The Tennessee Titans have traveled to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs in the third and most important preseason game tonight at Arrowhead Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 PM CT. The game will be broadcast on the Titans and Chiefs preseason networks, and will be available to out of market viewers like yours truly on the NFL’s Gamepass service. Other out of market viewers will have to find some other means of watching or wait for NFL Network’s re-air of the game at 8 AM on Saturday.
While this third preseason game is generally the key dress rehearsal, the short turnaround from Sunday’s home game against the Rams will likely limit both how long the starters will play and how much opponent-specific gameplanning the Titans do. The third preseason game is still generally more about what the Titans want to see and do than the particular threats and opportunities their opponent poses, but that will be even more the case this year. There will still be specific personnel matchups I’m paying attention to, but like Bernard Pollard said, the preseason is street ball, where you see if your team and your players are good enough to just line up and play while running mostly basic schemes.
1. The starting offensive line. Jeremiah Poutasi at right tackle and Byron Bell at left guard looked solid against St. Louis last week. Let’s see if they can do it again. The Chiefs have some talented edge rushers, which could be a good test for Poutasi. Dontari Poe is out, so the interior of the line isn’t likely to face the same sort of test.
2. Justin Hunter and Tre McBride. Dorial Green-Beckham did not practice Wednesday and therefore seems unlikely to play. After the Titans made a concerted effort to get him involved last week, that absence creates snaps and targets for other players. Hunter has yet to do much in the preseason, while McBride has generally been playing with the third team.
3. The running back battle, take three. David Cobb was the more impressive of the two backs against the Falcons. Bishop Sankey looked better against the Rams. Will we get any more clarity, or will this again be the same sort of Ken Whisenhunt feel-based committee along the lines of what we saw last year?
UPDATE (2015-08-28, 1050 CT): So, Cobb did not travel and has been ruled out. I’d expect this means more opportunities for Antonio Andrews earlier in the game, and probably more David Fluellen late.
4. Marcus Mariota. Of course.
5. Shutting down another run game. One critique I have about the first two games is the Titans haven’t faced some particularly good offensive lines, especially from St. Louis. That will probably continue this week, as the Chiefs are down two starters and are testing out some major line reshuffling. This is a matchup the defensive front should be able to win.
6. Filling the last roster spots on defense. As I just covered in my roster prediction, there’s a roster spot or two that could be viewed as unassigned and subject to being taken by one of a couple different players. This could be as much about special teams as play on the actual defense.
7. The returners. Who gets the chances to kick return? Will we see Bishop Sankey and Antonio Andrews, who both returned kicks last year? Dexter McCluster? Tre McBride again? A video on the team website before preseason began noted, rightly, that the good and warm weather of August often didn’t allow many kickoff returns, but just who the Titans are putting out there in case there is an opportunity to return the kick is itself information.
8. No injuries. First, foremost, and most important.
Recap up after the game, and as much detail as I can manage on what happened in the game and what it might mean for the roster and the season to come, coming to Total Titans in due course.
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