Tennessee Titans: Jake Locker, Matt Hasselbeck Fail to Impress in 2012 Debut

With their first preseason game in the books following Saturday night’s 27-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Tennessee Titans are inching closer to deciding who their quarterback will be in Week 1.

Matt Hasselbeck was treated to a return back to Seattle for the first time since leaving as a free agent last summer, and Jake Locker was returning for the first time since leaving the University of Washington

The welcome back wasn’t quite what either expected.

On his first pass attempt of the evening, Hasselbeck threw the ball directly at the hands of a diving Nate Washington, who bobbled it right into cornerback Brandon Browner’s hands for a pick-six.

After an odd start to the evening, the veteran gunslinger couldn’t find his rhythm. 

Tight end Jared Cook was quite possibly the most remarkable pass catcher on the evening, breaking down the defensive secondary and looking as explosive as he did at the end of 2011 when Hasselbeck connected with him on an 18-yard gain.

Hasselbeck ended his sequence with another interception– an overthrown attempt to Damian Williams.

Second-year quarterback Jake Locker, who has reportedly been closing the gap as training camp continues, was lukewarm in his 2012 debut.

Play-calling was inconsistent on his first drive, repeatedly sending out running plays and eventually moving Tennessee back to third-and-20 before Locker attempted his first pass.

On the next possession, offensive coordinator Chris Palmer elected to run a no-huddle offense, slinging the ball around on five consecutive plays without any deviance.

Following the first two odd possessions, Locker and the Titans offense pushed the tempo, using their longest drive of the evening to move the ball from their own seven-yard line to within field goal range.

Locker was solid, connecting on 7-of-13 passes for 80 yards, but wasn’t overly impressive.

Hasselbeck’s 5-of-9 night for 45 yards and two interceptions was an uneventful return to Seattle, but should be taken with a grain of salt considering the fluke interceptions.

Head coach Mike Munchak will ultimately make the decision on who is the starter when the New England Patriots roll into LP Field. 

“I don’t know if there was a big gap,” Munchak said, via Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean. “Obviously, Jake doesn’t have the experience Matt has, so I think that gap you can never really close if you are a young quarterback. But I think overall, as the season progressed last year, we thought that Jake was coming on real strong.”

The Titans will travel to Tampa Bay Friday when they match up with the Buccaneers for Week 2 of the preseason and attempt to solidify the starting quarterback job as we get closer to the regular season.

2012-08-13 05:09:27

Source: http://www.nationalfootballauthority.com/2012/08/tennessee-titans-jake-locker-matt.html