The Super Bowl champs are going to have to learn to operate with a target on their back everywhere they go. That includes the campus of Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. On Friday, the Seattle Seahawks took part in a joint practice session with the Tennessee Titans.

If you pay attention to the Titans players and the Titans beat writers, they feel encouraged that they stood tall against the defending champions.

The Tennessean reports that, “The Seahawks’ first-team offense only found the end zone twice across 10 periods of best-versus-best work.” Those weren’t the only periods that comprised practice, and, to quote the original A.I., we are talking about practice.

Here’s what Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald had to say: “I think we’re going to watch the tape and like a lot of things we saw, and then we’re going to watch the tape and not like some things,” he said. “It’s kind of par for the course, but I think it’s a great opportunity. You’re going against a different operation, different run schemes, different pass game, play our rules out, just kind of go play ball. And so, there’s some things that are off the top of my head that are not above the line, which we’ll attack those and get those things figured out. But overall, I thought it was a good day.”

Despite all of the Titans propaganda, here is how I categorize all of the reports.

Another one of the wilder parts of it all was how a team who is known for being aggressive and physical didn’t give into brawling all practice (like the Saints and Cowboys). Byron Murphy II may have almost started a scuffle after taking down running back, Tyjae Spears, but there were no viral moments.

The head man isn’t afraid to chew out a player on the field. Mike Macdonald made sure that was an emphasis for today’s business trip.

“If you play starters in a preseason game, you’re looking at maybe upwards of 20 reps, but now you’re getting upwards of 40 or 50 really good physical reps, but in a more controlled environment, which is a positive for everybody. But you 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. And so that’s why I think why I’m so pleased is just it took everybody kind of pushing in the same direction to get it done today.”

Jones IV said, “We didn’t come here to fight, man. I’ve been telling guys, we came here to work, man. We want good work. We want to see where we’re at, see where our defense is at, see where our offense is at.”

This team really is focused and out to take care of their mission. M.O.B., after all.

Sunday should be fun, even if the starters don’t get a ton of run. These two teams had a nice and physical introduction to one another and will get more work for some of the less established players in the second preseason game for both clubs.