Great to see the offense and defense in regular season form this week. While Big Ben only played 2 drives, the starting defense played into the 3rd quarter. There were a few surprises with personnel, and a lot of positives.
+ Edmunds with his second INT of the preseason. He looked Polamalu-esque, the way he scrambled to his feet and ran the ball with purpose and strength! He even got to truck Mariota at the end of the run, so that's 2 plusses in my book!
+ Big Ben started the game and looked pretty good, but his throw to Justin Hunter on the long touchdown was perfect.
+/- Justin Hunter had a great catch, created space, and got both feet in bounds on the long catch. However he also had a catch stripped from him by a linebacker for an interception.
+ James Connor and Jaylen Samuels both showing they can run and catch the ball out of the backfield as weapons. Connor lead the team in receptions and receiving yardage 6 for 52 yards giving him 70 total yards. Samuels led the team in rushing with 41 yards, and added 4 receptions to get his total yardage up to 77 for one half of play.
- Penalties. Mostly holding by the offense, but 3 straight penalties, and 4 in 5 plays negated a beautiful catch an run touchdown by Jaylen Samuels from Mason Rudolph.
+ Rudolph had a better outing this week going 7/11 this week for 65 yards. He finished 2 scoring drives that ended in field goals, had no turnovers, and didn't fumble the football this week. Definitely a performance to build on.
- Cameron Sutton's punt return started nicely, catching the ball and moving forward quickly in traffic, but putting the ball on the ground is the quickest way to lose your job as the punt returner on this team. Eli Rogers did it once, and didn't return a ball again last season.
+ Rosie Nix for showing he never takes a play off, by jumping on the fumbled punt return to retain possession for the Steelers.
- the QB center exchange. For another week, the QB center exchange put the ball on the ground. This week was Landry Jones' turn to make the unforced error.
+ Matt Thomas, got a lot of snaps with the first team defense, and performed very well by leading the team in tackles.
+ QB Pressure, The Titans were sacked 6 times by Heyward, Tuitt, Vince Williams, Huguenin, Hooks, and Adeniyi (who now has sacks in 2 straight games).
+ Chris Boswell celebrates his contract extension, by going 3 for 3 in field goals, and hitting his extra point for a perfect day.
+ Punter Jordan Berry rebounded from a terrible game last week, with a nice pin punt inside the 10, and a good 52 yard distance punt. Matt Wile added 2 more punts and had a 58yd long punt.
+ Kick coverage was outstanding, both on punt team and kickoff team. Very little yardage was had by the Titans, and each time they ran the ball out of the endzone on kickoffs, they failed to reach the 20 yard line.
Play of the game:
Was the beautiful long ball to Justin Hunter. He got a good low jam to create separation, extended, and got both feet in bounds on the touchdown.
The play that turned the game:
Was the same long play, but it was due to the way it was initially called. The referees thought the play was out of bounds. Coach Tomlin threw a challenge flag and the play was correctly overturned to become a touchdown. Hey, it's preseason for the refs too! The defense played so well that the Titans could never recover from that play.
+ Edmunds with his second INT of the preseason. He looked Polamalu-esque, the way he scrambled to his feet and ran the ball with purpose and strength! He even got to truck Mariota at the end of the run, so that's 2 plusses in my book!
+ Big Ben started the game and looked pretty good, but his throw to Justin Hunter on the long touchdown was perfect.
+/- Justin Hunter had a great catch, created space, and got both feet in bounds on the long catch. However he also had a catch stripped from him by a linebacker for an interception.
+ James Connor and Jaylen Samuels both showing they can run and catch the ball out of the backfield as weapons. Connor lead the team in receptions and receiving yardage 6 for 52 yards giving him 70 total yards. Samuels led the team in rushing with 41 yards, and added 4 receptions to get his total yardage up to 77 for one half of play.
- Penalties. Mostly holding by the offense, but 3 straight penalties, and 4 in 5 plays negated a beautiful catch an run touchdown by Jaylen Samuels from Mason Rudolph.
+ Rudolph had a better outing this week going 7/11 this week for 65 yards. He finished 2 scoring drives that ended in field goals, had no turnovers, and didn't fumble the football this week. Definitely a performance to build on.
- Cameron Sutton's punt return started nicely, catching the ball and moving forward quickly in traffic, but putting the ball on the ground is the quickest way to lose your job as the punt returner on this team. Eli Rogers did it once, and didn't return a ball again last season.
+ Rosie Nix for showing he never takes a play off, by jumping on the fumbled punt return to retain possession for the Steelers.
- the QB center exchange. For another week, the QB center exchange put the ball on the ground. This week was Landry Jones' turn to make the unforced error.
+ Matt Thomas, got a lot of snaps with the first team defense, and performed very well by leading the team in tackles.
+ QB Pressure, The Titans were sacked 6 times by Heyward, Tuitt, Vince Williams, Huguenin, Hooks, and Adeniyi (who now has sacks in 2 straight games).
+ Chris Boswell celebrates his contract extension, by going 3 for 3 in field goals, and hitting his extra point for a perfect day.
+ Punter Jordan Berry rebounded from a terrible game last week, with a nice pin punt inside the 10, and a good 52 yard distance punt. Matt Wile added 2 more punts and had a 58yd long punt.
+ Kick coverage was outstanding, both on punt team and kickoff team. Very little yardage was had by the Titans, and each time they ran the ball out of the endzone on kickoffs, they failed to reach the 20 yard line.
Play of the game:
Was the beautiful long ball to Justin Hunter. He got a good low jam to create separation, extended, and got both feet in bounds on the touchdown.
The play that turned the game:
Was the same long play, but it was due to the way it was initially called. The referees thought the play was out of bounds. Coach Tomlin threw a challenge flag and the play was correctly overturned to become a touchdown. Hey, it's preseason for the refs too! The defense played so well that the Titans could never recover from that play.
