NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Covering tight ends was an issue for the Titans last season, and rookie Jayon Brown’s role as the new nickel linebacker has been thoroughly discussed.

But Brown won’t be part of the Titans’ base defense, and even the best coverage linebacker won’t always be asked to cover the tight end. Plenty of them are simply too fast and athletic for a linebacker to match up with.

It’s new strong safety Johnathan Cyprien we are likely to see trying to slow Jared Cook and the Raiders’ tight ends on Sunday at Nissan Stadium. 

“I feel good about that matchup,” Titans defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said. “Johnathan’s got plenty of size, he’s fast, very agile. I’m very happy that Jonathan is on the Titans’ side.”

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My thanks to The Nashville Scene for its Sept. 7 Q&A, which gave me a chance to explain what I am doing here, and why I thought you'd join me and others will follow.

Please check out: Out of a Gig, Paul Kuharsky Becomes a Brand, by Steve Cavendish. I heard a rumor he's a member.

Photo by Eric England, Nashville Scene.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With or without LeShaun Sims in the lineup Sunday against the Raiders, the Titans spent the offseason considering their pass defense and need to make a better showing in order to beat a quality offense.

The Titans were 29^th in the NFL in pass defense last season, allowing 269.2 yards a game.

That prompted big additions to the secondary in veteran cornerback Logan Ryan, first-round corner Adoree’ Jackson and veteran strong safety Johnathan Cyprien.

Against a high-quality quarterback in Derrick Carr and two top-flight receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree, the Titans need to show us they’ve

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When the Titans trimmed their roster to 53, second-year outside linebacker Kevin Dodd was a little fearful, just like a lot of guys who’d spent over a month in the locker room working to stick on the list.

The 33^rd pick in the 2016 draft out of Clemson had nothing to worry about.

But he’s one of the big Titans’ topics right now as training camp and the preseason left big, lingering questions about his ability to provide quality depth behind Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan.

A few days after Dodd played a whopping 42 snaps in the preseason finale, coach Mike Mularkey praised him again.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – If you picked a receiver new to his team to miss a lot of training camp time, chances are it’d be Eric Decker.

It certainly slowed things down for Tennessee to have him out with an ankle injury suffered during an Aug. 16 joint practice against the Panthers.

The team was super-cautious with him, and he only returned to full work on Monday.

At Nissan Stadium against the Raiders in the season opener, odds are he will start opposite Richard Matthews, but even if he doesn’t he should play a heavy share of snaps.

But Decker’s known for being an exacting route runner who will show up at the right place at the right time, which means Marcus Mariota can trust him more easily even as the two haven’t worked together very extensively.

 “You try to make up for some time whether it’s extra routes after practice or just even talking football,” Decker said. “We both have played enough to understand the system, that it is about being in the right spot and just kind of trusting that you understand certain looks and talk through if you’ve got to make adjustments throughout the game.”

“That’s the biggest thing I want to gain, whatever team I’m on, is the trust of the quarterback. He’s got to understand

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When Brian Orakpo fires off at the snap against the Raiders on Sunday, he will unleash an array of moves while making every effort to disrupt and hit quarterback, Derek Carr.

Orakpo will execute a game plan, adapt to what Oakland is doing and use everything he knows about left tackle Donald Penn.

None of it, however, will be new.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – ESPN took a broadcaster named Robert Lee off a Virginia football game, because, the network said, it didn’t want to deal with internet memes and all the jokes could come from having a guy with the same name as the Confederate general working in Charlottesville, Va.

That’s complete over-preparation for a completely over-estimated social media reaction.

On the other side of anticipating public reaction is The University of Tennessee football team.

As is his habit, coach Butch Jones and his people didn’t sufficiently consider a gimmick, a slogan or a saying and how it would look/ sound to the masses. Nationwide, football fans are loaded up on trash and garbage jokes, all thanks to the Vols coach.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Periodically I will poll players with a question I think can produce interesting answers.

This time around, I asked: “Who’s the player in the league most like you?”

For the guys who needed a little nudge, I told them they were out for a week and needed to pick a replacement who would do their job in a similar fashion.

OLB Brian Orakpo: “That’s a great question. I’m trying to think. How about this, let’s go Washington, Ryan Kerrigan. Me and him are similar. We just have

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