke tripped over Chance Warmack (more on this later) was a bad look. There was time, but Mariota seemed to flinch with the rusher bearing down on him. A more experienced quarterback (a) doesn’t do that and (b) finds one of his options; Jalston Fowler was open in the left flat, while Bishop Sankey was also heading out on a checkdown and the ball could’ve been thrown his direction. I had initial contact with Mariota at about 3.0 sacks, which makes this neither a quick nor a long sack.
2. Screen pass to Sankey the next play that was intercepted, Mariota should simply have killed the play and thrown the ball at Sankey’s feet. It just wasn’t set up.
3. The fumble-sack. Warmack got whipped, and as Ken Whisenhunt mentioned in his postgame presser and this video shows, the ball got knocked out of Mariota’s hands. I didn’t write down the time, but I want to say it was around 2.1 seconds, so a quick sack. Mariota had space to step up into, so if he senses the pressure he avoids this, but it’s on the OL.

On the whole, I think what we saw was a lot of Marcus Mariota, the Task-Oriented Quarterback, executing tasks. I’ve grown mostly comfortable that my worst fears about Mariota’s transition won’t be absolutely true, but at the same time I didn’t see him break the task-oriented mold. Stock neither up nor down based on what I saw.

Given that I don’t see any “who makes the team” or interesting pecking order questions with the other quarterbacks, I’ll give them short shrift. Mettenberger started off okay, looked composed and poised enough, but the intercepted deep ball to Hunter was underthrown and I have no idea what was going on with his incompletion to Hunter at 3Q 11:10 but it sure didn’t look good. Charlie Whitehurst was fine, and the deep touchdown to Andrew Turzilli that wasn’t was a very nice throw. Alex Tanney showed nice touch on the 32-yard gain to Philip Supernaw.

Running back
Depth chart, more or less:
1. Bishop Sankey (16 snaps)
2. Antonio Andrews (18 snaps)
3. David Cobb (19 snaps)
4. David Fluellen (5 snaps)
Gadget: Dexter McCluster (8 snaps)

If you’re still not convinced Bishop Sankey is a good runner, he didn’t do anything this game to change your mind. I didn’t think Andrews did anything notable aside from the wheel route; blocking was pretty good on his touchdown run, and he only had a couple carries. The most notable thing was he got the third down work after Sankey left the game. Cobb started playing in the third quarter, and while he played on passing downs he went out on a pass route basically every time. His lone target was the final play of the game, and had no chance of going anywhere.

Cobb was the most prolific runner. I commented during the game he ran hard, and that observation held up on replay. He also had holes that weren’t present in the first half to take advantage of. My favorite run of his probably was the 2-yard gain at 3Q 3:35, where the blocking was a bit of a mess and he still managed to get a couple yards. The 6-yard gain at 3Q 12:20 was definitely not the speed to the edge of a 4.8 guy, but I never thought he was a 4.8 guy.

Fullback:
Jalston Fowler (10 snaps)

Fowler looked okay as a blocker. I did not notice him aligned anywhere other than as a fullback, and he got no carries or targets. He was the one who drew the hold on the opening kickoff. Andrews lined up in the backfield with McCluster a couple times, including once in an offset fullback/wing position, but those were all pass plays.

Wide receiver
Depth chart, more or less:
1. Hakeem Nicks (18 snaps)-Kendall Wright (15 snaps)-Harry Douglas (16 snaps)
2. Justin Hunter (24 snaps)-Dorial Green-Beckham (19 snaps)-Rico Richardson (18 snaps)
3. Tre McBride (17 snaps)-Jacoby Ford (5 snaps)-Andrew Turzilli (7 snaps)

In 2WR sets, we saw all three of Nicks-Wright, Nicks-Douglas, and Wright-Douglas with the first team, while the second was Hunter and Green-Beckham almost exclusively. After his offensive pass interference call his first play in the game, Turzilli did not see action for a while. Instead, McBride played with Richardson in 2WR sets and Ford came in to join them in 3WR sets.

Wright did well on his one reception, a wide receiver screen. Douglas had a couple catches from Mariota. Hunter had one reception where it looked like he tried to do something clever and eventually abandoned it for something simpler plus the two aforementioned ugly plays with Mettenberger. Green-Beckham had two go route targets, one where he adjusted okay and one where he never got on top of the cornerback despite a double move. There were moments where I thought McBride played 100 miles an hour, which isn’t surprising from a guy who probably knows he’s on the bubble. His fumble on a kickoff return, while it wasn’t called on the field, was something Ken Whisenhunt unsurprisingly didn’t like. Jacoby Ford is faster than defensive players who will get cut in a couple weeks, which is great if you want to convert a wide receiver screen in the second half of the first preseason game but didn’t actually tell me anything. As a believer offensive pass interference should be called more frequently, I had no issues with the call on Turzilli.

On the whole, it was kind of a quiet night for the wide receivers. Only Douglas and Ford had more than one grab, and nobody really got involved in the game. I was surprised to see Richardson play when he did, but I don’t know if I should have been. If you’re a Justin Hunter doubter (and I have been since before the Titans drafted him), you’re still one.

Tight end
Depth chart, more or less:
1. Anthony Fasano (18 snaps)
2. Craig Stevens (9 snaps)
3a-3b-3c. Philip Supernaw (23 snaps)-Chase Coffman (24 snaps)-Tevin Westbrook (23 snaps)

Supernaw, Coffman, and Westbrook were separated more by role and function than by usage (“complete,” receiving, blocking, roughly), as all three played regularly from when Fasano and Stevens went out to the end of the game. 12 personnel brought Supernaw and Westbrook on the field, while 11 was primarily Coffman and 21 was primarily Westbrook. Supernaw was the only one to see first string time, getting in the game on 13 personnel on the first play of the third series (I think the hold, while announced as on him, was probably on Stevens instead). Obviously Delanie Walker will be the key to this position when he’s healthy.

Fasano was solid and actually exceeded my expectations by turning a 7-yard catch into a 9-yard gain instead of an 8-yarder. Stevens was eh; not just the “Supernaw” hold but one other play I wanted him to do better on, not that it was an easy assignment. Coffman topped the team in receptions and receiving yards, but we know who and what he is at this point; the one play that of his that I liked was 3Q 2:58, when he got a couple yards of YAC I didn’t think he would to turn second-and-8 into a first down instead of third-and-short. On Supernaw’s big gain from Tanney, I was actually more impressed by McBride, who really sold his route and yanked zone defenders to open up the void. Supernaw and Westbrook were just okay blocking.

Offensive line
Depth chart, roughly:
1. LT Taylor Lewan (20 snaps)-LG Andy Levitre (20 snaps)-C Brian Schwenke (20 snaps)-RG Chance Warmack (20 snaps)-RT Byron Bell (21 snaps)
2. Byron Stingily (34 snaps)-Jamon Meredith (35 snaps)-Fernando Velasco (35 snaps)-Will Poehls (34 snaps)-Jeremiah Poutasi (41 snaps)
3. Quinton Spain (7 snaps)-Josue Matias (7 snaps)-Gabe Ikard (6 snaps)/Andy Gallik (1 snap)-Justin McCray (7 snaps)-X

All of those snap counts were what showed up in the gamebook; don’t yell at me if they’re a bit off. Gallik did get only one play, the final one of the game.

First-team offensive line: Lewan was the best. I’ve seen Levitre take some grief, plus the Titans worked Bell at first-team left guard today, but I’m now thinking Andy Levitre is the most underrated player in the NFL because people think he’s terrible and he’s actually the Titans’ best guard. Schwenke had one good second-level block and a couple other eh plays. Warmack was responsible for both sacks, and there were a couple run plays where I thought he should have done better. Bell fared a little bit better on a rewatch; he got run over on the one TFL and there was another play where I didn’t like his work, but he was more solid than I thought.

Second-string offensive line… surprising me, the guy who really stood out was Poehls, who started the second half with a pair of great blocks. He beat the heck out of DT Grady Jarrett the first play and did a nice job of getting up to the second level the next one. There were a couple other plays where I thought “Okay, here’s what you get from a 6’8″ tackle trying to play guard,” but on the whole I saw a lot more than I expected to. Poutasi’s a work in progress, and if the Titans want an alternative to Bell this year based on this game it should be either Stingily or Meredith, who I didn’t specifically note.

If I had to guess before the game how the Titans would have lined up, I would have had Poehls at tackle, probably McCray with the second team, and collegiate guard Spain at guard. But, hey, whatever.

And hey, no offensive line penalties at all.

Offensive Personnel Groupings
These are off my count:

11: 24 plays
12: 17 plays
13: 6 plays
21: 11 plays
23 (goalline): 1 play

As a reminder, number of RBs is listed first, number of TEs second, number of wide receivers is five minus the two digits.

With Mariota in the game, the Titans threw the ball 9 of 11 plays they were in 11 personnel and ran the ball 8 of 9 times they were in other personnel groupings. Predictability, shmedictability, it’s not 100% so don’t tell Ken Whisenhunt about it.

Defensive line
Depth chart, base, very roughly:
1. DaQuan Jones (17 snaps)-Al Woods (17 snaps)-Jurrell Casey (14 snaps)
2. Ropati Pitoitua (20 snaps)-Toby Johnson (19 snaps)-Karl Klug (18 snaps)
3. Angelo Blackson (30 snaps)-Isaako Aaitui (6 snaps)-Derrick Lott (10 snaps)

Depth chart, sub:
1. Casey-Klug
2. Blackson-Mike Martin (21 snaps)
3. X-Lott

Consider these depth charts extraordinarily rough descriptions of how the Titans lined up, at least beyond the first tier. Second pairing was basically Pitoitua-Woods-Klug, then Blackson-Johnson-Martin, with Johnson-Aaitui-Lott, and some other things sprinkled in from time to time. I’m pretty sure Jones got at least one snap of nose tackle, something he played last preseason. I only noticed Woods at NT. Johnson played some DE, with Aaitui and Lott.

By and large, Titans defensive linemen once again played sides rather than strong and weak.

The big question about the defensive line’s performance is how much of a hindrance you think the Atlanta offensive line is. Like last year, I doubt it’s very good, so that the Titans did well in the run game even down a starter is not a surprise, especially with a solid second unit (the Titans are deep, but not particularly good at the top level). There wasn’t much pass rush most of the game.

The player who really stood out to me was Toby Johnson, who had a field day beating up Atlanta’s backup centers, including former second-round pick Peter Konz and some guy named Ume-Ezeoke. I had him down for five notably positive plays, which is ridiculously impressive for that snap count total. I’d like to see him against better offensive linemen the next game to see if he really is that good. When Atlanta had success running the ball late in the game, it came on the plays he was not in (and fourth-rounder Blackson, among others, was).

Linebackers
Outside linebackers:
1. Derrick Morgan (10 snaps)-Brian Orakpo (10 snaps)
2. J.R. Tavai (31 snaps)-Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil (19 snaps)
3. Kaelin Burnett (15 snaps)-Deiontrez Mount (29 snaps)
4. Dezmond Johnson (7 snaps)-Chaz Sutton (9 snaps)

Sides here as well, and in sub personnel they all kicked to defensive end (minus the plays where one or more of the OLBs was standing up in a potential rushing position, which I didn’t distinguish in my lazy charting).

Tavai and Cudjoe-Virgil both picked up injuries of as yet undisclosed (that I’ve seen) severity. Mount came in when YCV got hurt, while Tavai probably would have gone out about when he did (maybe). I thought Tavai had a couple decent looks in pass rush, but of course see above about the quality of offensive line play the backups faced. Mount was more energetic than effective, minus a couple plays (one bootleg where he stayed at home and got a QB hit, another a run play before the go-ahead touchdown).

Jonathan Massaquoi was a DNP with an injury. Especially with the two injuries, I’d expect him to be a primary backup. I still don’t know who the backup outside linebackers are, though it was interesting that sixth-round pick Mount played after UDFA YCV. The Titans have reportedly signed veteran Andy Studebaker, who was never prominent enough for me to develop my own book on him but is at least the sort of player who could come in and participate immediately.

Inside linebackers:
1. Avery Williamson (22 snaps)-Zach Brown (22 snaps)
2. Justin Staples (30 snaps)-Wesley Woodyard (12 snaps)
3. Nate Askew (6 snaps)-Yawin Smallwood (33 snaps)

The Titans played some dime with Smallwood the only linebacker in the game, but it was mostly nickel with both inside linebackers staying on the field.

Zaviar Gooden was injured before he would have taken the field on defense, so we don’t know exactly where he slots in.

Like last year, the inside linebackers aligned strong and weak, regularly flipping sides rather than playing left and right like the defensive ends and outside linebackers.

I was probably a little harsher toward Williamson than I should have been in my postgame thoughts; he didn’t have a great game in pass defense, but the zone voids weren’t all on him either. If you want to see Brown completely running around a blocker, check out the 1-yard run from the Titans 14 on the opening drive, one play before the touchdown pass. There were other plays of his I liked better.

Staples and Woodyard did not have high impact games in my estimation. Smallwood was more active, with what I thought was inconsistent effectiveness. Sometimes a nice job of running a play down, others a guy on the outskirts of the fringes of a roster. Not that that means he might not be better than Gooden, who I actually did want to see.

Cornerback
Depth chart more or less:
1. Coty Sensabaugh (30 snaps)-Perrish Cox (22 snaps)
2. Sensabaugh-Cody Riggs (34 snaps)
3. Ri’Shard Anderson (34 snaps)-Jemea Thomas (31 snaps)

Slot:
Riggs

Obviously the injuries to Jason McCourty and Blidi Wreh-Wilson changed things up here just a tad, with some backups like Riggs playing early and throughout. It would have been interesting to see what the Titans did if the Falcons played as much 11 personnel as the Packers did in last year’s first preseason game (34 consecutive plays!). Instead, the Falcons spent plenty of time in 12 and 21 and the Titans could play the same slot corner the whole game without overloading him.

There were a few highlights from the position group, including passes defensed from Anderson and Riggs, plus Sensabaugh’s pick. But on the whole it was not a great night for this group. Cox looked bad on Atlanta’s first touchdown. Sensabaugh had a bad DPI and his pick was a mediocre throw that was dropped. The youngsters were all up and down, and you’d have to go more in depth than I am willing to or can to say for with absolute confidence which was which; Whisenhunt praised Riggs’ effort the day after, which is a good way of complimenting a player without specifically complimenting him (and I’m not questioning the effort of any of these guys).

Safety
Depth chart, basically:
1. Michael Griffin (22 snaps)-Da’Norris Searcy (21 snaps)
2. Marqueston Huff (20 snaps)-Daimion Stafford (21 snaps)
3. Khalid Wooten (30 snaps)-Josh Aubrey (23 snaps)

The Titans did not hew strictly to strong and free, with either player in the tandem playing down low. On the few plays of dime, Stafford was the dime linebacker and Wooten came into the game. As expected, I did not notice Huff playing any cornerback notwithstanding his listing on the depth chart there.

On the whole, more positive moments from this group than I saw from the cornerbacks. Griffin’s first play was ugly, but he handled his next chance on Julio Jones much better and he had a good tackle on a run blitz to take away a cutback that probably goes for double digits (underrated tackle, I’d say). Searcy did a nice job of recognition on the goalline pass where the Falcons were flagged for offensive pass interference; even if it’s complete and there wasn’t a flag, I don’t think it ends up in the end zone. Huff and Stafford both had ugly plays against play action. Aubrey had a couple positive plays in run support.

Defensive Personnel Groupings
Mostly base 3-4 personnel against the Falcons’ 12 and 21 personnel and nickel against the (relatively infrequent, at least by current NFL standards) 11 personnel, though with a few snaps of dime. How much they trust the inside linebackers versus the defensive backs will of course determine how much we see nickel as opposed to dime, which Horton liked and which LeBeau has played some years (2013, though not 2014). I didn’t tally them, but the Titans ran a few DB blitzes, mostly corners from the slot, none of which got home.

Conclusion-Type Things

Eh, it’s the first preseason game. I wrote way too much about it, but then again I always do. Every thing I said in the foregoing will be at least as perfect of a predictor as Pannel Egboh starting the first preseason game in 2012, Kendall Wright finishing sixth among wide receivers in snaps, playing only the slot, in 2013’s first preseason game, and Bishop Sankey not playing with Jake Locker last preseason.