Taylor Lewan Vs. Derrick Morgan and Other Notes From Titans Practice (8/11/18)

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Your boy finally made it out to a Tennessee Titans practice. No excuse to miss it – no work, no out-of-town pro wrestling tournament to cover. Not a care in the world. The SoBros First Lady made it out with me, and served as one hell of a photographer. Be sure to keep up with my Twitter account as I sift through and post the good shit.

But, I saw it firsthand today, folks. The attendance…..people are right. It ain’t pretty. With practice taking place on a Saturday afternoon, people didn’t have the work excuse to miss it, but Saint Thomas Sports Park was fairly barren, and it didn’t improve too much as the afternoon went on.

Otherwise, I thought it was an incredibly well-organized setup. I don’t have a media pass – I have no idea of how to even apply for one. And, let’s not kid ourselves – if the Titans PR people actually looked at our site, I doubt they’d give us one anyway.

But, SoBros Network was built on a foundation of “just do it.” So, we just show up to things and see what happens. Not having a press pass didn’t stop me. And, having that attitude paid off for me.

I was right at the fence for most of the drills and everything was so spread out that I had my pick of the litter, so to speak. I could walk to any position group, jot down a few notes, and move on. There’s no reason for Titans writers in the area not to cover practices like this. That’s just my little pro-tip for the day. It ended up being an excellent experience for me and now I have over 1,400 words of #CONTENT for it.

Also, wear sunscreen and breathable clothing. It’s fucking hot out there.

8/11/18 – Titans Practice Notes

I’m going to split this up into my main takeaways here, because I did pick up on a couple of overarching themes throughout the team drills. It’s just a better way of organizing my notes.

Taylor Lewan vs. Derrick Morgan

Alright, let’s start with the drama drama drama. No clue what happened, but at one point in the afternoon, Taylor Lewan and Derrick Morgan got into a scuffle. I was jotting down a note from the previous play, and suddenly I hear people screaming “HEY! HEY! HEY!”

I look up to see Mike Vrabel, right in the thick of the other players, running in to break it up. It didn’t last too long, but there were some punches thrown. I was impressed by the coaching staff’s ability to contain it, and move on to the next play. They didn’t allow the players to mix it up too much, and were shouting “NEXT PLAY! NEXT PLAY! NEXT PLAY!” before people could even figure out what was really going on.

Both guys were sent to the locker room – cutting their practice short. That was it, everything brushed under the rug. Paul Kuharsky asked about it, and this is what he got:

Sounds like nothing at all. It does beg the question, though, who ya got?

The Receiver Battle Is Tight

*Cameron Batson had a nice afternoon – I noticed him catch a TD in warmups. In red zone drills, he caught a touchdown from Luke Falk. Later in the 2-minute drills, he beat his guy inside on a nice route, but Blaine Gabbert threw the ball just a step behind him. Had that pass been out in front of him, it would’ve been a nice gain. Overall, felt like Batson was one of the big winners of the day from what I saw.

*Taywan Taylor had a good practice – his quickness is apparent, and it’s obvious that he’s going to be utilized a lot differently under Matt LaFleur than he was under Terry Robiskie.

*Man, that Nick Williams is a smooth route runner. He got some first team reps today and showed a set of reliable hands.

*Jordan Veasy had a nice toe-tap touchdown in the back of the end zone off the hands of Falk.

*Up against solid, tight coverage from LeShaun Sims, Devin Ross made a hell of a contested catch going to the ground. They looked his way again over the middle for another reception. He got plenty of reps today, and I’d consider him one of the big winners of the day in this tight receiving race.

*During red zone drills, Darius Jennings found a nice soft spot in coverage and hauled in the touchdown. He had a deep reception later on in the afternoon as well.

*Folks, your guess is as good as mine. Every day, it seems like we’re talking about a different depth receiver. We know that Corey Davis, Rishard Matthews, and Taywan Taylor are absolute locks for the roster. But, out of the rest of the field, I just don’t know.

Defensive Backs Continue to Shine

*Adoree Jackson had a big PBU on a pass that was intended for Delanie Walker. Later in 2-minute drills, Jackson jumped a route a little early, and ended up tipping a ball instead of intercepting it. It did cause just enough chaos for Davis to fail to haul it in.

*Kendrick Lewis grabbed an interception and returned it down the sideline with head coach Mike Vrabel running alongside him, matching him step for step.

*During red zone drills, Kevin Byard stood Davis up at the goal line. The two mixed words a bit, but nothing more than two competitors going at it. This did draw some of the linebackers out, chanting “FIIIIIIIELD GOAL,” though. Cold. Blooded.

*Sims picked up where he left off Thursday night, covering his guys well. He smothered Deontay Burnett on a particular play that comes to mind.

*Malcolm Butler gets yet another interception. All in all, this group of defensive backs, even with the injury to Johnathan Cyprien, is the unquestioned deepest position group on this team.

Notes

*Brian Orakpo was out warming up before practice – initially thought he might be a go, but he did not participate. Also out were Harold Landry and Sharif Finch. The beneficiary of that was Aaron Wallace who worked opposite of Morgan with the first team.

*Lots of stretching out there. I almost tore my ACL just thinking about attempting the sort of stretching football players do to warm up.

*Someone played “Return of the Mack” over the speaker, and whoever did that deserves all the credit for everything.

*A lot of my time was spent watching the defensive and offensive line early on in practice. DL Du’Vonta Lumpkin is a MASSIVE individual. UDFA DE Matt Dickerson is also quite the specimen. You don’t truly realize the gravity of how big these dudes are until you see them up close and in person.

*The offensive line worked on their hands in a drill that I can only describe as “patty cake.”

*Tyler Marz was out there playing hard. There’s definitely a battle at OL depth, but I noticed his effort on a couple of drills.

*The fucking equipment cart was all over the field today. Couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It ran over a practice pad and that was the most eventful thing that happened at one point. Journalism.

*Josh Carraway had a couple of nice plays in coverage, particularly shutting down a quick pass to Brandon Shippen.

*Jayon Brown had a nice interception of Mariota on a pass intended for Walker.

*During red zone drills, Dion Lewis put a hell of a move on Brown that resulted in a touchdown. Dude was on skates for a minute. But, he came off the field playfully lamenting, “motherfucker.”

*I noticed Daren Bates limping around. No word on a potential injury.

*Will Compton with yet another PBU for the Titans defense, this one on Jonnu Smith – the offense didn’t fare too well against this defense in the red zone drills.

*I was not encouraged by Marcus Mariota’s work in the 2-minute drill. He was quick to roll out of the pocket, and though he had a couple of decent runs, he also sailed a couple of passes. Seems like #8 relies too much on his backs and tight ends, but he did find Taylor for a decent gain on the drive. There’s a note in my notebook that just says, “#8 not good,” but I can’t for the life of me remember why. Again….journalism.

*As initially broken on my Twitter profile, Dennis Kelly on the “Touchdown Dennis Kelly” nickname: “I’m glad that stuck.”

*Final note of the day: Mike Vrabel dropped someone’s helmet in the autograph line. I also chickened out of asking Coach for his secret to becoming the most handsome coach in the NFL because my girlfriend said it would’ve embarrassed her.

The Titans return to practice tomorrow morning from 9:50AM-Noon at Saint Thomas Sports Park.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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