During the Tennessee's 14-7 first quarter success against the Redskins, the Titans defense was less impressive than advertised. A defense that supposedly had become more aggressive looked complacent as passes were lofted over the middle. The defense that told fans that they would run more press-man still had far too much space between the CBs and the WRs. And a defense that was supposed to stop the long runs...well they did do that.
After watching the film, the most logical reason that the Titans defense wasn't better is: the coaches weren't showing their hands.
After hearing interesting blitz concepts and the idea of running a more hybrid 4-3 defense the Titans kept thinks pretty simple. On the first series the Titans went with a run-heavy formation with Ropati Pitoitua and Sammie Lee Hill in the line up. When the second series began they had their rush package on the field. That is it, there weren't many important subs and for the most part it was simple coverage.
On first glance the lack of creativity struck me as laziness and a carefree attitude that the Titans can't afford in a make-or-break season, but after reminding myself "it is just preseason" I now chalk it up to the fact that the Titans need to have as many surprises up their sleeves as possible if they are going to take a big step forward this year.