The Sports Xchange

NASHVILLE — Through three days, including one day in full pads, Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota still has not thrown an interception.

Sure, a time will come when Mariota will be picked off in camp, but the Titans seem encouraged by the rookie’s poise and accuracy. The only thing left to see is how he responds when he does finally have a bad practice or two.

“I don’t expect it to be different than what it was in the spring. He had a couple of days that were not great days, which you expect, but he bounced back fine. So I think he handles it well, hopefully we won’t see any of those,” Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

Of his first padded practice, Mariota replied, “I thought it went well. You’ve just got to get used to it again, guys being around your feet and getting knocked around a little bit, and as the day went on, I got better at that.”

One of the most optimistic aspects of Mariota’s development is his reaction to a Titans defense, under the guidance of Dick LeBeau, that has been throwing some complex looks at him to test him.

“We’re bringing everything we’ve got. Every day, we’re bringing some type of fire zone, some type of pressure we’re bringing after him to get him moving around and trying to make plays moving out of the pocket,” defensive end Jurrell Casey said. “That’s what our defense consists of is a lot of fire zones, and he’s doing a good job with it. It should help him going into the season.”

Whisenhunt said it was good to see the rookie show poise in the live drills, but noted everything will ramp up even more once the preseason begins.

“It’s great to see that he did that, but we’ve really got to see that in a game too, because it’s a whole new element when you’re tackling the guy,” Whisenhunt said. “There’s gonna be times when he takes off and runs with it. Some of the guys I’ve been around, they’ve got a great feel for that. We know he can take off and run with it, but it’s good to see him step up in the pocket and make the throws. That was one of the questions that a lot of people outside of us had about him.”

Mariota said it is just a matter of using his instincts to play the position.

“It’s going to depend on how it feels for me. I really play kind of instinctively and for me, I’ve just got to trust those instincts and just play my game,” Mariota said.

The other thing is that the Titans are not giving just simple vanilla looks defensively. After all, LeBeau is trying to get the defense ready for the season as well.

LeBeau is only in his first season with the Titans, but has 56 years in the NFL as a player and coach. The Hall of Famer is basically on a year-to-year deal with the Titans, Whisenhunt said.

“Right now, it’s a year to year thing, but hopefully, we’ll have success and keep that going for a few years. That’s by his choosing,” Whisenhunt said.

–Wide receiver Kendall Wright has been enjoying a strong camp thus far as work from the offseason seems to be carrying over training camp.

Wright’s numbers dipped from 94 catches in 2013 to just 57 receptions a year ago in Whisenhunt’s first year as head coach. Some of that can be attributed to Wright not always being in the right position on his routes or with his timing in a new offense. It is something he has worked to correct in the offseason.

“That’s all I’ve worked on was trying to be better for Marcus and those guys, being in the right spot and the right depth and running the right route, whether it’s getting myself open or getting (tight end) Delanie (Walker) or any of the other guys open,” Wright said.

On the subject of receiver, they dropped at least four passes in Sunday’s first full-pad practice, with rookie Dorial Green-Beckham guilty of two.

While the second-round pick has been mostly impressive, a dropped pass at the end of a tiring practice is a bit of a learning opportunity for Green-Beckham, who dropped a pass from Mariota and one from Zach Mettenberger as well.

“He looks good, makes plays early in practice and then you can see him get tired, and then his concentration goes, and then he has a couple of drops at the end of practice,” Whisenhunt said. “That’s what this is all about. That, in a little bit of a microcosm, is working through those things. He’s got to understand that when we do two-minute in a week, he’s gonna be gassed. And there’s gonna be a play that’s gonna come to him and that’s where we’re gonna find out, can you make those plays when you’re tired. Because that’s the fourth quarter of a football game, and that’s what being a better team is all about.”

Justin Hunter and Walker also had dropped passes in Sunday’s practice as well.

“We’ve made it very clear with our receivers that you’ve got to make those catches. You continue to harp on that and get better with it,” Whisenhunt said.

Meanwhile, tight end Anthony Fasano has shown reliable hands through the first few days of camp. The veteran tight end was brought in mainly for his blocking skills and his ability to back up both Walker and Craig Stevens.

But the veteran has been turning heads with his play early in camp.

“I try to catch them when they come my way. You don’t know how often they’re gonna be coming, so a lot of it is quarterbacks putting it in good spots to catch it, to tell you the truth,” Fasano said.

Fasano said he joined the Titans, despite a 2-14 season last year, because he believes the team has the potential to turn things around.

“I think there’s a great opportunity to win here, to turn it around, and to turn it around real fast. I really believe in the coaches and their philosophy and their past,” Fasano said.

–Backup quarterback Zach Mettenberger went through the first full-pad practice with a knee brace on his left knee, just like he wore last season when he was coming off ACL surgery. That doesn’t mean that the knee is giving him any problems, however.

Mettenberger said his left knee has healed completely, but he was still taking precautionary steps.

“It would be a pretty bad thing if a 300-pound guy fell on me. That’s really the only reason I need to wear the brace now. My knee is 100 percent,” Mettenberger said. “I’ll continue to wear it. I wore it in college even before I was injured. It’s just an extra thing to keep me safe, and if I feel safe out there, and not live in fear, I play better.”

Looking at the team overall, Mettenberger also said he can tell a big difference in this season and last year, especially in the offensive line.

“You can tell we’re light years ahead of where we were, really just in understanding the system and being in the second year of the system, especially,” Mettenberger said. “The offensive line they’re really communicating better and passing off twisters and making the right line calls. And that makes our job easier at quarterback, because we can just focus on getting the ball downfield to the receivers and into their hands. Everyone has been doing great getting into the right spots. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’re making a good start.”

–New Titans linebacker Brian Orakpo had pectoral muscle tears three times during his years with the Washington Redskins. So the veteran linebacker changed his workout regimen to become more flexible, even incorporating things like yoga as part of his training.

“Some of my trainers back in Texas, we kind of broke down my normal regimen of lifting and all kinds of stuff and just started getting back to the basics with a lot of core work, a lot of stretching, working a lot of flexibility in the upper extremities, stuff that has really been beneficial so far,” Orakpo said.

Orakpo said the way he was working out before was contributing to his injuries.

“I was putting so much strain on certain parts of my body that it was hurting more than helping. All the chiropractors over the years and the trainers I’ve had over the years, we just kind of examined everything and started over from scratch. Hopefully, we can pay tribute to me staying healthy for the full year,” Orakpo said.

So now, Orakpo is passing it on to new Titans teammate Zach Brown, who missed all but one game last year with a torn pectoral muscle. The two are now workout partners.

“I gave a lot of things that I learned to Z.B. so he can stay on top of it and only have one pec (injury) and not have others in the future,” Orakpo said.

Brown said Orakpo’s routine has helped him in his recovery and hopefully will help prevent such a thing from happening again.

“We talked about it. I work out with him, and from working out with him, I got a lot stronger, a lot faster. Actually it’s helped me a lot. I got a lot stronger and leaner and he pushes me in the weight room,” Brown said. “I’ve lost probably seven pounds and about three percent body fat, and I got a lot stronger in my upper body.”

–Through three practices, the Titans have been a healthy team with nothing more than cramps in the heat causing the trainers to have to tend to any players.

The only player on PUP (physically unable to perform) is defensive tackle Sammie Hill, who has been out since early in OTAs with a sprained ACL, which could keep him inactive for another week or two in camp.

–Rookie running back David Cobb had a couple of impressive runs on his first day in a full pad practice with the Titans.

But he also had some rookie moments. He endured a chewing out by running backs coach Sylvester Croom after dropping the ball in individual work.

And during one-on-one blocks, the rookie had his share of issues. Whisenhunt, however, didn’t seem alarmed about the fifth-round pick’s problems in pass protection.

“Today is really the first day you got a chance to see him, and he looked like a rookie. He looked good running the football,” Whisenhunt said. “He’ll get plenty of opportunity to do that, and I think one of the things we liked about him was that he really did a nice job of that down at the Senior Bowl. He really did a nice job of that in that arena. He’ll get his opportunities and I think he’ll do just fine.”