NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Last year he wasn’t in the nickel package.

Now he shouldn’t be leaving the field.

In my estimation, inside linebacker Wesley Woodyard is the best player on the Titans defense through three games, perhaps the best player on the team.

He’s been flying around, getting involved in everything.

He’s got 38 tackles, 11 ahead of the next best guy, Avery Williamson. Four of Woodyard’s tackles were for a loss, one for a sack.

Jurrell Casey was understandably unwilling to say Woodyard is the best player on the Titans’ defense right now.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Watching the Titans' offense go three-and-out four times in a row Sunday against the Seahawks, it was hard to find many positives.

But for the second consecutive game, bad offense in the first half included chances to test how the opposition responded to certain sets and helped set something up for later.

“We’ve got things that we’ll do on the first drive to set up something that we might now do until the third quarter,” offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie said. “Sometimes you might get to it a little quicker.

“But are certain things, certain formations, certain packages of personnel that we might put in. We may have a play where we say, ‘This is going to be a (deep) shot.’ Well we might want to do it out of three tight ends. We might put that formation in in the first 10 or 12 plays. Put it out there, let's see how they play it, ok, that’s it, they are doing what we thought they would do.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – At key moments in Sunday’s Titans at Texans game, Tennessee won’t be able to scheme up and protect Marcus Mariota with extra people.

Houston will bring people forward, putting five men on the line and forcing the Titans to block J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus one-on-one.

And that’s where we may learn the true story of the Titans at this stage: Strength-on-strength against the two-time defending AFC South champs.

“All five guys are across from our five linemen,” coach Mike Mularkey said. “You see it much more when you’ve got the personnel. Oakland, that’s Oakland’s scheme first, second and third down. They’re going to put five guys up there and you’ve got to block them.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Marcus Mariota’s run 16 times through three games, for a total of 77 yards. The non-scrambles have been safe, smart runs and they feel like an enhanced feature of the Titans’ offense.

Coach Mike Mularkey said that on some, but not all, of Mariota ground gains, the Titans try to create what FOX broadcaster Charles Davis called “escorted runs.”

The Titans have to be clever when calling those plays for their quarterback without telegraphing that someone is about to lead Mariota.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Fair or not, the repercussions the NFL and its players will feel as a result of protests during the national anthem are potentially severe, and they aren’t going away.

I thought things would calm down, but the phones have been ringing like crazy at the Titans' ticket office and a good share of fans appear to be ready to follow through with pledges to stop going to games and to stop watching them. I’ve heard about some ramifications for players with marketing opportunities as well.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans seem to line up a great deal on offense in tight formations, without much of a perimeter presence at the snap.

At least that was my thinking from watching their first three games.

I went through their 33-27 win over Seattle on Sunday at Nissan Stadium to get a better sense of how they did, and didn’t, spread out to learn if my general feeling aligned with the evidence.

Every play was included in my review, even if it was undone by penalty.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman’s sideline hit on Marcus Mariota deserves more repercussions than it got, Titans coach Mike Mularkey said Monday.

That’s going to prompt the Titans to put the topic of such situations in front of the NFL’s competition committee.

“Unnecessary, totally unnecessary,” Mularkey said of Sherman’s play on the boundary. “The outcome of what happened, to have two penalties nullify each other, basically he got a clean shot on our quarterback and there was no penalty, There was no negative ramifications for their team with that hit he put on our quarterback.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Derrick Morgan had him at least three times, Brian Orakpo missed at least once.

Slippery Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had a remarkable game Sunday at Nissan Stadium, regularly dodging Titans pass rushers to make plays. The Titans won 33-27 despite Wilson, who hit 289 of 49 passes for 373 yards and four touchdowns, while running seven times for 26 yards.

“Wilson is going to make his plays, but the great thing about it, we kept him contained somewhat, and we kept him corralled,” Orakpo said. “We kept the clock ticking, we kept getting possession back to our offense and we scored more points than them. It was just