Preseason week 1 Titans @ Falcons Recap

By Bill Murphy

Atlanta – The Tennessee Titans opened up their preseason last night with a 23-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons. The Titans did not start any of their significant starters, such as quarterback Ryan Tannehill, Running Back Derek Henry, Wide Receivers, AJ Brown, Julio Jones, and Cornerback Caleb Farley. As you can see, even without them, it wasn’t a factor at all.

In place of Tannehill, The Titans started Logan Woodside, who threw ten completions out of 15 attempts and threw for a total of 84 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown backhanded catch to Cameron Batson. After Woodside left the game, Matt Barkley entered and ended up making five completions out of 8 attempts, throwing for 54 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mason Kilter. These performances by these two respective quarterbacks have shown the backup quarterback competition of who will be the number two to Ryan Tannehill. After tonight’s performance, let us see through the preseason of who is worthy of getting that spot, but if I were to make a prediction, I would put my money on Woodside to get the job as of this moment.

When it comes to the defense, which is an area that Titans struggled with last season, tonight they stepped it up. Tonight they held the Atlanta offense to 139 yards, six first downs, and a field goal. We saw an interception by David Long and a total of five sacks by the defense.

While Julio Jones was injured and did not play, others got injured, such as running back Darryton Evans, who left the game with a knee injury, Offensive Lineman Trevor Cooley, who left with a foot. Safety Bradley Breeze and linebacker BJ Bello left with an ankle injury.

Overall, I think the Titans had an excellent performance in last night’s game. It is hard to tell how the rest of the season will be because they had none of the starters last night, but the backup squad held its own. Many questions need to be answered in the season, like who will be the backup for Tannehill when the season rolls around? Next week, the answer may become more apparent when the Titans take on the defending Super Bowl Champions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.