Last season the Titans entered that Thursday Night game with sights set on completing the sweep of the AFC North

Titans Tennessee Titans Hoodie , Marcus Mariota Return to Heinz Field November 16, 2017 marks the date of arguably the worst game of QB Marcus Mariota’s professional career. The three previous weeks included an overtime win against the winless Browns, and two dogfights against the Ravens and the Bengals. The Titans earned wins in each game, but by no more than seven points combined. It took a game winning drive orchestrated by Mariota to squeak by Cincinnati, a drive that left the Titans QB a little banged up. The key play took place with a little over one minute left in regulation. On 2nd and 2, Mariota scrambled for a five yard gain and landed directly on his face. Initially, he appeared concussed and the Titans called a timeout following the play. After the game it was reported it was his non-throwing shoulder that was hurt. I still am of the belief his bell was rung - and it lingered into Pittsburgh.Prime Time SpotlightDefeating the Bengals had put the Titans on the map, as it was their best start in nearly a decade. In order to gain national respect, a win in Pittsburgh against one of the AFC powerhouses would help the Titans case.Instead, a nightmare performance ensued. It was the debut of the new “SkyCam” view as the primary angle. Through that view, Titans fans were left scratching their heads on errant Mariota throws and stuttering runs in open space by former RB DeMarco Murray. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY SportsIn Mariota’s showdown against “Big” Ben Roethlisberger Youth Customized Tennessee Titans Jerseys , he was on the wrong side of the stat sheet. Mariota threw four interceptions to Roethlisberger’s four touchdowns.Although the Titans defense was able to bottle up RB Le’Veon Bell on the ground, he still did some damage as a receiver by adding 57 yards to his 103 total yards from scrimmage. The Steelers capitalized on the Titans turnovers, adding nine points following each interception. A quick score on the first play of the second half pulled the Titans within two points - which goes unnoticed when the final score makes the game look like more of a blowout than it truly was.Three consecutive Steelers touchdowns put the game out of reach and didn’t help the Titans build any respect as a contender in the AFC.The Steelers’ playmaking receiver - and current Madden cover guy - WR Antonio Brown carved up the Titans secondary , generating highlight reel catches with ease.Yes, Mariota doesn’t play defense, so how is he to blame for Brown’s monstrous night? The turnovers and inability to move the offense downfield or generate touchdowns is how.Mariota must demonstrate his decision making has improved.New Year, New OffenseMariota - in typical Mariota fashion - took all of the blame for the loss and cited making “bad decisions”. The third preseason game is holds the most weight in terms of importance. Not in terms of points, but in terms of reps. The starters typically see the most action in the third week of the preseason.Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY SportsMariota has played a total of three series. He marched the team down the field on the opening possession against Green Bay. It took him 12 plays against Tampa Bay to put points on the board. Overall, Mariota has looked like a quarterback who is finding comfort in the execution of a new offense, but still has room for improvement. Some of his passes have sailed and there may has been some miscommunication with his receivers, but overall I’d say his progress is natural.As Dan Orlovsky has already pointed out the process will take time www.titansauthorizedshops.com , but once everything begins to click for Mariota, a “meteoric takeoff” should take place. This week, Mariota hopes to make some plays and more positive memories at Heinz Field. HC Mike Vrabel has indicated we may see more from the running game this week, but expect Mariota to have his share of opportunities to make plays through the air.What does a successful preseason look like for the Titans? Preseason NFL football is strange. I feel nearly the exact same range of emotions for each game every year. Game 1: Thrilled to see the team on the field again. Don’t even really care how they play. This game is a giant bucket of ice cold water in the desert. Game 2: Less interested. Really just waiting to see what happens in Game 3 now.Game 3: The dressed rehearsal game is probably the best overall preseason game. The starters usually play until around halftime and you really want to see some nice, crisp execution from that group before the backups head in.Game 4: WHO CARES, WHY IS THIS STILL HAPPENING?But what really matters in the preseason? Do wins and losses matter? I did some digging and it turns out that it doesn’t really matter much, if at all. There are plenty of anecdotes that point to this — the 0-16 Lions going 4-0 in the preseason is my favorite — but the data confirms that the correlation between preseason wins and regular season wins is virtually non-existent. In fact, this study shows that teams with a 2-2 preseason record have the highest winning percentage compared to the other possible preseason results (1-3 is the worst). Looking at the Titans’ results over the past 10 seasons, you can see that preseason records really have no bearing on how the team performs in the regular season. 2017: 1-3, 9-72016: 3-1, 9-72015: 2-2 Tennessee Titans Womens T-Shirt , 3-132014: 2-2, 2-142013: 1-3, 7-92012: 3-1, 6-102011: 3-1, 9-72010: 2-2, 6-102009: 3-2*, 8-82008: 3-1, 13-3*Titans played in the Hall of Fame Game in 2009.As much as anything during the preseason, fans should be cheering for injury avoidance. I found this study from the 2017 season that plotted the number of “man-games” lost for each team versus the number of regular season wins and found it to be pretty interesting.Graphically, you can see that losing lots of starters significantly decreases a team’s chances of going to the playoffs. When all eleven players on the field for your team get up at the end of a play, that’s even better than a long touchdown pass in the preseason. While wins and losses and stats may not matter Tennessee Titans Hats , I believe execution does. You want to see players being able to go out and execute the plays that are called, especially the first team units. Last season we saw the Titans offense struggle mightily with execution in the preseason and that carried over directly in to the regular season. The hope will be that we see a much cleaner operation this year. You want to see guys knowing their assignments and being in the right places at the right time. Minimizing penalties and ME’s (mental errors) is a sign of good execution and a team that is understanding the offensive and defensive install during camp.While I’m excited to see what the new offense looks like in a game setting, most schemes are in their most dumbed-down, vanilla versions during preseason and I would expect that to be the case for the Titans tonight. You aren’t seeing a staff put together an opponent specific gameplan designed to beat the other team with the possible exception of Week 3. Don’t get me wrong, we will certainly see the basics of what the offense and defense will be built off of in Green Bay, but if it looks like they’re only running a few very basic plays, it’s probably because they are.It is going to be fun to see some of the young guys trying to make the roster getting their opportunity to play. You never know when a Drew Bennett or Victor Cruz is going to show up out of nowhere and become a legitimate starter. However, the most important thing that can happen tonight and for the rest of the preseason is for the Titans to get some good, clean execution from their starters and then get them out of the game healthy. That’s a successful preseason. Anything beyond that is just gravy.