After a dominant joint practice showing, Tennessee’s revamped defensive front and deceptive coverages earned significant respect from the veteran signal-caller as Robert Saleh’s new system takes flight.
The Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks met on the practice field on Friday for the first time since the two faced off in the 2025 regular season at Nissan Stadium.
In the last meeting, the Titans nearly had a late rally. Tennessee was down 23-3 in the third quarter and fought back with three touchdowns in the second half. Unfortunately, the Titans' last touchdown came in garbage time, so they needed an onside kick to keep the game alive.
The Seahawks recovered, as the Titans lost 30-24 at home.
The Titans were able to bounce back at Friday's joint practice after a disappointing showing versus the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in their first preseason game.
One of the highlights of the practice was cornerback Alontae Taylor intercepting Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold for a pick-six. The defense looked much better, and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said it should be the team's standard going forward.
It's clear that the Titans are starting to believe in Robert Saleh's 4-3 system. Even Darnold noticed the speed at which the defense played.
At the Seahawks' presser following joint practice, Darnold was very complimentary of the Titans' defense.
"For sure," Darnold said. "I think you see the aggression. You see the kind of pressure that they put on the quarterback. Like, their four-man rushes are really, really good. And when they bring five- or six-man rushes, and even when they bring fire zones, they're really, really good. You know, the back end's really good at disguising right now. They're, you know, showing a lot of different things defensively without getting too far into the weeds, but they've done a lot of great things and, you know, that defense is going to be really good this year."
When the Titans and Seahawks played last year, Darnold faced an entirely different scheme. The Titans were running a 3-4 system when they took on the Seahawks in 2025.
Now, Darnold is seeing firsthand how hard it can be to read through your progressions with a Saleh defense. It was just a joint practice, but the fact that Darnold noted how well the Titans were disguising coverages is a good sign.
It's uncertain whether or not Darnold is going to play on Sunday night. The Seahawks started Drew Lock in their first preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. Based on that, it's probably going to be unlikely that we see Darnold on the field for very long, if at all.
It's never a bad thing when a quarterback like Darnold is praising your defense in the preseason, though.
