Tennessee Titans on the road to face Kansas City Chiefs Friday

Tennessee Titans (1-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)

Friday, August 28th, 2015 | 7:00pm CDT
Kansas City, MO | Arrowhead Stadium | TV: WKRN

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Titans (1-1) travel this week to face the Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) in Week 3 of the preseason. Kickoff at Arrowhead Stadium (capacity 76,416) is scheduled for 7:00pm CDT on Friday, August 28th.

The game will be televised regionally on the Titans Preseason TV Network, including flagship WKRN-News 2 in Nashville. Play-by-play announcer Cory Curtis and analyst Eddie George will call the action, while Dawn Davenport will report from the sidelines.

The Titans Radio Network, including Nashville flagship 104.5 The Zone, will carry the game across the Mid-South with the “Voice of the Titans” Mike Keith, analyst Frank Wycheck, gameday host Rhett Bryan and sideline reporter Jonathan Hutton.

The Tennessee Titans

The Titans hosted the St. Louis Rams last week in their second preseason contest. They jumped out to an early lead, courtesy of Perrish Cox’s interception return for a touchdown, and pulled away for a 27-14 victory.

Most of the offensive and defensive starters for the Titans played three series, including rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota. Mariota was 5-of-8 passing for 59 yards, including a 35-yard strike to tight end Craig Stevens. Through two weeks of the preseason, the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft has attempted 16 passes with 12 completions for 153 yards.

Four quarterbacks played for the Titans against St. Louis: Mariota, Zach Mettenberger, Charlie Whitehurst and Alex Tanney. Mettenberger and Tanney each threw a touchdown pass to tight end Chase Coffman.

Combined, the quarterbacking foursome completed 20 of their 27 passes against the Rams for 267 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Their success in the preseason has helped the Titans rank first in the NFL in both completion percentage (79.6 percent) and yards per attempt (9.9).

Second-year running back Bishop Sankey led the ground attack for the Titans, accumulating 45 yards on six carries in the first half. He sparked the offense with an 18-yard run on the first drive and a 19-yarder during the second series.

Defensively, the starting unit for the Titans forced two punts and scored on Cox’s 24-yard return midway through the first quarter.

The Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs are entering their third season under the direction of Andy Reid, who was named the franchise’s head coach in 2013 after spending 14 years as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Chiefs finished the 2014 campaign with a 9-7 record. They had a top 10 rushing attack, thanks in large part to four-time Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles. Charles is the team’s all-time leading rusher with 6,856 yards heading into his eighth season.

The Kansas City defense also fields its share of top-tier talent. The unit ranked seventh overall and second against the run in 2014. Outside linebacker Justin Houston recorded 22 sacks during the season, finishing just under Michael Strahan’s NFL record of 22.5 set in 2001.

The Chiefs are off to a 2-0 start this preseason. They went on the road to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 34-19 in Week 1, and last week they hosted the Seattle Seahawks and won 14-13.

First Roster Cut Looms

At 3:00pm CDT on September 1st, four days after the Titans play the Chiefs, NFL rules mandate that rosters must be trimmed from 90 to 75 players. The final cutdown to 53 active players occurs on September 5th.

Players placed on reserve lists such as Injured Reserve, Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform and Reserve/Suspended do not count towards the 53-man active roster limit.

Titans-Chiefs Series At A Glance

• Overall series (regular & postseason): Chiefs lead 29-21
• Regular season series: Chiefs lead 27-21
• Postseason series: Chiefs lead 2-0
• Total points: Titans 902, Chiefs 1,080
• Current streak: One win by Titans
• Titans at home vs. Chiefs: 12-12 (including 0-2 in playoffs)
• Titans on road vs. Chiefs: 9-17
• Longest winning streak by Titans: 4 (twice, last 1990-93)
• Longest losing streak by Titans: 7 (1968-74)
• Titans vs. Chiefs at Nissan Stadium: 1-2
• Last time at Nissan Stadium: CHIEFS 26 at Titans 17 (10-6-13)
• Titans vs. Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium: 7-8
• Last time at Arrowhead Stadium: TITANS 26 at Chiefs 10 (9-7-14)
• First time: Dallas Texans 10 at HOUSTON OILERS 20 (10-16-60)
• Ken Whisenhunt’s record vs. Chiefs: 1-1
• Andy Reid’s record vs. Titans: 1-5 (1-1 with Chiefs; 0-4 with Eagles)
• Ken Whisenhunt’s record vs. Andy Reid: 4-1 (including 1-0 in playoffs)

Titans-Chiefs Preseason Series

• Preseason series: Chiefs lead 10-3
• Last time in preseason: Chiefs 10 at TITANS 14 (8-5-00)

A Titans Victory Would

Improve Ken Whisenhunt’s career record in the preseason to 12-20.

Give the Titans a 4-10 all-time record against the Chiefs in the preseason.

Titans-Chiefs Series History

The Titans and Chiefs are historic rivals that played an integral role in the formation of the current NFL landscape. In 1959, late Titans owner K.S. “Bud” Adams, Jr. and the late Lamar Hunt, founder of the Chiefs, spearheaded the “Foolish Club,” a group of eight original American Football League teams that would begin play in 1960.

Adams’ Oilers played in Houston until moving to Tennessee in 1997, while Hunt’s original Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City in 1963. In 1970, the AFL and NFL merged, and the  Oilers and Chiefs became members of the American Football Conference.

The Titans and Chiefs have met 50 times, with the Chiefs leading the series, 29-21. After a four-game winning streak from 1990-93, the Titans lost seven out of 10 against the Chiefs until their victory in the 2014 season opener.

In their 2014 victory at Arrowhead Stadium (September 7th), Jake Locker passed for a pair of touchdowns, and Ryan Succop was perfect on four field goal attempts in the 26-10 win. The team celebrated its 400th all-time victory in the regular season.

On December 13th, 2004, the Chiefs defeated the Titans at Nissan Stadium by a score of 49-38. The 87 total points that night remain the most ever scored by two teams in a game at Nissan Stadium, and the Chiefs’ 49 points are the second-most scored by an opponent at Nissan Stadium.

Between 2007 and 2010, the Titans played the Chiefs three times at Arrowhead Stadium. On a 22-degree day on December 16th, 2007, Roydell Williams caught two touchdown passes in a 26-17 Titans win. Then, on October 19th of the next year, Tennessee’s franchise-record 332 rushing yards (primarily by Chris Johnson and LenDale White) contributed to a 34-10 victory.

Kansas City claimed the next battle on December 26th, 2010, with quarterback Matt Cassel throwing three touchdown passes en route to a 34-14 final score.

Tennessee is 1-2 against the Chiefs at Nissan Stadium, including a 26-17 defeat on October 6th, 2013 in the most recent meeting at the Titans’ home.

The two franchises have met twice in postseason play, and the  Chiefs were victorious both times. They met on December 12th, 1962 in the third AFL Championship Game, a contest won by the then-Dallas Texans on a Tommy Brooker field goal in double overtime. On January 16th, 1994, Joe Montana completed three touchdown passes in the second half to help defeat Warren Moon and the Oilers 28-20.

Titans-Chiefs: The Last Meeting

Tennessee Titans 26 at Kansas City Chiefs 10
September 7th, 2014
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO

 

The Titans used two touchdown passes by Jake Locker and four field goals by Ryan Succop to defeat the Chiefs 26-10 in their 2014 season opener at Arrowhead Stadium.

On defense, the Titans limited the Chiefs to one third-down conversion on 12 attempts, and they stymied Kansas City’s rushing attack. Chiefs Pro  Bowl running back Jamaal Charles carried seven times for 19 yards.

Meanwhile, Tennessee used a committee running back approach with success. Four running backs had 23 or more rushing yards for the Titans, including a game-high 71 yards on the ground by Shonn Greene. The team totaled 162 rushing yards, which helped it control the ball for more than 37 minutes.

The game was scoreless through the first quarter. Then, early in the second quarter, the Chiefs took a 3-0 lead. After driving 64 yards, Cairo Santos got a favorable bounce off the right upright on a 35-yard field goal. It would be their last score until less than 11 minutes remained in the game.

On Kansas City’s next drive, Alex Smith connected on a 27-yard pass to tight end Travis Kelce. The play led to a 48-yard attempt by Santos, who proceeded to drive the kick into the left upright. This time, it bounced away in favor of the Titans.

On the ensuing possession for the Titans, they finally got on the scoreboard. On an 11-play, 62-yard drive, running back Leon Washington snared a pass for eight yards to convert a third down. Then, Locker found tight end Delanie Walker for a 17-yard gain, and four plays later, the duo put the Titans ahead with a five-yard touchdown.

The first Titans takeaway led to more points late in the half. With the Chiefs backed up at their two-yard line after a punt by Brett Kern, Smith attempted a deep pass to Donnie Avery, only to have it intercepted by cornerback Jason McCourty. With three seconds remaining in the half, Succop made a 36-yarder.

The Titans began the second half with a 39-yard pass from Locker to Justin Hunter. Eight plays later, facing third-and-two at the six-yard line, Locker threw to wide receiver Kendall Wright, who stretched at the right front pylon for a touchdown to provide a 17-3 lead.

After McCourty’s second interception of the game, Locker directed his first of three consecutive drives for a field goal. Succop’s 31-yarder put the Titans ahead 20-3 with 2:46 on the clock in the third quarter.

Then, after the Chiefs were stymied by the Titans defense on a fake punt, Succop was good from 46 yards.

The Chiefs finally cut into the lead with a five-yard touchdown pass from Smith to tight end Anthony Fasano with 12:39 remaining in the fourth quarter. But it would be all the Chiefs could muster, and Succop’s final kick—this time from 47 yards—inside the game’s final five minutes provided the final 16-point cushion.

The Titans netted 405 offensive yards in victory while limiting the Chiefs to 245. Locker completed 22 passes on 33 attempts for 266 yards without throwing an interception.