Titans vs. Seahawks Week 2 Preview
The Titans will try to rebound after their stinging loss to the Cardinals last week while the Seahawks are flying high after their Week 1 win over the Colts.
Let’s break it all down and get on the sharp side of this matchup in our NFL picks!
Tennessee Titans vs. Seattle Seahawks
Sunday, September 19, 2021 – 4:25 PM ET at Lumen Field, Seattle, WA
I noticed several mentions of the Tennessee/Arizona game in the Players Talk Forum and the SBR Picks page last week, and many of them were accurate in predicting a Cardinals’ victory in the desert. But few could have anticipated such a lopsided affair with Ryan Tannehill being held in check while the Titans’ rushing attack, led by the ferocious Derrick Henry, being limited to just 86 yards en route to their 38-13 loss to Arizona.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Tennessee head coach, Mike Vrabel. “It is disappointing. There is no other way to put it. It sucks when you lose.”
Tannehill was beleaguered throughout the day by a relentless Cardinals’ pass rush led by Chandler Jones, who recorded five of the six sacks on the helpless Titan’s quarterback. Tennessee left tackle, Taylor Lewan, actually apologized for his performance on Twitter.
If there is a silver lining, we can point to the fact that Tannehill connected with eight different receivers and was able to get newcomer, Julio Jones, involved with three receptions for 29 yards. Yet we must consider that Jones was targeted six times which means the tandem connected on only half the attempts. However, what stood out most in Jones’ Titans debut was a reckless unnecessary roughing penalty that negated what would have been a first down.
“That’s absolutely nothing that we coach or we teach,” Vrabel said, via ESPN’s Turron Davenport. “So that would fall under the category of doing dumb s–t that hurts the team. Right there in bold letters.”
Seahawks Soar After Victory Over Colts
Russell Wilson got off to an All-Pro start this season with four passing touchdowns on 254 through the air on a surgical 18-of-23 passing in his team’s 28-13 victory over Indianapolis. Tyler Lockett caught a pair of those TD strikes and racked up 100 yards receiving while DK Metcalf had a touchdown reception and 60 receiving yards.
“We have a great mixture of all the things we’ve done in the past, we’ve done a lot of great things and you can’t take that for granted,” Wilson said. “We’re all working together. It’s a beautiful thing. It was a great game tonight.”
Even the ground game was on point as Chris Carson had 16 carries for 91 yards while the Seattle rushing attack piled up 140 yards on the day en route to the Week 1 victory. The Seattle offense was clearly rejuvenated with new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron at the helm, who replaced the embroiled Brian Schottenheimer after last season.
Wanna Make a Bet?
After checking out the NFL odds on this matchup, we can see that this line has spiked from an opener of Seattle -3 ½ to as high as 5 ½ as of this mid-week writing. But that’s a natural reaction by the betting public where one team has a spectacular day while the other looks dazed and confused.
And while I would ordinarily consider that overreaction as a golden opportunity to grab a great number on an undervalued underdog, I’m not convinced that Tennessee is nearly as good as their preseason hype. The Seahawks should have no problem slicing and dicing through this Titans’ defense because there isn’t a pass rush to speak of which will give Russell Wilson all the time he needs to strike early and often.
The Seahawks have surrounded Wilson with a stout offensive line – finally – and it will pay off big time this season. Teams, like Tennessee, that can’t mount a consistent rush will get exposed, particularly when their secondary is no great shakes. As much as I would like to make a case fading the public, there is just not one to make so lay it and like it with the Hawks!
Free NFL Pick: Seahawks -5 (-115) at BetOnline