Titans beat Eagles 27-10 in preseason opener

Tennessee Titans football returned tonight with a trip to Philadelphia to face the Eagles in the preseason opener. Unfortunately for Titans fans, we were unable to get a look at the team’s top three draft picks as each were dealing with injuries.

In fact, more than a few key Titans sat this one out, making any evaluation of a particular unit difficult.

Did not play vs. Eagles

OG Rodger Saffold

OG Nate Davis

WR A.J. Brown

RB Derrick Henry

OLB Cameron Wake

OLB Harold Landry

WR Corey Davis

TE Delanie Walker

Marcus Mariota to Adam Humphries

There wasn’t too much to take from the opening drive in Philadelphia tonight, other than the obvious — Marcus Mariota enjoys throwing the football to Adam Humphries. Take it with a grain of salt considering that we didn’t see Delanie Walker, A.J. Brown or Corey Davis tonight, but there was no doubting who Mariota’s main target was tonight.

Humphries saw six targets on the opening drive, catching four of them for 24 yards. The drive didn’t end in points though, as Mike Vrabel opted to go for it on a 4th and 7 situation only to come up short on another pass in Humphries’ direction.

Just like that, Mariota’s night was over. His final stat line was 4-8 for 24 yards.

Mariota looked decent in limited action, finding Humphries a few times in the short game. He was a touch late on a sideline throw to Darius Jennings, which Jennings could have still caught, but wasn’t able to get his feet down.

With so many pieces out around him, it’s tough to draw too many conclusions on Mariota tonight, as expected.

Quick Hitters

• Taywan Taylor dropped his first opportunity to catch a pass tonight. Taylor didn’t use his hands, and it bounced right off of his shoulder pads to the turf.

His nightmare of a game continued in the second quarter as he dropped a perfectly thrown bomb from Tannehill in the endzone. Taylor had a few steps of separation, but flat dropped the ball once again.

Taylor came back later in the two minute drill, failing to finish a catch at the sideline where he could have easily gotten a second foot down.

• Jamil Douglas got the start at left guard in place of Saffold. Taylor Lewan worked with the second team, while Dennis Kelly started at left tackle in preparation of Lewan’s four game suspension.
• Jeremy McNichols ripped off a 37 yard run on the Titans’ 3rd possession.
• Ryan Tannehill put together a really solid drive on his second attempt. Aided by the big run from McNichols, Tannehill kept it simple, finding Kalif Raymond, Darius Jennings and MyCole Pruitt for moderate gains. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith kept it easy for Tannehill, setting up easy throws off of play action. Tannehill capped the drive from the one yard line, finding Pruitt for the score.
• Adoree Jackson was responsible for one low point of the night, getting burned deep by Marken Michel for a 75 yard touchdown. To his credit, he responded in the second quarter with a couple of nice pass breakups down the field.
• Anthony Firkser hauled in a beautiful toss from Tannehill for a touchdown in the second quarter.

• Adam Humphries handled the first punt return rep, followed by Kalif Raymond.
• Logan Woodside entered the game for Tannehill with 56 seconds left in the first half after the Titans came up with a fumble recovery in Eagles’ territory. Tannehill’s night ended with him going 12-16 for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
• Kalif Raymond ended up stealing the show offensively tonight, on a night where Taywan struggled. Raymond did most of the little things right, including making a couple of tough catches through contact over the middle. He even flashed a nice punt return later in the second half. Raymond ended the night with six grabs for 80 yards.
• Cody Hollister was also impressive at the receiver position. Woodside found Hollister early and often in the second half, eventually delivering a pretty strike to the endzone to start the fourth quarter. The 6-4, 216 pound Hollister hauled it in, capping off a productive night that saw him catch four passes for 58 yards and a score.
• Logan Woodside was impressive overall himself. He got the luxury of playing against the 3rd defense, but he made the most of his time tonight. He delivered a deep score to Hollister, then added another one to Tanner McEvoy. Woodside finished the night 15-20 for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
• As expected, the running back pecking order went Dion Lewis — Jeremy McNichols — Dalyn Dawkins — Alex Barnes.

The Titans will host the New England Patriots next Saturday night during week two of the NFL preseason.