The Tennessee Titans (1-0) and New Orleans Saints (1-0) face off in a preseason game Friday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
1. Offense: Virtually everything the Titans intended to try out on offense with the first team got washed away by last week's monsoon. So we basically hit pause on any preseason game-caliber evaluations. There will be some vanilla flavoring to the proceedings for sure, because Ken Whisenhunt has the advantage of having never before seen stuff with this personnel to pull the curtain on Sept. 7 in Kansas City. Still, the Titans don't have the luxury of not working on some things in a live situation to get down timing and gather more information as they learn what they will be good at and what they won't. Here's hoping for a night full of, at the very least, strong hints.
2. Run defense: The Titans' frontline defense fit poorly and tackled just as badly against James Starks of the Green Bay Packers in the first preseason game. Can they do better against whichever running back or backs they see in this game? Mark Ingram, Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas should provide an ample challenge. They may be slippery runners, but none of it will be because they are wet, like Starks was in the downpour in Nashville last week.
3. Receivers: The Titans have four guys fighting for two, maybe three spots behind Kendall Wright, Nate Washington and Justin Hunter at wide receiver. Marc Mariani has leveled off after a hot start, and while Michael Preston has size and upside he lacks speed. Derek Hagan has looked solid in practices while Bran Robiskie had a big catch against Green Bay (at a stage of the game where someone with his experience, frankly, should dominate.) The Titans could use data on those four as they try to differentiate them.
