NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After blowing a five-point halftime lead in the fourth quarter and recording just two first downs on offense in the second half, the Seattle Seahawks fell to 1-1 in preseason play when they lost a 16-15 preseason game to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night.
In his second start as a Seahawk, Sam Howell played sharp football at quarterback, completing 11 of 14 passes for 153 yards and throwing a touchdown to receiver Easop Winston Jr. for the first score. To make up for an earlier missed extra point, kicker Jason Myers converted all three of his field goal attempts, including a tight 50-yard pass to the left net with 1:57 left in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t enough in the end, as the Titans answered with a game-winning field goal by Brayden Narveson as the clock ran out.
There is still one warm-up game to play before the real games begin in August. Here are five quick takeaways from Seattle’s win/loss at Nissan Stadium:
Howell’s first pass attempt wasn’t a pretty one from the start, as his arm was hit by an oncoming defender and he threw the ball over a completely free Jake Bobo. On the next series, he fumbled after tackle Stone Forsythe tripped, and Seattle was fortunate to recover the ball. But from that point on, the third-year gunslinger got hotter and couldn’t have been better running Ryan Grubb’s offense. He engineered three scoring drives on his final four series before exiting after halftime, while completing 11 of his final 13 passes and adding two runs for 11 yards.
Howell opened the scoring and kept Seattle’s only touchdown drive alive when he was able to wriggle out of a potential sack by stepping into the pocket on third-and-3 and handing the ball off to tight end AJ Barner, who gained 16 yards on his first NFL catch. Three plays later, with no one in the same zip code around him, he threw a perfectly thrown fade ball to Winston for a 23-yard touchdown that hit the receiver on the run and right on his hands for six points. On the next possession, he threw a dart to receiver Cody White for 33 yards, eventually leading Seattle to a 27-yard field goal by Jason Myers, and then he completed three of four throws in 38 seconds to set up another field goal by Myers that gave his team a 12-7 lead at halftime.
McIntosh, still fighting an uphill battle against undrafted rookie George Holani, earned the start for the second straight game and played a starring role in two of Seattle’s first-half scoring drives. After Howell’s crucial third-down completion to Barner, the second-year back burst through a huge scoring crease created by center Olu Oluwatimi and guard Anthony Bradford for a 12-yard gain. On the next play, he flashed his ball-carrier vision and lightning-quick cuts, bounced a run to the right back to the left and followed tight end Tyler Mabry on a wham block for an 11-yard pickup to get the chains moving again.
McIntosh again set up Myers’ first field goal, running eight yards early in the ensuing drive and then catching a 10-yard pass for another first down to put the Seahawks in opposing territory. He later made something out of nothing when he evaded several tacklers and caught a seven-yard pass. Overall, he finished the night with 63 yards on 10 touches, contributing more than six yards per touch and providing a spark out of the Seahawks backfield that likely narrowed the gap on Holani, who managed just two three-yard runs.
In two ugly opening drives, the Seahawks offensive line looked to be missing three expected starters as tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas and center Connor Williams did not play. Howell was immediately under pressure when his arm was hit on his first throw and his fumble on a sack was the result of Forsythe being sidelined and losing his footing, which happened after rookie guard Christian Haynes was caught for a false start that allowed the second-and-long attempt. At that point, the offense could no longer get out of each other’s way due to shaky line play.
Fortunately for the Seahawks, the group settled down from the third possession and then some. On Howell’s touchdown throw to Winston, the line couldn’t have created a nicer pocket for him, thwarting the pass rush all the way down the line, making it feel like the quarterback was playing catch at an OTA practice. Before that play, Bradford and Oluwatimi had pressured a nose tackle on a double team, giving McIntosh his longest run of the night. While Howell took two sacks, the second was largely thanks to great coverage on defense, and they did a good job of giving the running backs room to operate and protecting them during three scoring drives – a positive sign for new line coach Scott Huff as he gets closer to the season.
Since training camp began in late July, it’s hard to argue that Hall is the player on Seattle’s roster who has improved the most from last year, and he continued to make his arrival clear in the first half of Saturday’s exhibition game. After recording a sack and two pressures in a win over Los Angeles, he immediately rattled Tennessee’s offensive line by tackling hard and bombarding Julius Chestnut at the line of scrimmage to set up third-and-long before finding Malik Willis for the sack on the ensuing play that forced a punt.
Hall played until the third quarter and finished with three tackles, a sack and three pressures, helping to limit the Titans to seven points in the first half. He plays with a different confidence this year and continues to do damage with raw power as a rusher, but his improved quickness off the line and a more refined set of counters have made all the difference this preseason, giving him a major role behind Uchenna Nwosu and Dre’Mont Jones in Seattle’s edge rushing rotation.
After being generally pleased with his defense’s performance last week, Macdonald will surely have even more teaching material to analyze with his team after Saturday’s game, particularly when it comes to leaving tackles on the field and extending drives with flags. On the Titans’ first scoring drive late in the first half, cornerback DJ James and safety Coby Bryant both missed chances to bring down Chestnut on what turned into a 22-yard run, and James was picked off by receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhane at the end of a 15-yard slant that resulted in six points.
Several more tackles went unfinished over the final two quarters, but extending drives through penalties ultimately proved to be the Seahawks’ undoing as the Titans came back in the second half. James helped Tennessee to a field goal on his second drive of the third quarter and was caught for defensive holding and a face mask penalty, the first offense nullifying a third-down stop on 3rd-and-15. Defensive tackle Kyon Barrs was also penalized for a holding that nullified a run stop by Tyrice Knight and James earlier in the possession. On the following drive, linebacker Patrick O’Connell was caught for defensive holding on 3rd-and-2, nullifying a sack by Jamie Sheriff and extending possession, leading to a 59-yard field goal by Brayden Narveson. In total, the Titans earned four first downs through penalties, which will make it even harder for Macdonald to sleep tonight.
