Titans head into Seattle licking Week 1 wounds

The season opener couldn’t have gone better for the Seattle Seahawks. And it couldn’t have been much worse for the Tennessee Titans.

What should be a fascinating matchup in Week 2 when the Titans travel to Seattle for a game on Sunday afternoon.

The Titans, who reached the AFC title game in 2019 and won the AFC South last year, hosted Arizona in the beginning and suffered a 38-13 defeat when Ryan Tannehill was sacked six times.

“It’s a wake up call for us,” said Rodger Saffold, the Titans offensive lineman. “You can’t just show up and win a game, so I hope we take that and come out with our hair burning (in Seattle).”

Derrick Henry, the two-time defending NFL rushing leader who had 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns last season, managed 58 yards on 17 carries while the Titans only accumulated 248 yards of offensive.

“We just have to play better,” said Henry. “Looks listless, just walks around, doesn’t play the way we play. Not to play by the standard we all talk about, that we try every day.”

The Titans allowed Kyler Murray of Arizona to throw 289 yards and four TDs, which doesn’t bode well considering they face Russell Wilson this week.

“We’re not going to sit here dawdling with our heads down,” said Kevin Byard, Titans Security. “We’ll keep fighting, fighting and preparing for Seattle.”

Wilson was 18 of 23 for 254 yards and four touchdowns when the Seahawks won their opener 28:16 in Indianapolis in the first game for new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

“I just think we were really sharp the first time,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. “A lot of guys have contributed and there is a lot more. It was a really efficient, good first ball game.”

Wilson, who didn’t play the preseason, had a QB rating of 152.3, the second highest in his 10-year career. He quickly got rid of the ball in the new short-yard passing game, but still hit Tyler Lockett for a 69-yard TD.

“There’s so much we can do. We can do a lot more to really be what we wanted to do,” said Wilson. “The guys hit all the details. Just the little details of what we wanted to do. The guys really take the coaching points and they kind of feel what I see and that’s why we have to do it here because it’s going to be boom , there it is.”

The Seahawks ‘defense limited Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor, the NFL’s third largest rusher last season, to 56 yards with 17 carries. They also had three sacks and 10 quarterback hits on Carson Wentz.

Seattle wide receivers Dee Eskridge and Penny Hart both suffered concussions in the opener. Hart was back in training Wednesday while Eskridge stayed on the concussion log. Carroll said Rashaad Penny’s running back would likely be absent a few weeks after sustaining a calf injury against the Colts.

Titan’s outside linebacker Bud Dupree didn’t train on Wednesday and receiver AJ Brown and tight end Anthony Firkser were limited participants due to knee injuries. Linebackers Harold Landry III (bar) and David Long Jr. (bar) were also limited.

–Field-level media