The Titans led 10-0 at halftime, but allowed 25 straight points in the second half before a late touchdown. The Titans defense was stout holding All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson to just 31 yards on 19 carries.
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Of course, Blair Walsh missed field goals on two long drives by Hill and the offense, but moving the ball was key. No doubt, Zimmer’s defense deserves the majority of the credit for the Week 1 win, but there were two not-to-be-forgotten drives led by Hill that took time off the clock, cutting down Marcus Mariota’s chances at a comeback.
“This is something to learn from”, Mariota said. “I’m just going to continue being the same guy every day, no matter what”.
The Titans welcome the challenge of the Vikings today, as their defense ranked 12 in the National Football League in yards allowed, so they have confidence that they can stack the box to stop Peterson and force the quarterback to beat them. “We ended up giving them 14 points and we can’t do that”, he said. They averaged just 92.8 yards per game on the ground previous year, but they added DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry to the roster during free agency and the NFL Draft. The guess here is the Vikings will turn to Bradford before the Packers game, using the quarterback for whom they traded a first-round pick and a conditional fourth-rounder.
On the next possession, another fumble set up a Vikings field goal that essentially put the game out of reach. After struggling in the first-half, the defense forced three turnovers in the second, taking back the first two for touchdowns. Teddy Bridgewater has never posted a game with that many completions of at least 10 yards, and Bradford has done so just once. To back Murray up, the Titans also brought in rookie Derrick Henry with their second-round pick.
“The turnovers obviously were catastrophic”, Mularkey said. “That’s one thing. I mean, really, their specialty is pocket passing”.
The Titans controlled play for most of the opening 30 minutes, using a power running game with play-action and rollout throws on offense. That allowed wide receiver, Stefon Diggs, and tight end, Kyle Rudolph, to take advantage of their matchups all game. Linebacker, Eric Kendricks, returned an interception for one score and defensive end, Danielle Hunter, took a fumble for another two series later. We turned the ball over on the offensive side. We’ve got video of them with the designed out-of-the-pocket [plays], but that’s not what they’re there for. “We were all trying to make great calls and everything”.
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“It’s worse on us for making mistakes, but again it is the first game”. Paraphrased, Hill said that his ability to provide solid play while being thrown into the fire at inopportune times was the reason he still has a life in the NFL.
