Either Kurtis Rourke and De'Zhaun Stribling are way, way, way better than Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba or the Tennessee Titans' secondaryfinally showed some mettle on Aug. 21.
The Titans hosted the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks for a joint practice at the end of a week where fixing last week's woes in man coverage wasn't just the primary emphasis for cornerbacks and safeties. Coach Robert Saleh made the whole team, including the offensive and defensive linemen, sit through a 15-minute session on how and where the DBs can improve.
As defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons puts it, "man coverage" was the focus from the second the team got back from its wish-you-could-forget-it defensive showing in San Francisco until this practice
against Seattle started.
The results of that emphasis ... not half bad. The Seahawks' first-team offense only found the end zone twice across 10 periods of best-versus-best work. Smith-Njigba, the NFL's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, was held to four catches.
By The Tennessean's count, Darnold finished his day having completed a little under 60% of his passes. The Titans' first-team defense, meanwhile, registered at least three pass breakups and one interception while only surrendering one explosive play, a go ball to Smith-Njigba that came three plays after the practice's simulated halftime.
"Yeah, it was probably boring for (the linemen), but they understand what coach Saleh is asking for," cornerback Alontae Taylor said of the week-long emphasis on improving in man coverage. "He’s kind of pointing us out, and he’s making sure that the guys on D-line and O-line are holding us accountable. It’s not any surprise to us."
Taylor was a leading factor for the Titans' success in the deep end in this one. He broke up a deep throw targeted for speed threat Rashid Shaheed with a loud mid-air collision, forced a couple of overthrows with tight coverage and intercepted Darnold on the first play of the two-minute session, returning the ball for a would-be pick-six.
But he wasn't the only one. Safety Tony Adams played maybe his most noteworthy practice of camp, filling in for safety Amani Hooker, who was largely absent. In particular, Adams showed a little bit of range helping take away the middle of the field from Shaheed and flashed his rocket instincts in run fill. Fellow safety Kevin Winston Jr., had a nice day. Linebacker James Williams Sr. broke up a pass with a rib-rattling hit.
The pass rush forced a few throwaways and checkdowns, with Jermaine Johnson II in particular showing out pretty well. And even Cor'Dale Flott, the target of much derision last week, didn't have any serious or obvious miscues to go along with a mainly uneventful day on his end.
It is worth noting that the Titans moved Flott and Taylor around the defense more in this practice than they had in previous practices, and it wasn't for the sake of having one DB follow Smith-Njigba. That versatility, mixed with the ways the Titans used Adams in both the slot and at deep safety, created a freer-flowing Titans defense that even drew rave reviews from Darnold.
"You see the aggression," Darnold said. "You see the kind of pressure that they put on the quarterback. Their four-man rushes are really good and when they bring five- or six-man rushes and even when they bring fire zones, they’re really, really good. The back end is really good at disguising right now. They’re showing a lot of different things defensively without getting too far into the weeds. They’re doing a lot of great things and that defense is going to be really good this year."
It's one practice, just like the session against the 49ers was. But the bounceback is notable. This is a unit that last week couldn't slow down the 49ers' third-string offense and this week probably deserves the win for a joint practice against an offense that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in February.
Call it what it is: A step forward, and a real response.
"Those guys took it upon themselves that ‘OK coach, you want to challenge us, we’re going to key into it and get better at it,’" Simmons said. "Walkthroughs? Man coverage. Practice early this week? Man coverage. Them guys responded well and that’s what you would expect and want out of this defense."
This recap focused on the Titans' defense against Seattle. For first-hand analysis about the Titans' offense, check out coverage from The Tennessean's Gentry Estes.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Did Titans' DBs really win day vs Seahawks offense? What we saw in joint practice
