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| Veteran Matt Hasselbeck completed 7-of-9 passes for 74 yards Saturday in St. Louis. |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mike Munchak said on Sunday that he liked the effort and progress that he observed in St. Louis during the Titans' second preseason contest.
Although Tennessee fell 17-16 on a field goal by the Rams as time expired, the first-year head coach said his coaching staff was able to further evaluate players and plans for the upcoming season.
"You want to win (preseason games), believe me, we wanted to win it," Munchak said. "In the end they put a drive together. Their first drive and last drive were enough to get it done. We didn't make a play at the end, and they did. All of the stuff in between was very encouraging when you are playing a lot of guys."
Aside from the first play from scrimmage — an 83-yard touchdown pass from Rams QB Sam Bradford to Brandon Gibson — and the final scoring drive by St. Louis, Munchak said he liked the defense's response to adversity, the way the Titans controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and defense, and his team's advantage in time of possession. Tennessee possessed the ball nearly 10 minutes more than St. Louis through the first three quarters.
The Titans blitzed Bradford, sacking him two times and hitting him often, and held the Rams to 70 yards the rest of the first half. Tennessee limited the St. Louis rushing attack to 44 yards on 21 carries for the game.
Veterans Cortland Finnegan and Will Witherspoon each sacked Bradford, and rookie linebacker Colin McCarthy sacked Rams reserve QB Thaddeus Lewis.
"They were hitting the quarterback, and Cortland looked like he was having a great time against a good quarterback and a good offense," Munchak said.
QUARTERBACK EVALS: Munchak said he was pleased with the performance of quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker.
Hasselbeck led the Titans to scoring drives on his first three opportunities but left prematurely on his fifth drive when he landed awkwardly after completing a pass to Damian Williams. Hasselbeck finished 7-for-9 for 74 yards and is expected to be fine this week.
Locker relieved Hasselbeck as the team faced third down and completed his first attempt — a 29-yard pass to tight end Jared Cook that set up Tennessee's third field goal by Rob Bironas. Locker played into the fourth quarter and finished 8-for-18 for 82 yards but threw a costly interception that set up the Rams' second touchdown.
Munchak said the interception occurred on a designed bootleg play during which Locker was supposed to roll to his right. The rookie did, but the Rams' predicted the play and pressured his throw.
"They had the safety blitz on that side so we rolled him into it and he thought he could make a play to the tight end, and the way the rush came, he kind of jumped and lifted his arm up and the ball went high ... Those are the things that he will learn from playing in the league," Munchak said.
RED ZONE HAS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: Munchak said an area the Titans will continue to improve is red zone possession. Tennessee scored a touchdown on one of the three trips it made inside the St. Louis 20-yard-line and settled for field goals on the other two trips.
A penalty when the Titans faced second-and-goal from the four-yard-line and failure to convert a third-and-one play were the culprits. Munchak said the Titans must avoid penalties so close to the goal and convert third-and-short plays.
Munchak was pleased, however, that the Titans' touchdown followed a Rams turnover. All three touchdowns scored by Tennessee this preseason have followed turnovers by the other team.
