Robinson avoids concussion after cheap hit from Bears
Wan'Dale Robinson escaped a helmet-to-helmet shot from a former Titan without a concussion, Cam Ward owned the throw that put him there, and Tennessee closes its 2-0 preseason at home against the Bears.
A cheap hit, a QB owning it, and good news on Robinson
Thursday's joint practice in Nashville turned ugly when Bears safety Xavier Woods — a former Titan himself — lit up Wan'Dale Robinson with a helmet-to-helmet hit well after the throw. Titans coach Robert Saleh didn't hedge afterward, calling it flatly "cheap," and benches cleared: offensive lineman Austin Schlottmann went after Woods, and receivers Calvin Ridley and Elic Ayomanor got into it with a handful of Bears defensive backs before coaches separated everybody.
#Titans WR Wan'Dale Robinson, who was checked for a concussion yesterday after joint practice, is not believed to have suffered one, source says. The team will continue to monitor him to make sure concussions symptoms don’t arise. But positive early indications.
The medical news is the good news. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports Robinson is not believed to have sustained a concussion, though the Titans plan to keep monitoring him for symptoms through tonight's game, as Wan'Dale Robinson Not Believed To Have Concussion After Cheap Hit lays out.
Cam Ward isn't waiting for the medical staff to clear him before taking his share of the blame. "I have to put him in a better situation," Ward said, per ClutchPoints. "So that's really more about me than it is about him. But he's tough. He got up and he's good. I have to make sure I don't put him in that kind of position again." Two preseason games into the job, that's the kind of sentence a fan base remembers longer than the stat line.
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Preseason wraps at 2-0, and the kicker never missed
Tennessee beat Seattle 19-16 on August 24 to run the preseason record to 2-0, backing up the 19-13 win at San Francisco 10 days earlier. Cam Ward's final tune-up was clean if unspectacular — he completed eight of 12 passes for 69 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions — which is about all a starter needs to show in a game he isn't sticking around for the second half of.
Seahawks19-16
49ers19-13The rest of the roster won the line. Joey Slye converted all four of his field-goal attempts and made his only PAT try, Tony Pollard rushed twice for 12 yards and caught his only target for 33, and Tyjae Spears caught all three of his targets for 14 yards to go with two carries. Not a game anyone will remember by name, but a preseason that ends unbeaten rarely is.
Zero catches on the stat sheet, and nobody in the building is worried
Carnell Tate is still 0 for 5 on targets through two exhibition games, and Titans Not Blinking on Carnell Tate After Quiet Camp makes the case that nobody inside the building has soured on the No. 4 pick because of it. It showed up in practice instead — against the Bears on Thursday, Ward targeted Tate a dozen times and Tate turned seven of those into catches, including two touchdowns, according to AtoZ Sports' coverage of the joint sessions.
Music City BTS with @carnelltate 📹 t.co/IJBicz80qm
The club's own account backed that up Friday night with a "Music City BTS" clip built around Tate — the kind of post the Titans only bother making when there's a player worth putting a camera on. The box score hasn't caught up to what camp has actually shown, and that gap is the whole storyline right now.
The starters watch from the sideline as roster spots get decided
Tonight vs. the Bears is mostly a night for the back of the roster. Per Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, most Titans starters won't play, with the reps going to players still fighting for a 53-man spot. Safety Erick Hallett II is one of the names worth watching — he picked off Bears backup Tyson Bagent in Thursday's joint practice, one of three interceptions the Titans secondary came away with that day, a real answer for a unit that had looked thin all camp. Receiver Xavier Restrepo is building a similar case on the other side of the ball.
Chicago arrives at 1-1 in the preseason after a 27-9 loss at the Bengals, and Ben Johnson's roster has its own bubble drama at cornerback, where Dontae Manning, Beanie Bishop Jr. and Terrell Smith are competing for what may be one open spot behind the Bears' top three. Tennessee opened as a 1.5-point favorite at home, with the total set at 37.5 — a low number that tracks with a game that's about film, not scoreboard, for both sides.