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The Tennessee Titans are entering their first game-like experience today in a scrimmage against themselves. With a 90-man roster, there are plenty of bodies to go around and there should be a lot of competition, especially among the bottom half of the roster.
The team will be in full pads and this is where the bullets will really start to fly.
Here are my 3 big things to watch today for the offense.
Marcus Mariota vs Dick LeBeau:
This is a big game for both Marcus Mariota and the new Tennessee Titans defense.
On one hand, you have an inexperienced quarterback who has been nothing short of amazing in his time with the Titans. Everyday he has seen this defense come at him and every day he has avoided negative plays and pushed the offense to success. Now he will have to do it for sustained drives rather than getting as many chances as time allows. Can he stand up to the challenges of a faster play clock and the struggles of dissecting an NFL defense?
On the other hand you have defensive mastermind Dick LeBeau who now has an arsenal of young weapons to play with. Whether it is Jurrell Casey, Brian Orakpo, Derrick Morgan, Zach Brown, or Avery Williamson there should be exotic pressure coming from all over the front seven on nearly every play. Are these players smart enough to execute it correctly against an intelligent quarterback like Marcus Mariota?
Right tackle competition:
The Tennessee Titans have a lot of small battles going on at camp, but really only one battle for a permanent starting job: right tackle. Make no mistake, Byron Bell has been much better than advertised and quietly he and Chance Warmack have been paving holes in the right side of defenses all throughout training camp.
Then again, Jeremiah Poutasi is much younger and he offers more pure physicality even though he has a lot of cleaning up to do. Will the Titans prefer experience and technique or will they prefer to put a mauling brute next to another mauling brute in Chance Warmack?
Here is a twitter conversation I had with AP football writer Teresa Walker on the topic:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well, saw he was playing at RT, but he didn't jump out at me. Which for an O lineman is good. Not his 1st work with 1s this camp. <a href="https://twitter.com/jlomas72">@jlomas72</a></p>— Teresa Walker (@TeresaMWalker) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeresaMWalker/status/629710482497249280">August 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It sure seems like a good position battle early. <a href="https://twitter.com/jlomas72">@jlomas72</a></p>— Teresa Walker (@TeresaMWalker) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeresaMWalker/status/629711098380480512">August 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Running game:
Everyone wants to talk about how the Tennessee Titans are getting tougher in the running game and how this is a new power running offense, but the best back throughout camp has been Bishop Sankey.
The second year player is really playing up to snuff at this point and his only real challenge is Antonio Andrews who will likely come in on short down and distances.
So the question is this: is this the day that David Cobb steps up and challenges for the number two or even number on running back spot? If not, is this the day when we figure out exactly what kind of role each running back will be playing? I would say so, especially considering that with pads on and with the yardage actually counting this may be the first time all offseason that the running game is truly "live".