NASHVILLE—After practicing against each other during the week, the Seahawks and Titans faced off Saturday night in a preseason game that went down to the wire.

Ultimately, the Titans came out ahead, winning 16-14 on a 46-yard field goal as time expired, giving them a close win in a game in which both teams rested their starters. The Seahawks built a lead early behind a great first half from Sam Howell, but were unable to hang on in the second half. The Seahawks did retake the lead late in the fourth quarter thanks to a Ty Okada interception that set up a Jason Myers field goal, but the defense was unable to get the final stop it needed in the final two minutes.

Here are six rapid reactions to Saturday's game at Nissan Stadium:

1. Sam Howell looked as good as he has since joining the Seahawks.

Sam Howell's second pass attempt of the night, which came on the game's third play from scrimmage, sailed over the head of Jake Bobo, leading to a Seahawks three-and-out.

From that point on, however, Howell was just about perfect for the rest of the first half before PJ Walker took over in the second half. In completing 11 of 14 pass attempts for 153 yards, one touchdown and a 136.0 passer rating, Howell looked about as good as he has in a Seahawks uniform, practices included.

Howell used his legs to escape pressure on a few occasions, including one third-down conversion on which he stepped up to avoid a sack before hitting rookie AJ Barner for a 17-yard gain, but most impressive was his accuracy throughout his two quarters of work.

Howell showed great touch and accuracy to find Eason Winston Jr. for a 23-yard touchdown, the on the next drive ripped a strike that hit Cody White in stride for a 33-yard gain, Seattle longest play from scrimmage. After the aforementioned miss to Bobo, Howell's only incompletions of the half were a perfectly thrown touch pass to Brady Russell that the tight end lost control of as he secured the ball and turned up field, and a deep shot to Bobo on the final drive of the half that was accurate but well-contested by the Titans secondary.

Howell and the offense also got in some good situational work late in the half when they got the ball on the 27-yard line with 38 seconds left. After the initially deep incompletion to Bobo, Howell completed passes to Bobo, Winston and Russell, who made a great diving sideline grab, setting up a 48-yard Jason Myers field goal to end the half.

2. Derick Hall looks ready to make a Year 2 leap.

After a relatively quiet rookie season, 2023 second-round pick Derick Hall has looked throughout training camp like a player who could be ready to make a significant leap in his second season. That has been showing up throughout practice for Hall, and it was particularly evident in his work during the first half of Saturday's game.

Hall had a third-down sack to force a Titans punt, a pass rush that showed off his power as he drove his blocker back towards quarterback Malik Willis before disengaging to make the sack, with Boye Mafe helping to clean up.

Hall also had a run stuff for no gain on that same drive, and later in the first quarter he showed off his speed of the edge, blowing by his blocker and into the backfield, though on that play Willis was able to escape.

Hall's performance was part of an encouraging showing for Seattle's pass-rush depth, which was able to create pressure on a day where the likes of Uchenna Nwosu, Jarran Reed, Dre'Mont Jones and Leonard Williams were not playing. Mafe had several nice rushes, Darrell Taylor got pressure on a few occasions, and Mike Morris added a third-down sack. And even as the night went on, some of the deeper reserves got in on the action, with recently-signed outside linebacker Jamie Sheriff recording a sack.

3. It's been a busy couple of weeks for rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight.

With Jerome Baker, Seattle's expected starter at weakside linebacker, dealing with an injury, rookie Tyrice Knight has been running with the No. 1 defense the past couple of weeks. And because he's a rookie playing a demanding position in Mike Macdonald's offense, Knight has been getting a ton of work of late. That included playing 30 defensive snaps in last week's game against the Chargers, the fifth most of any defensive player, then getting a heavy workload in this week's joint practices with the Titans while working with the starting defense.

Unlike the rest of Seattle's defensive starters, however, Knight played against the Titans Saturday night, and he played a lot, getting a full three quarters of work before eventually being replaced by Blake Lynch. And encouraging news for the Seahawks is that Knight wasn't just out there a lot, but he is showing up and making some impact plays, including a tackle for loss among his team-leading eight tackles.

4. Laviska Shenault Jr. and Dee Williams look like a good combo on kick return duty.

While nothing is settled just yet, it's looking like undrafted rookie Dee Williams has a real shot to make the team thanks to his play on special teams. Williams was first up on return duty along with Shenault, and he took the opening kickoff 41 yards to give the Seahawks good field position, a return that was set up in part by a nice block from Shenault. Williams also had a 27-yard return in the fourth quarter. And after rotating on punt return duty with Dee Eskridge and Easop Winston Jr. last week, Williams was the only punt returner Saturday, though he had only one return for five yards, fair catching three other punts. And if all of that wasn't enough, Williams added a pass breakup on a deep pass late in the fourth quarter on Tennessee's final drive, though the Titans were eventually still able to get into field goal range.

Shenault, meanwhile, did not get a chance to return a kick Saturday after having a 44-yard return last week, but he did have a good block on William's first return, made a tackle on kick coverage, and he again flashed playmaking ability at receiver, gaining 27 yards on three catches, including a 18-yard catch and run.

5. Kenny McIntosh helped his cause.

As was mentioned last week, second-year running back Kenny McIntosh is in a competition with rookie George Holani for the No. 3 job at that position, and McIntosh had some nice moments Saturday that should help him in that competition.

McIntosh rushed for a team-high 46 yards on just eight carries, and had runs of 12 and 11 yards that helped set up Winston's touchdown reception, and he also added 17 yards on a pair of receptions.

6. The defense hurt itself with missed tackles and penalties.

Following a very strong performance to open the preseason, the Seahawks defense once again had plenty of good moments against the Titans, but the game film will also show plenty to clean up in practice this week, most notably missed tackles and penalties. And it wasn't that there were an egregious number of either penalties or missed tackles throughout the game, but they did show up at some inopportune times. There were multiple missed tackles on Tennessee's lone touchdown drive, including on the 15-yard touchdown reception itself.

As for the penalties, the defense committed four on Tennessee's two field goal drives early in the fourth quarter, two of which were third-down defensive holding calls that extended drives.