Seahawks vs. Titans Preseason Preview: Cam Ward’s Nashville Audition and Seattle’s Super Bowl Hangover

There will be a full slate of games again soon enough, but for this Sunday night, the entire football-watching world gets one game: Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans, 8:00 p.m. ET on FOX from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. It’s Week 2 of the NFL preseason, which means the players you actually recognize will mostly be watching from the sideline in polos. That’s fine. This one still has enough going on to make it worth the couch time — a defending Super Bowl champion working out its post-title hangover, and a Titans team trying to convince Nashville that better days are already here with a new head coach and a quarterback who was the first name called in last year’s draft.

The Last Sunday Before It Counts

Think of this as the calm before the real storm. Once this game wraps up, the next NFL Sundays that matter start counting in the standings. So enjoy the preseason weirdness while it lasts — the guys fighting for the 53rd roster spot, backup quarterbacks slinging it with something to prove, and coaches who will bench their QB1 the moment he takes one unnecessary hit. Seattle and Tennessee held a pair of joint practices in Nashville this week before Sunday’s game, which is typically where you get the more competitive, “real” reps — sometimes to a fault, as Seattle found out.

The line has Tennessee favored by 4.5 points with the total sitting around 37.5-38 points, and Tennessee’s moneyline in the -200 range depending on the book. Don’t read too much into any of it as a betting product — this is preseason, rosters are in flux drive to drive, and starters may not play more than a series or two. If you want a primer on how these numbers actually work before the real slate arrives, our how betting odds guide breaks it down. But as a viewing product? This is appointment television for anyone starved for live football after a long offseason.

Cam Ward’s Nashville Audition

The single best reason to actually watch this game is Cam Ward. Tennessee’s new coaching staff, led by first-year head coach Robert Saleh, is trying to build a program around the No. 1 overall pick from last year’s draft, and Sunday is only his second preseason start. His debut wasn’t exactly a highlight reel — Ward went 5-for-12 for 57 yards in Tennessee’s 19-13 win over San Francisco, spread across three early drives before giving way to the rest of the quarterback room. The most encouraging sign from that opener wasn’t anything Ward did with his arm; it was the ground game around him. The Titans ran for 167 yards on 31 carries, a 5.4 yards-per-carry clip, and Tony Pollard capped Ward’s opening drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

Ward looked sharper in Friday’s joint practice against Seattle’s defense, throwing touchdowns to Elic Ayomanor and Daniel Bellinger — the kind of rep that doesn’t show up in a box score but matters plenty to a staff trying to gauge rhythm and chemistry heading into the regular season. If Nashville wants a reason for optimism about the Saleh-Ward era, it’s watching whether that connects on Sunday night in front of an actual crowd instead of a scrimmage set.

There’s also a subplot at running back and receiver worth keeping an eye on, since the Titans’ depth behind Pollard and their receiving corps will get run reps as the game goes on and rotations deepen.

Seattle’s Super Bowl Hangover Storylines to Watch

Everything is different for Seattle this preseason, because everything worked last time. The Seahawks are the reigning Super Bowl LX champions, and that title changes exactly nothing about how preseason football goes for your backups and roster hopefuls. Seattle’s reserves and depth players lost their preseason opener 17-7 to Dallas, and head coach Mike Macdonald made it clear afterward that execution and finishing drives — not just showing flashes — is what he wants to see from the second and third string this time out.

The tougher storyline heading into Sunday has nothing to do with scheme. Seattle wide receiver Jake Bobo, a fan-favorite undrafted success story who caught a touchdown in the Seahawks’ NFC Championship win over the Rams, went down with what Macdonald called a serious knee injury during Friday’s joint practice with Tennessee. It’s a rough break for a team otherwise riding as high as a franchise can, and it’ll be worth watching how Seattle’s receiver rotation shifts on Sunday in response.

On the quarterback front, Seattle’s backup battle is its own mini-storyline. Drew Lock went 9-of-13 for 40 yards and a touchdown in the opener against Dallas, while Jalen Milroe showed off his dual-threat appeal with 5-of-8 passing for 36 yards to go with 36 rushing yards of his own. Both will likely see extended run again Sunday as Seattle figures out its QB2 pecking order behind the starters, and it’s the kind of battle that’s more entertaining to watch live than it sounds on paper — especially with Milroe’s legs in the mix.

How to Watch and What to Actually Enjoy

Kickoff is 8:00 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. If you’re hosting or attending a low-key watch gathering before the real season takes over next week, here’s what makes this one worth the remote control real estate.

• Cam Ward’s rhythm and decision-making behind an offensive line that’s still finding its identity under a new coaching staff
• Whether Tennessee’s run game stays as dominant as it was in the opener, which would be the clearest sign the offense is trending the right direction
• How Seattle’s receiver rotation adjusts on the fly after losing Bobo, and which depth piece steps into a bigger role
• The Lock-versus-Milroe backup quarterback battle, which has real stakes for Seattle’s 53-man roster construction

Nobody is circling this one on their calendar in October, and that’s exactly the appeal. It’s low-stakes, storyline-rich football with a defending champion trying to shake off its own preseason rust and a new-look Titans team trying to sell Nashville on a brighter future. If you want to get a jump on how the regular-season market moves once real games start, check out our full NFL betting guide. Enjoy it while the games still feel this loose — the real thing starts soon enough.