The Seahawks are visiting the Titans this week for another 10:00 a.m. West Coast time kickoff. Seattle is fresh off an invigorating and crucial win over the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Meanwhile, Tennessee has been eliminated from the playoff picture and won’t be 100% come Sunday.
Here are six things to know about these two teams heading into their early matchup on Christmas Eve.
1
Geno Smith is returning to the lineup
After two games of having Drew Lock start in his place due to a groin injury, the Seahawks will be getting starting quarterback Geno Smith back in the lineup on Sunday. The last time Smith took the field he had the best game of his career on the road against the Cowboys, posting 334 yards and four total touchdowns against Dan Quinn’s top-five defense. Interceptions were a big issue for Smith in the middle of the season, but he’s only thrown three in his last five starts.
2
The Titans are hit hard by injuries
This time of year no NFL team is close to fully healthy, and Seattle has its own issues in that department. However, the Titans are getting absolutely ravaged by injuries right now. In their first practice of the week 14 players were non-participants, including two offensive line starters and their rookie quarterback Will Levis. He is dealing with a high ankle sprain, so we will likely see the ghost of Ryan Tannehill start in his place.
3
Seattle strong in early kickoff games
The game against the Titans is in the early Sunday window, meaning it starts at 10:00 am Seattle time. These early kicks used to be a serious problem for the Seahawks when they were at their peak, but Pete Carroll made some adjustments and now they’re great in early games. They have gone 23-11 in their last 34 early starts.
4
Derrick Henry is trending down
After nearly a decade of destruction, it seems like the Derrick Henry train might finally be slowing down. Defenses have been able to contain Henry more and more as the season goes on. Last week the Texans held him to just nine yards on 16 carries and the week before the Dolphins held him to 34 yards on 17 attempts. For the season Henry is only averaging 3.8 yards per carry and has gone over 100 yards only once in the Titans’ last seven games. Then again, the Seahawks have been poor at tackling the second half of the season and he crushed them last time, so this might be a much-needed get-right game for Henry.
5
Pass rush has prime opportunity
However, these Titans are now weakest where once they were really strong – on the offensive line. Heading into Week 16 they have allowed 50 sacks, the fifth-most in the league this year. For what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus has Tennessee graded out as 25th in pass blocking and 20th in run blocking. That bad pass protection should mean an opportunity for Seattle’s pass rush to go off, as they have against the poor OL units of the Giants, Panthers and Cardinals.
6
Seahawks secondary has new look
Due to injuries and some disappointing play on the back end, Pete Carroll changed things up in the secondary this past week against Philadelphia. With Devon Witherspoon and Jamal Adams both likely to be ruled out again, we should expect to see that new-look lineup again. It’ll be Quandre Diggs, Julian Love, Tre Brown on the left side, Mike Jackson on the right instead of Riq Woolen and Artie Burns in the slot. Last week this different group played far better than we have come to expect from this unit in 2023.
