NASHVILLE – The point of the joint practice the Seahawks held here on Wednesday and Thursday against the Tennessee Titans was to allow the starters to get a lot of work done in a controlled environment and then take the weekend off.

As a result, Seattle’s second preseason game at Nissan Stadium on Saturday did not feature a single player who was guaranteed a place in the starting lineup.

This also included backup quarterback Sam Howell starting again since Geno Smith had the evening off.

Howell performed well, leading Seattle to a 12-7 halftime lead before heading to the sidelines to fill in for PJ Walker.

The Titans took advantage of sloppy play by the Seahawks’ reserves – especially on defense, where there were many penalties and missed tackles – and took a 13-12 lead in the fourth quarter.

Seattle seemed to be on its way to victory anyway when Jason Myers kicked a 50-yard field goal with 1:55 left. The kick was made possible by second-year safety Ty Okada intercepting a deflected pass and giving Seattle the ball at its own 47-yard line with 3:29 left.

But Seattle’s defense could not hold up, allowing a nine-play, 42-yard drive that saw Brayden Narveson put the Titans in position and allow them to kick a 46-yard field goal as time expired, giving Tennessee a 16-15 victory.

Seattle is now 1-1 in the preseason.

The following was noticed:

Howell shines in his second start in the preseason

Howell seemed even more comfortable in his second preseason start than he did in his first – although it should be noted that the Titans also rested all of their regular players on both sides of the ball.

Howell was 11 of 14 passing for 153 yards and a touchdown and had no interceptions in the first half, and he seemed to flourish after Seattle switched to a faster offense after the second series.

Howell completed 4 of 4 passes for 53 yards to lead Seattle to its first point, capping it off with perhaps his best throw of the preseason: a 23-yarder that landed perfectly in the hands of Easop Winston Jr. and flew just over a Titans defender in the back of the end zone, capping an eight-play, 84-yard drive.

He then led Seattle 78 yards for another touchdown, a 27-yard field goal by Myers. Howell was 3 of 3 passing for 61 yards on that drive, the key being a 33-yard pass to Cody White that nearly scored an 82-yard touchdown but was instead tackled at the 49-yard line.

Howell then completed 3 of 4 passes as Seattle got the ball back after a Tennessee touchdown with 33 seconds left – passes from the 14 to Jake Bobo, from the 15 to Winston and then from the 9 to tight end Brady Russell, who tiptoed a ball on the sideline with three seconds left, allowing Myers to kick a 48-yard field goal as time expired, putting Seattle ahead 12-7.

Will McIntosh take the lead in the RB3 battle?

Second-year player Kenny McIntosh is battling with undrafted rookie free agent George Holani of Boise State for the third running back spot and may have taken the lead in the competition with his best game as a Seahawk.

McIntosh finished the first half with 47 yards on six attempts and a 10-yard catch.

McIntosh had two consecutive runs of 12 and 11 yards immediately before Howell’s touchdown throw to Winston and then runs of 5, 8 and 6 yards on the first field goal drive.

McIntosh played until the second half and finished the game with 46 yards on eight attempts and 17 yards on two passes caught.

Holani managed 3 yards on two attempts in the first half, but was not used once in the second half.

But while McIntosh’s raw numbers look good, Seahawks coaches will be combing through the footage to check his performance in pass defense, as that’s the area of ​​his game he needs to work on the most. Holani has excelled primarily in blocking during training camp.

Hall continues strong preseason, Mafe gets more snaps

Since the team’s starting defensive line had the night off, Derick Hall and Boye Mafe started as rush ends/outside linebackers.

Hall getting playing time was no surprise, as the Seahawks need last year’s 37th pick to gain as much experience as possible and try to improve on last year’s sackless season.

Hall responded as the team had hoped, recording his second sack in two games in the first quarter and finishing the first half with three tackles before leaving.

The fact that Mafe led Seattle with nine sacks last season should make his status on the team pretty clear.

But obvious evidence that the Seahawks still want Mafe to prove a few things is that he started and played until the second quarter.

And it’s worth noting that Mafe is officially not a starter and is listed behind Dre’Mont Jones at rush end.

Mafe had a good run early in the game, reaching the quarterback shortly after Hall made the sack that was credited to Hall.

But Mafe had a chance to get a sack of his own in the second quarter when he let quarterback Malik Willis escape, but the pressure still helped force a rushed incomplete pass on third down.

Intrigues on the offensive

The Seahawks have started two players who are listed as starters in the public roster – center Olu Oluwatimi and right guard Anthony Bradford.

However, Oluwatimi will likely soon cede that position to the recently signed veteran Connor Williams. Williams was present but not in uniform and could begin training this week.

Bradford, meanwhile, is battling with newcomer Christian Haynes for that spot for the regular season – and worked in joint training sessions with the second team on Thursday, with Haynes going with the regular players.

Interestingly, both started against the Titans – Bradford on the right side and Haynes on the left. Haynes played primarily on the right side in camp, but played three times on the left side against the Chargers.

Laken Tomlinson has been the starter at left guard throughout training camp and it is believed that he can still lose that spot. The Seahawks mainly wanted to see how Haynes would perform at left guard on Saturday and simply give him enough playing time.

Haynes and Bradford played the entire first half in a line that had substitutes at the tackling positions – Stone Forsythe on the left and McClendon Curtis on the right.

UConn’s Haynes received a false start penalty that helped hamper Seattle’s second drive, but seemed to calm down from there.

Rookie Knight gets a lot of tackles and snaps

The game was another good crash course for Tyrice Knight, who was selected in the fourth round of the draft and has been working with the starting defense at the weakside linebacker position since Jerome Baker was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

UTEP’s Knight played into the fourth quarter, and as you’d expect from a rookie in his second preseason game, there were ups and downs. Early in the third quarter, he was blocked on a 16-yard screen pass by Tennessee. But he later sniffed out a short pass to make the tackle for a 5-yard loss and finished the game with eight tackles to lead Seattle.