The Seattle Seahawks ( 1-1) will be in Nashville Sunday afternoon to take on the Tennesse Titans (1-1) for the first time since 2005. The Titans are looking to continue their winning ways after a solid 37-16 road win at Jacksonville. The Titans will also be looking to make amends for their 26-16 home opener against the Oakland Raiders.
The Seahawks will be looking to even their road record after a disappointing 17 to 9 Week One loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers 12 to 9 in last weeks home opener and are looking to make it two wins in a row.
SEAHAWKS vs TENNESSE RUN GAME
The Titans are a run first pass second offense that is lethal and efficient. While quarterback and 1984 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota gets all the attention 1985 Heisman Trophy Derrick Henry will be public enemy number one for the Seahawks defense on Sunday. The 6-foot-3, 247 Henry is coming off a career-high performance in which he ran for 92 yards, one touchdown on 14 carries against the Jaguars.
“He’s a big, hard-nosed, tough runner. He gets the system, obviously, we have to make sure that we do a great job securing our edges, he’ll bounce it out, he’ll take it downhill if we allow him to find a crease. ” Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard said during his weekly media briefing. “We just have to make sure that we put as many bodies on him as we can.”
As for Mariota, Richard is impressed with the quarterback ‘s efficiency inside the redzone.
“He’s a big, hard-nosed, tough runner. He gets the system, obviously, we have to make sure that we do a great job securing our edges, he’ll bounce it out, he’ll take it downhill if we allow him to find a crease. We just have to make sure that we put as many bodies on him as we can.”
STAT DA JOUR: The Titans offense red zone efficiency is 52.4 which is third best in the NFL behind the Atlanta Falcons (52.6) and Oakland Raider ( 65.0). The Seahawks are at number 25 with a 27.3 red zone efficiency.
SEAHAWKS OFFENSIVE LINE
Depending on who you ask the Seahawks offensive line improved from thier lackluster Week One performance. Week One against the Green Bay Packers the Seahawks 3rd down efficiency was 25% ,Week Two against the 49ers that number jumped to 49%. The line gave up three sacks in each game but the offense to scored its first touchdown of the season when it mattered most against the 49ers. A 10-play, 82yard with just seven minutes left in the game. Seahawks Line Coach Tom Cable believes there was a big jump from Week One to Week Two in the play of his offensive line.
“I thought I saw a much better second half and obviously a really good finish to the game [last Sunday]. Early, maybe not enough rhythm. It’s a mystery, arguably much better than the week before than I thought it showed later in the game, and then obviously at the end, it was pretty good. Some things that were better, it’s hard getting from week one to week two a hundred percent improvement in that regard.”
TURNOVERS
Pete Carroll turnover philosophy is embodied by his defenses opportunistic style. The Seahawks defense has an interception in the first two games and will look to continue that trend against Mariota. The task will be difficult against the efficient Mariota who has never thrown a red zone interception while passing for 33 touchdowns. Turnovers is something the Titans have worked hard to minimize acoording to head coach Mike Mularkey.
“Well it cost us games, especially early on. Our opener last year, we lost because of two turnovers for touchdowns. That is the one thing we are trying to minimize. We had multiple turnovers for touchdowns last year and that is difficult to overcome, typically your percentage of winning aren’t very good. So a big emphasis on that started in April and our guys are buying into it and we work on it every day.”
