On Saturday, the Tennessee Titans hosted the San Francisco 49ers in the first preseason game of 2024. The Titans came away with the win and overall looked pretty good, but it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. CBS Sports released its version of the good, the bad and the ugly for each NFL team after the first preseason games this weekend.
The good: The Titans’ strong one-two punch of Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears. Pollard averaged a whopping 8.8 yards per carry with 35 rushing yards on four carries, showing much of the explosion from his 2022 Cowboys Pro Bowl season before the gruesome leg injury that postseason against these same 49ers. Spears chipped in with three carries for two yards, including a touchdown near the goal line. Pollard was also a factor in the passing game with two catches for 11 yards. Quarterback Will Levis will once again be blessed with strong running back play in his second year in the NFL. It’s worth noting the Titans scored touchdowns on both of Levis’ two drives in the game.
The bad and the ugly: Not much to critique with the Titans not allowing a passing touchdown and picking off quarterback Joshua Dobbs. Tennessee shut San Francisco out in the second and third quarters, not allowing the 49ers to get in rhythm all day long.
True, the Titans ground game looked solid on Saturday. But we didn’t get to see much of the air game. There were 15 different ball catchers on Saturday and the longest pass play (36 yards) went to a running back (Julius Chestnut). It’s preseason, though, and some of this is expected as the Titans try to figure out who makes their final 53-man roster.
On defense, the Titans didn’t allow a single passing touchdown and managed to intercept the ball at the end of the game. There were two sacks, but the Titans allowed over five yards per play. Their saving grace was the 49ers eight penalties for 48 yards, so there’s still room to improve there.
The preseason will never show us what we will see during the regular season because teams are still trying to finalize their players and because many star players don’t play in the preseason to avoid injuries. The teams we see during this time are not the same as the teams we see during the season.
Still, we can learn about the coaching staff and their decision-making, how they’ll call a game, and ways they might make adjustments. Luckily for the Titans, they had a good showing this weekend, giving fans reason to hope.
The Titans host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday in their second preseason game.