After falling short in preseason Week 1, the Tennessee Titans notched their first victory of the exhibition slate in preseason Week 2, topping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13-3.
As good as the defense played as a whole, the offense was on the other side of the spectrum, but Tennessee did see some flashes from their rookies on that side of the ball.
After the game, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel gave his overall assessment of how the team played.
“I think there were some good things. There was some — defensively we got some turnovers, and we turned them into points,” Vrabel said. “I felt like we were looking for opportunities on defense. I thought there were some really positive plays offensively. Too many missed opportunities on offense. It’s really cool to see some of the special teams’ work. And then we finished the game off.”
Vrabel also touched on some of the standout players from the win, including quarterback Malik Willis, outside linebacker Rashad Weaver and cornerback Caleb Farley. Here’s what he had to say about them and more.
On Malik Willis' performance
“There were some things that he improved on and there – we’re probably going to have to go back and look at the film. There are just some things that we’re going to have to continue to coach and improve operationally. It’s hard to run out the back of the pocket in this league. It’s hard. We’re just going to continue to coach him to try to step up and find guys that can help him. And then when there are opportunities to create plays, try to do that as well.”
On the pressure Willis faced
“I think it probably contributed to a lot of the negative plays. I think we did some things that probably contributed to it as well.”
On Caleb Farley's performance
“I thought he was competitive. I thought he challenged and came up with some pass break ups and tried to come up and tackle. We’ll take a look at the film. We’ll keep coaching him and we’ll keep working.”
On Kyle Philips fielding a punt in the end zone
“It’s easier to say, ‘Woah,’ than it is ‘sick-em.’ He got it out past the 20. It was exciting and I felt like there was really some great efforts from guys blocking. The more that you start to gain yards and you have a returner then it seems like the guys blocking even try to go a little harder because they know that there’s an opportunity to break one.”
On Rashad Weaver's performance
“It’s really hard to see individual performances on the sidelines. I know that he was active, and he continues to improve and work. He started working in some new moves, some new pass rush moves and trying to do some things off of what he was doing earlier. It was good to see that it’s not just the same move over and over again. That probably showed up tonight.”
On the punter competition
“They’re both competing. They both have had some really good days. I think that Brett (Kern) is punting better than he did last year from what I’ve seen. I don’t think we’re ready to make a determination on who is the punter.”
