The Tennessee Titans entered the third week of the preseason looking to record a win after suffering a 22-17 loss to the New England Patriots last week.
Instead, they turned in a dismal performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers as they dropped their second game in a row, falling 18-6 in Nissan Stadium.
While there weren’t many positive takeaways, some players outperformed others.
Here are some studs and duds from the second-to-last 2019 preseason game for the Titans.
Stud: S Amani Hooker
There have been high expectations for rookie safety Amani Hooker, and he delivered on Sunday.
Hooker recorded his first NFL interception to place the Titans at their own 45-yard line, though they failed to engineer a scoring drive despite the favorable field position.
finished out with three tackles and a pass breakup along with the interception.
Dud: Offensive line
The Titans offensive line as a unit couldn’t have had much worse of a showing than it did on Sunday.
The O-line allowed seven total sacks and a safety, with all three quarterbacks seeing a good bit of the turf at LP Field. If the Titans offense is to get the chains moving and keep Marcus Mariota both upright and healthy, they’re going to need to get their act together quickly.
Stud: P Brett Kern
Hardly any other player on Tennessee’s roster is quite as solid as Kern is, and there’s a reason why he’s been to two consecutive Pro Bowls.
He averaged 68.5 yards per punt and finished out the evening with 137 net yards on a pair of punts.
This one – which went for 81 yards – was easily one of the best plays of the game.
Dud: WR Adam Humphries
We’ve seen good things from the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout throughout preseason and camp, but he didn’t impress in what we saw of him on Sunday.
Humphries couldn’t hold on to a wide-open screen pass from Marcus Mariota in the first half that could have turned into a big play.
Stud: RB Jeremy McNichols
The Titans need to see a lot from rushers not named Derrick Henry, Dion Lewis or David Fluellen to justify adding a fourth running back to the 53-man roster — and McNichols is giving them reason to do just that.
McNichols had a solid showing on Sunday, with one of the best Titans plays of the game with a 23-yard run in the second half. He also led the team in rushing with nine carries for 43 yards.
