After besting the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 in their preseason opener, the Tennessee Titans return home to Nissan Stadium to take on the New England Patriots.
The Titans and Patriots have hosted joint practices this week, and there has been times were tempers flared — it will be interesting to see if that action carries over into Saturday’s game.
Here are three offensive keys for the Titans to secure the victory against New England.
Stick to the fundamentals
One major key to beating a team like the Patriots is not beating yourself. As Mike Vrabel mentioned earlier this week, the Patriots are masters of capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes.
With so many different positions on the football field, there are thousands of mistakes that could be made.
So, each individual player, at each position will need to simply keep the basics of their position in the back of their mind throughout the game.
The small details will be key, and eliminating making any mental errors before they materialize into something more will be critical.
Revive the run game
The run game is an important part of the Titans offense. The very fundamentals of this scheme rely on the run to open up the play-action pass.
Last week, the Titans struggled running the ball. Aside from Jeremy McNichols’ 44-yard run, the Titans only managed 81 yards on the ground.
A solid run game up will open up the entire offense, which will allow the Titans opportunities to face more real-game situations before the season begins.
Keep the chains moving
As long as the Titans’ offense is on the field, the Patriots’ offense isn’t.
Last week, the Titans did a fine job on converting third downs, converting 11 of the 19 they faced. However, the Titans went 0-for-4 on fourth down attempts.
This week in training camp, the Titans spent a lot of time focusing on converting third-downs and red zone offense.
Tennessee will hope to see this pay off by marching down the field on long drives and cap them off with a touchdown.
