Tom Brady precision on full display versus Titans' defense

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As the Patriots revved up for Thursday’s joint session with the Titans, Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham threw a bit.BradyWindup

Brady would simply call out a spot: “Red line, 40 yards,” and the equipment man they were throwing to would get there, 40 yards from the quarterback on the red line, five yards inside the sideline. He’s then put the ball directly on the spot, his two protegees doing their best to follow suit while Brady called out the next spot to get the target ready for it.

It was a small sampling of the complete-control quarterback in complete control. [Unlocked]

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans’ passing offense has frequent moments of uncertainty and shakiness in the Wednesday work against New England, I thought.

Yet again, the team’s chief weapons were limited or missing. Delanie Walker didn’t work for the third day in a row, which suggests he rehabbing something not just resting, though Mike Vrabel wouldn’t concede as much and indicated the tight end might work Thursday. Corey Davis’ snaps were managed. A.J. Brown is still being eased in. Adam Humphries left practice with a trainer. Derrick Henry remains out.

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Marcus Mariota had a better morning than Ryan Tannehill, but things felt choppy for a good while against an unfamiliar defense featuring a solid and experienced secondary.

In the middle of that, Taywan Taylor surprised and had a very solid day as the most effective and dependable target.

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Offensive pace from first preseason game could be a good sign for Titans

IMG 6016NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In 2018, the Titans’ offense maxed out with a 69-play game at Dallas.

Preseason games don’t tell us a lot, but it was noteworthy that in Philadelphia last Thursday night, the offense ran 89 plays.

If the high-tempo offense is a sign of things to come, the Titans will be dictating things in a new and potentially exciting way.

“The time of possession, that’s really a team stat,” Arthur Smith said of the 37:51 that helped make the 89 plays possible. “That’s a credit to the whole team, the way that we played on special teams and it’s hard to play that many plays if the defense isn’t getting them off the field. It was just our operation, the way we wanted to get in and out of the huddle and the way it worked out. The defense did a great job.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.  -- Daryl Johnston is widely known as the fullback who played 10 seasons for the Dallas Cowboys and was the lead blocker for Emmitt Smith during the prime of his career as the NFL's all-time leading rusher.

While he mains part of the NFL on Fox calling games, he's also now the director of player personnel for the Dallas franchise of the XFL which is set to start play in the spring of 2020. He was in that capacity as he watched the Titans on Saturday and Sunday with his focus on the bottom of the roster, not the top.

He was kind enough to join me to share some thoughts about the Titans, to talk about scouting players likely to become available, to look back at Logan Woodside who he saw work while he was general manager of San Antonio of the Alliance of American Football, to contemplate the pull the secondary leagues have had on him, to discuss Bob Stoopes' foray into the XFL and to examine the state of the fullback in today's pro game.

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You can find it on it on Apple Podcasts, Sticher, Spotify and TuneIn as well as directly through the Vokal website.

Also, feel free to listen on this page by heading below the line. [Unlocked]

You can find the history of this site's podcasts right here.

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Defense won red-zone for Titans Saturday, has been better in camp

IMG 5818NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The last play of Sunday’s practice when the offense was operating in the red zone, Logan Woodside was under pressure. Moving backward he threw a hopeful ball to the front left corner of the end zone intended for Anthony Firkser that Joshua Kalu didn’t have trouble breaking up. It could have been worse.

It was a fitting topper to a hugely successful red-zone day for the defense. As the period built to that finish, starters on the sideline hooted and hollered and splashed water out of bottles in wild celebrations of each success.

If it didn’t break the spirit of the offense for the day, it might as well have. That unit will be asked to respond Sunday after a weak, low-energy effort.

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Yazoo mailbag: Logan Woodside's chances, Darius Jennings' standing and Adam Humphries' usage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Thanks for stopping by the mailbag. I'm happy you are here. You should be drinking a Yazoo while you read on.

We start with the most popular question of the week. 

PK: He’s improved a great deal. I think it’s pretty quick to be so certain he’s gold for them or someone else. But certainly, in a QB-starved league, he looks to be a guy who is on the upswing and will garner interest.TitansScoreboard

The question is, will the Titans come to view him as what Luke Falk should have been last year when they spent a sixth-rounder on him. He was not good, they cut him and hoped to get him on their practice squad but watched the Dolphins claim him. He’s now with the Jets, so clearly he’s an Adam Gase guy.

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Scout's take: Concerns over OL; confidence in WRs and Sharif Finch

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special contributor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Scouting throughs on the Titans after their Preseason Week 1 win in Philadelphia.

Quarterback

I felt Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill both did a very good job with play-action and creating time for receivers to uncover.

The play-action game will be important for Mariota and the Titans’ passing attack because of the type of receivers they have. It is going to be imperativeBlakeBeddingfieldGlasses have a strong running game for the play-action to truly work.

Mariota focused on Adam Humphries early especially on the third-and-7 and fourth-down plays. Humphries was the security blanket for Marcus like he used to have with Delanie Walker.

Mariota was late on his first corner route throw to Darius Jennings. He must get the ball out sooner and not lead him out of bounds.

Tannehill plays like a veteran with his good play-action and patience in the pocket. He waits for the routes to open. He continued to convert on third downs

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TitansWallHelmetFaceLeftSome thoughts out of the Titans’ 27-10 preseason win in Philadelphia, overall a good top-to-bottom effort by the visitors.

Taywan Taylor: Corey Davis didn’t play so we saw Khalif Raymond earlier than we might have expected and he was good, particularly on a catch in a dangerous area over the middle where he held on knowing he was about to get blasted. We saw Cody Hollister make a very nice sideline catch and haul in a TD.

What we did not see was a good performance by a guy who should outrank them both. A third-round pick going into his third year can’t be dropping one short pass and misplaying a deeper toss that might have been underthrown by Ryan Tannehill, but could have been adjusted to for a touchdown.

He also couldn’t get a second foot down in bounds on a reception near the left sideline inside 2:00 of halftime on what seemed like it shouldn’t have been an issue at all. [Unlocked]

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