NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans picked up a second preseason victory on Sunday night, beating the Seattle Seahawks 19-16 at Nissan Stadium in a standalone game with a significant national audience. Quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, delivered a statistically improved performance from Week 1.

However, the Titans’ starters on both sides of the ball left plenty to be desired against a Seahawks team that sat every single starter.

That’s the tension surrounding this Tennessee roster right now. The numbers look better on the surface, but the substance behind them doesn’t inspire confidence with the regular season just three weeks away.

Cam Ward was more accurate but still inconsistent

Ward finished 8-of-12 for 69 yards after going 5-of-12 a week ago in San Francisco. 

His ball placement was better, and he continued to recognize things at a reasonable level. But much of the production came on layups. His longest completion was a 33-yard catch-and-run by running back Tony Pollard, who found green grass on a checkdown.

Pollard led the team in receiving with that lone play.

The actual wide receivers were largely invisible. Elic Ayomanor had two catches for 16 yards. Wandale Robinson added two catches for 11 yards. And the connection between Ward and Carnell Tate, the No. 4 overall pick, was nonexistent: zero catches on five targets.

Ward also took a sack that resulted in a fumble backwards and out of bounds for a six-yard loss, stalling one of Tennessee’s drives.

That’s the second consecutive week he’s been careless with the football. He had an intentional grounding penalty in San Francisco, and the fumble Sunday came because he didn’t feel the pressure and tried to do more than his athleticism allows. Ward might be the slowest of the four quarterbacks in that room, behind Will Levis, Mitch Trubisky, and Hendon Hooker. Those limitations were on display.

The Titans’ starting offense has produced just one touchdown drive across six possessions this preseason. They did not find the end zone in any of their three drives Sunday night. A better performance from Ward, sure. But not enough.

The starting defense was the bigger red flag

Seattle’s Drew Lock carved up Tennessee’s first-team defense. He finished 12-of-14 for 103 yards, 7.4 yards per attempt, and a 36-yard touchdown pass. Lock was the best quarterback on the field Sunday night, and it wasn’t particularly close.

The Seahawks also got a dominant rushing performance from Jacardia Wright, who ran eight times for 81 yards and a touchdown, including a 69-yard score. Tennessee was getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage. All of this happened against Seattle’s second-stringers, with no starters participating, no disguised coverages, and no rotation games up front.

The Titans’ defense did not objectively win their matchups, even accounting for preseason limitations on what a coaching staff is willing to show.

Robert Saleh frames the breakdowns as teaching moments

Titans coach Robert Saleh called the two big defensive breakdowns what they were after the game. The two plays are hateful.

By Monday morning’s Zoom press conference, Saleh had reframed them as necessary growing pains:

“Things where when you’re, when you’re shifting from a match coverage to a zone coverage, like I, like I alluded to yesterday, there’s differences in reactions to certain movements that they’ve got to see to understand. And you would love for them to know it. You know, you go through some of the walkthroughs, but to see it, there’s nothing like seeing it in a live rep. 

“I’m glad it happened. Like I said, sometimes you need a scar to feel the weight of making communication. And that was one of those moments.”

When asked about Titans fans feeling discouraged by those breakdowns on national television, Saleh didn’t flinch:

“Nah, shoot, man. [It’s] growth. Sometimes experiencing growth hurts. And, you know, there’s no team in the NFL is going to go through the entire season high-fiving each other all the way through. There’s going to be painful moments, but the good news is that it’s an opportunity for us to learn and we’ll get better from it.”

The clock is ticking toward Week 1

Tennessee has one preseason game remaining, Saturday at home against the Chicago Bears, with a joint practice on Thursday. After that, the game planning begins in earnest, and the New York Jets loom large in Week 1.

A slightly better night from Ward, a bad night from the defense, and nothing across the board encouraging enough about the progress the Titans are making in the most real situation you can possibly have in the preseason. The growth Saleh is asking fans to trust needs to show up soon.