All Titans

Titans Starting Defense Throttles Offense, Intercept Two Tannehill Passes

The Tennessee Titans' defense continues to dominate training camp and on Tuesday they were able to get two interceptions off of starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Tyler Rowland

Titans Starting Defense Throttles Offense, Intercept Two Tannehill Passes
Titans Starting Defense Throttles Offense, Intercept Two Tannehill Passes /
In this story:

NASHVILLE — When it comes to the starters on both sides of the ball, there is no doubt that the Tennessee Titans defense has won the vast majority of days out at training camp. On Tuesday, that trend continued with a rough day for the offense and specifically, Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill got off to an good start, going 6-for-6 in a 7-on-7 period, according to Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com, but it went downhill once the Titans got into some of their full-team drills. 

In a two-minute drill, Tannehill throw a pass intended for tight end Chig Okonkwo that was deflected by Elijah Molden and ultimately picked off by Amani Hooker. 

In the next opportunity the Titans' starting offense had, they suffered a similar fate. This time, Tannehill was "sacked" on a play and throw another interception to Azeez Al-Shaair that came off of a Kevin Byard tipped pass.

Tannehill was almost intercepted again by Al-Shaair later in practice on a short throw to Kyle Philips according to Wyatt. Wyatt has Tannehill as 82-of-129 in training camp with three interceptions. Not the most encouraging stat line.

Defensive players are noticing the outright domination they seem to be displaying on a daily basis. Cornerback Kristian Fulton was asked if he has ever seen a defense dominate a training camp like this before and his answer was illuminating.

"Honestly, no," Fulton said when thinking of his answer. "I just think the energy is different as a whole for the defense. We've been pretty good these last few years, but I feel like in the season, it hasn't really shown in camp and I feel like everyday so far we have brought it. That's kind of our goal. We're going to have to win games this upcoming season. We're going to have to shut down a lot of great offenses."

Mike Vrabel was asked about his defense, but he wasn't so ready to crown them as clear winners. Vrabel could be looking to keep his defense humble and not allow his offense to lose confidence, but he seemed to push back against a question from ESPN's Turron Davenport that insinuated the defense has been, in fact, dominating.

"I wouldn't necessarily agree this was some dominant performance by the defense," Vrabel explained. "There's plays and whether we move it up or we hit some plays. Defense jumped offsides twice, didn't cover anybody. The hurry-up again, so your evaluation is probably a little different than mine. There was some good on both sides. End the first group with an interception in the two minute, but the other groups were pretty functional and much different than yesterday, much better than yesterday."

All reports indicate the Titans defense smashed the offense on Tuesday, so if it was much better than Monday, the Titans should hope the offense never resembles what it was on Monday the rest of the year.

Titans Training Camp Stories

  • OL Steps Up: The Tennessee Titans' offensive line has caused it's fair share of concern through the early stages of training camp, but on Friday we saw the offensive line finally have some good moments. CLICK HERE
  • Titans Add OL Depth: The Tennessee Titans' efforts to rebuild their offensive line are ongoing, with the biggest concern at right tackle. The latest move to help there is signing veteran offensive lineman Justin Murray. CLICK HERE
  • Fulton's Strong Start: The Tennessee Titans' cornerback is going into his fourth season and despite injury issues in the past, Fulton looks to be in the best shape of his career and is making plays at training camp. CLICK HERE
Published
Tyler Rowland
TYLER ROWLAND

Tyler Rowland is a Tennessee Titans fanatic for nearly 25 years and the host of the Locked On Titans podcast. While diving into all things Tennessee Titans, Tyler specializes in film study and providing grounded opinions on all of the latest Titans news.

Home/News