The Tennessee Titans played in their first preseason game on Thursday, as they played against the San Francisco 49ers. This is a game that was highlighted by many key offensive moments, but had some downs when it comes to converting. Here is how the game played out.
Tennessee Titans Defeat San Francisco 49ers
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Titans started the day on the defensive side of the ball and would force a punt before later getting the chance to drive down the field. They started the drive at their own four-yard line and were successful in driving down the field thanks to some big plays by Tyjae Spears, Calvin Ridley, and Gunnar Helm. The scoring play would be thanks to Tony Pollard, who found the end zone after driving in from around five yards out.
This was a great start for the Titans, as their defense got a quick stop following the offensive success. The only issue is that the Titans couldn't get back going. The Titans entered the first quarter with a lead, which is exactly how this team needed to start under Robert Saleh.
De'Zhaun Stribling held his own against the Titans and was giving the Titans too much to handle at times. He was challenged by Cor'Dale Flott and other cornerbacks at times, but the Titans could never really get a grasp on stopping him. He played a lot as Jauan Jennings did in his time with the San Francisco 49ers, as he was aggressive, but technical as well. He was a pleasure to watch, but I would have hated to try to guard him.
Kurtis Rourke was also brilliant in his first drive of the second quarter. In fact, he helped lead the 49ers to their first score of the preseason. Patrick Taylor was the player who scored on the drive, as he pushed forward when rushing the ball. This was a terrible defensive stand by the Titans.
The twos would finally come in, including Mitchell Trubisky, who led the pack. Nick Singleton was the running back, and he looked fresh when making plays across the middle. Trubisky looked solid early when targeting Chimere Dike, who is expected to have a major rotational role for the Titans. Unfortunately, he couldn't completely find his groove before halftime. Instead, he would only lead the Titans to a 39-yard field goal drive. Luckily for the Titans, in the first half Slye was magical, as he ended the half with a 55-yard field goal. An absolute bomb from deep to enter the half 13-7.
The Titans and the 49ers would start the second half slow, especially when it comes to the offense for the Titans. At quarterback was Will Levis, who couldn't get it together when he was needed most. Instead, he couldn't get the ball down the field, while the 49ers finally broke the half's silence with a massive field goal to cut the deficit to three.
The Titans finally scored to extend the lead later in the game, as they would jump back out to a six-point lead. The score was 16-10, and they would hope that they could get some good reps out of Hendon Hooker, who took the field very late into the game. His goal would be to milk the clock while trying to ice the game. He was awesome in his limited reps, including a first-down pass to Xavier Restrepo on the right side of the field on third down. Hooker did have a bad moment, in which he had to recover his own fumble off of a bobbled snap, but was excellent aside from that.
In unbelievable fashion, Slye finished with a massive kick of 58 yards. This would quickly be answered by the 49ers, who drove down the field and got a field goal themselves. This would still be the end of the game as the final score was 19-13.
