Story By: Brady Trapnell
It was the last day of training camp for the Titans at Saint Thomas Sports Park, and the last day of joint practice with the Carolina Panthers before Saturday’s preseason matchup.
Despite of physical, tough finish on Wednesday, Head Coach Mike Mularkey saw his team bounce back.
“I thought yesterday offensively we didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish, and today I thought they had about as complete of a practice as they’ve had out here,” said Mularkey after practice. “I was pleased to see that. We got a lot of work with some of the younger guys. A lot of good things to teach off of from two days.”
The Titans defense showed out on Thursday morning, forcing turnovers and making a few big stops in 7-on-7 against Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who participated in a team session for the first time since his shoulder injury.
Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson held it down on the back end of Coach Lebeau’s 3-4 defense with an interception (that was called back for a defensive penalty), a touchdown-saving pass deflection and tight coverage.
“He (Adoree’) had a nice interception today in the second down and third-and-long period. That was good to see,” said Mularkey on Jackson. “Hopefully a little bit of a confidence booster for him. He’s had a good camp.”
Linebacker Wesley Woodyard made the big play of the day, adding a pick six off of Panthers quarterback Joe Webb III. He also tacked on a sack in team drills.
Coach Mularkey wants to see more turnovers than his team had in 2016, but how many?
“A lot,” he said in the post-practice presser. “That’s what we want, we preach it every day. I think it’s important to them. A lot of good things. Our defense has been, I think, very good from day one. We haven’t had really, any let downs.”
For safety Kevin Byard, the turnovers are a good sign and he has a confident prediction.
“Those linebackers have been balling man, Jayon (Brown) and Wood (Woodyard) both with picks the past couple days,” said Byard. “I think turnovers are going to be the most important stat for us this season. I don’t care about run defense numbers or pass defense, if we get a lot of turnovers we will win the division.”
Young guys like linebacker Jayon Brown, Mularkey said, would benefit the most from joint practices. But, after the past two days with Carolina, Coach Mularkey was pleased with his whole team’s performance.
“(We) got a lot out of it. I thought it was really good work,” he said. “I thought our guys behaved themselves, first of all, in a very competitive environment. I thought we had two good physical practices between two teams, that’s how they play. We got a lot of good work in all three phases, there’s no question about it, especially today.”
The Titans will go through a walk-through Friday morning before facing the Panthers in their second preseason game Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. CT. The award-winning “Titans Countdown” will be on the air with VOTT Mike Keith and Executive Producer Rhett Bryan at 1 p.m. CT.
Coach Mularkey expects his team to rebound from their lackluster performance in MetLife Stadium last Saturday night.
“Hopefully we clean up a lot of things, especially offensively, from (game) one,” he said. “Yeah, you talk about improving every day you come out here, that’s the same thing with these games. We’d like to take another step in this game. Just in these two practices I think we’ve gotten better.”
