Titans' Practice Notes: Motion, Malik Willis And Third Down

Jeffery Simmons
   Jeffery Simmons

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Notes from the Titans’ open practice Saturday at Nissan Stadium…

Motion: The Titans ran some interesting motion, with receivers circling deep in the backfield and others occasionally settling near the quarterback after circling him. 

“We're going to move our formations,” Callahan said. “We're going to move our players all over the place. Pre-snap motion is a big part of what we do and how we manipulate the defense.

"And so, that's definitely going to be part of what you see come Sundays. We're going to move the formation a lot with a lot of different people. So that was a sampling of some of the things that we've been practicing and working on.”

Second-year receiver Kearis Jackson was involved in some of it and said it is a fun carryover of things he did at Georgia. [Unlocked]

“Some of the things I used to do in college we are doing here now,” he said. “9The motions) are very fun because it confuses the defense -- you’re in one position and end up in another.  All of it confuses the defense but it sets the offense up to be more efficient. I could line up wide, I could line up in the slot and come around, be on one side of the field, motion to the other side. You’ve got to be conditioned to do it.”

Third down: Overall Will Levis was fine, and he hit Tony Pollard on a double-move route that beat Roger McCreary for a big gainer. 

But the QB had one bad stretch. The start of a third-down  11-on-11 period was poor. He threw a wobbler on the first play, looking for Calvin Ridley deep up the left side. Ridley could not fight back for it and while there was contact, the consensus among reporters was that Tre Avery’s interception would have stood as he was merely going to the ball.

The next play seemed to be a miscommunication with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine with Elijah Molden close on an overthrow, the next was an incomplete that was nowhere close to Mason Kinsey. Finally, Levis had to roll right and throw threw ball away.

“The ball came out of his hand bad,” Callahan said of the first throw. “We had a shot at the route. Didn't do a great job in protection on two of those, I think. It wasn't our best day on third down, and again, Dennard (Wilson) presents a lot of problems, and the defense did a good job. So, from my point, that's good to see. And offensively, we've got some things to clean up.

Malik WillisMalik Willis: The Titans’ third-string quarterback has a solid session, but a small contingent of Willis’ extremists make stressing the obvious context mandatory – he’s working with third-team people against third-team people.

Despite Brian Callahan saying there will be a competition for the No. 2 spot, there has been no indication of that so far with Mason Rudolph clearly second and Willis clearly third.

Willis put the ball in good spots overall on Saturday.

Particularly of note was one play where pressure was starting to arrive and he shifted slightly but stayed in the pocket and hit tight end David Martin-Robinson. The next play he lofted an excellent pass downfield to undrafted rookie receiver Bryce Oliver who had broken nearly 5-yards open on Eric Garror but Oliver laid out for the totally catchable ball and dropped it.

When Willis fumbled a snap, he picked it up and completed a pass.

“I feel like its been a lot of days, a lot of work’s been put in and I’m just trying to continue that and see where the chips fall when we get into the preseason and have a little fun,” he said. “It’s three offenses in now since I’ve been in the league and I’ve just been trying to feel comfortable. We have a lot of time with the coaches. They've been real teachers as far as the offense goes and I feel I'm understanding it where I can make quick decisions.”

Said Callahan: “Really pleased with Malik. I think both those quarterbacks (Willis and Mason Rudolph) have really done a nice job. Malik came out and had a nice day with some aggressive throws. He's really done a nice job knowing what to do, where to go with the football. And, really pleased with how he played today. It was a good day for Malik.”

Shane Ray: The outside linebacker signed to the roster Friday showed up twice against Levis on consecutive plays.

The first would have been a sack coming from Willis' left. The second may have been a combo sack by T'Vondre Sweat and Jeffery Simmons. But if Levis slipped them to roll left he would have run right into Ray.

Crowd: I’m the first to advise people to check out one training camp practice and never come again. But it’s worth noting that the crowd was paltry at Nissan Stadium on a hot but overcast Saturday morning.

Parking is now very difficult here, and former President Donald Trump was in town and predicted to create traffic snafus.

The Titans were eager to hype it, so much so that they pulled Jeff Simmons and Tyjae Spears away from work with their position groups for interviews on the scoreboard. Others spoke during clear pauses in their workflow. If I’m a fan, I want to see Simmons and Spears work in those situations much more than I want to hear them.

Those who moved to the front row at the end were treated very well by players, who signed for quite some time. 

Practice ended about 12:35 and the last player didn’t leave the field until 1:27.

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