The accomplished, just-won-it-all Seahawks came here to get the most productive work the starters will get against another team’s starters all preseason.
\nThe Tennessee Titans are at the other end of the NFL.
\nThey won just three of 17 games last season. They have a new coach. They are seeking a new identity and direction, with new results.
\nThey came onto their practice fields at the Vanderbilt Health Football Center on a sauna-like Friday to get after the champs.
\n“They’re out of gas!” Titans 2025 All-Pro defensive tackle yelled at his teammates midway through their joint practice with the Seahawks.
\n“Super Bowl champions? Blah, blah, blah!”
\nThe Seahawks got theirs: Sam Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed and Elijah Arroyo deep down the field for completions past beaten Titans defenders; Ty Okada intercepting Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward on a pass outside and returning it for a touchdown.
\nThe Titans got theirs, most prominently cornerback Alontae Taylor intercepting Darnold on a quick pass short outside and returning it for a touchdown.
\nOf course Devon Witherspoon and Seattle’s defensive teammates ran with Okada to the end zone for a gleeful celebration of that pick six. But otherwise, the Seahawks jogged back to their huddle and sidelines after their plays Friday.
\nTennessee’s players? They celebrated, yelled and jumped around after their plays like they’d just done, well, what the Seahawks did 6 1/2 months ago. Like they’d just won the Super Bowl.
\n“They may be hungry,” Simmons said after the practice, in front of rolling cameras in a press conference, “but we’re starving.”
\nThe Seahawks came 2,000 miles to Nashville for the second time in three preseasons to get the starters their most extensive work before the games get real beginning Sept. 9 against New England. They also came here to stay healthy.
\nThey did the former; they got the work.
\nThey failed in the latter.
\nWide receiver Jake Bobo’s serious, right knee injury and getting carted off the field was the major downer to the Seahawks’ day.
\nThe positives included incremental progress for Darnold and the starting offense plus coach Mike Macdonald’s starting defense. Yet they are not where they want to be 2 1/2 weeks before the opener.
\n“We’re continuing to find our identity,” Darnold said of new coordinator Brian Fleury’s offense.
\nGeorge Holani was the first running back in 11-on-11 scrimmages. Rookie first-round draft choice Jadarian Price alternated in with the starting offense. Price missed last week with a sore upper leg.
\nBoth Holani and Price had touchdowns against the Titans’ pass defense in the scrimmaging Friday. Both caught a lot of passes from Darnold in the middle of the field, too.
\nThe running backs were all over the field in different formations, as has been the case daily throughout training camp with new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury.
\n“Even when they’re not out of the backfield, they’re in the slot, being able to catch and do all the things that we ask them to do,” Darnold said. “In camp, some things happen. Receivers go down. Tight ends go down. Fullbacks go down. And those running backs have been able to step up in whatever position we ask them to play.
\n“They’ve been very versatile all camp and really, really good catching the ball out of the backfield and even in the slot or out wide.”
\nYet Darnold wants himself, his teammates, to be finer on the intricacies in the offense.
\n“I think for us, we’ve got to continue to detail things up,” the QB said.
\nHe likened it to Seattle’s offense this time last year.
\n“During training camp, especially this point in training camp, there can be some guys that think they have it figured out, myself included,” Darnold said. “You take your foot off the gas a bit, and you’re like, ‘Alright, we have all the installs in. I feel like I’ve been executing at practice.’
\n“No, you’ve got to treat every single day like it’s your last day out here.
\n“That’s really my mindset. I know our offense is continuing to push tempo and all those things that we need to do to continue to have good practices and build all the way to the season...We just continue to build.”
\n\nTy Okada pick 6\nSafety Ty Okada, the replacement to start in 2026 for Coby Bryant leaving to Chicago in free agency, intercepted a short pass outside by Tennessee’s (and one-time Washington State Cougar) Cam Ward. Okada returned that for a touchdown during 11-on-11 scrimmaging.
\nDevon Witherspoon and the Seahawks defensive teammates ran with Okada to celebrate with him in the end zone.
\n“It was a really great call,” Okada said of coach Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme. “I was coming down over the middle. I tried to get his eyes off of me and then on a crossing route, I was able to read it, play off of him, go out there and make a play. It felt good.”
\nWard and the Titans had their moments against the Seahawks starters. A hurry-up, late-game scrimmage with the offense out of time outs resulted in a Tennessee touchdown. That was after an NFL official threw a penalty flag on Josh Jobe for raking his arm across the face mask of Titans receiver Elic Ayomanor down the left sideline on Ward’s long pass to inside the 5-yard line.
\nJobe was ticked at the official for the call. He yelled an expletive at him.
\nOn the next play, defensive tackle Jarran Reed and outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu stopped an inside running play. Nwosu was off the edge as Derick Hall continued his week-long absence because of a leg injury.
\nOn the next snap, Ward waited for tight end Daniel Bellinger to run free away from Okada across the back of the end zone for a touchdown catch.
\nMacdonald was happy with the work, if not all the performances.
\n“We got a lot of reps in,” the head coach said.
\nThen he said more of why he does these joint practices.
\n“If you play starters in a preseason game, you’re looking at maybe upwards of 20 reps,” Macdonald said. “But now you’re getting upwards of 40 or 50 really good, physical reps in a little more controlled environment, which is a positive for everybody. “
\n“But you’ve got to nail the execution. It takes both clubs to work together. It takes both teams to work together. There’s a lot of logistics involved. That’s why I’m so pleased. It took everybody pushing in the same direction to get it done.”
\nHere in Nashville: LT Abe Lucas and WR Montorie Foster Jr. appear to be heat-related issues. Good #Seahawks news after Jake Bobo’s serious knee injury. @thenewstribunepic.twitter.com/FVF08lVDyf
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) August 21, 2026 \nMiddle linebacker Ernest Jones, the defense’s signal caller and commander, wasn’t totally satisfied with the defense’s day. Or preseason so far.
\n“I think we played pretty well. Our standard is perfection, so we’re not happy,” Jones said. “We gave them some things and then some things that we’ve just got to correct.
\n“Overall, for the ones, we got a lot of plays in, got a lot of good work. So we should go into the (first) game feeling good.”
\n\nNo fights\nJoint practices in the NFL have fights like summer has heat.
\nThe league fined the Saints and Cowboys $500,000 each for a set of brawls that at times looked like a WWE event in a joint practice earlier this week.
\nWitherspoon and Jones fought with Packers last summer in Seattle’s joint practice in Green Bay. The last time the Seahawks had a joint practice with the Titans, two years ago in Nashville, ex-Seahawks Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs in Tennessee were part of the reason there were fights in those two joint practices.
\nFriday? The on-field, feels-like temperature was 100 degrees. The Tennessee humidity made it feel like three hours in a sauna. The sun made it feel like a sauna with a heat lamp. It was so much hotter than the idyllic, 78-degree days with breeze during Seahawks training camp along Lake Washington back home in Renton.
\nAnd Friday was 10 degrees cooler than it was in Nashville last weekend, when the real air temperature hit 98 degrees.
\n“We met up with the (Titans) quarterbacks during special teams,” Darnold said. “And before I could say, ‘It’s hot out here,’ they went, ‘It’s a beautiful day. You brought the cool weather with you.’
\n“I was like, ‘Good God!’”
\nYet the Seahawks kept their cool. They acted like Super Bowl champions were here to get the starters their most extensive work of the preseason. And then get out.
\nDefensive tackle Byron Murphy threw down Tennessee running back Tyjae Spears at the end of a play in a manner the Titans didn’t appreciate. Some pushing and shoving ensued. But that was it. Guys calmed down quickly from that.
\n“I thought our guys handled it really well today,” Macdonald said. “There’s going to be some excess energy at some point. But it’s how well you collect yourself, take a deep breath, and get to the next play.
\n“Our guys knew that it was really important for us today, to get great work in. That was really our focus, and I think we hit that target for the most part, which is great.”
\nWhen a Titans linebacker went at Christian Haynes after a play, the Seahawks’ reserve guard just looked at him, shook his head and walked back to Seattle’s huddle with quarterback Drew Lock and the second-team offense.
\n“We didn’t come here to fight,” Jones said. “I’ve been telling the guys that we came here to work. We want good work. We want to see where we’re at, where our defense is at and where our offense is at.
\n“The heat is what it is. We knew it was going to be hot, so it takes us getting some time to adjust in those first couple periods, but I think we finished strong.”
\nJust off the field here in Nashville, Jarran Reed after the #Seahawks v Titans joint practice telling me on @933KJR teammate Byron Murphy deserves everything and more coming to him on a new contract.
Yes, he means near the top of the DT market. Wowed by his skill, work ethic. pic.twitter.com/HulNuZYgH5
Noah Igbinoghene continues to move ahead of Nehemiah Pritchett for the third-cornerback job playing with Witherspoon and Jobe, as Macdonald likes for a base defense. Igbinoghene, the eighth-year veteran coach Dan Quinn made a starter at nickel inside for Washington in 2023, was outside at cornerback opposite Jobe with Witherspoon inside at nickel again.
\nNew cornerback Trevon Diggs practiced for the first time since signing on Wednesday. The 2021 All-Pro for Dallas who hasn’t played a full season since 2022 with the Cowboys did position work, then took off his shoulder pads and watched scrimmaging.
\nHe hadn’t been in pads since playing briefly in one playoff game for Green Bay seven months ago. Diggs only has three practices, next week back in Renton, before the final preseason game Aug. 28 at Kansas City and the Seahawks make roster cuts from 90 players down to 53 by Aug. 30.
\nWhen The News Tribune asked Diggs Wednesday if he thought he could play in that game at the Chiefs one week from Friday, he said “maybe.”
\n“Yeah, we’re getting him up to speed. He’s on a ramp back into practice mode,” Macdonald said. “He’s working on his conditioning right now, and he’ll be out to practice at some point next week.”
\n#Seahawks’ new number 16 cornerback Trevon Diggs on the field here in Nashville for the joint practice against the Titans.@thenewstribunepic.twitter.com/sts4D1YXoN
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) August 21, 2026 \nHeat gets Abe Lucas, Montorie Foster Jr.\nAbe Lucas left midway through the practice, walking off with a trainer. Josh Jones replaced him as the starting right tackle for the rest of the practice.
\nMontorie Foster Jr. landed hard on the ground leaping to match a great catch. The wide receiver and breakout star of training camp stayed down yelling and holding his leg.
\nMacdonald said both those injuries were heat-related, including Foster’s as a leg cramp.
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