The Tennessee Titans’ defense, which got off to a great start with a dominant showing in Preseason Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, continued to impress during its first joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Titans saw three of their players pick off a pass from quarterback Tom Brady, including cornerbacks Elijah Molden and Janoris Jenkins, and safety Amani Hooker.
Cornerbacks Caleb Farley and Kristian Fulton also had some notable plays in coverage (you can check out a full recap right here), and the Titans’ pass rush provided some positive plays to be happy about as well.
After practice, Brady wasn’t happy with his performance overall even though it certainly wasn’t all bad. In fact, he gave credit to the Titans’ defense, along with a nice compliment, according to Ben Arthur of The Tennessean.
“They’re good,” Brady said. “They’ve got a lot of good players, and it’s a good scheme. They keep things moving. They blitz. They play coverage. They have some disguises. They do what good defenses do – they challenge you to think.”
It has been quite some time since we’ve heard the words “good” and “defense” in the same sentence when it comes to the Titans after an absolutely horrid showing in 2020.
Farley stayed in the way with Evan’s here. Brady unsurprisingly very precise in his throws on one-on-ones. #Titans #Bucs. pic.twitter.com/bgsQutxMhy
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) August 18, 2021
#Titans I was most impressed with today: CB Caleb Farley, LB Jayon Brown, DT Larrell Murchison
— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) August 19, 2021
Just in case you thought Brady was just being nice, ESPN’s Jenna Laine also pointed out that Tennessee’s defense was giving Brady and the Bucs all they could handle.
Brady would have just been sacked on third down but attempts to hit Scotty Miller and it’s way too tall. Titans’ defense is giving them some real work today.
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) August 18, 2021
Now, are we going to sit here and proclaim the Titans’ defense fixed? No, but this is a great sign that things are at least moving in the right direction.
Tennessee and Tampa Bay will hit the field for the second and final joint practice on Thursday, starting at 9:55 a.m. ET.
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