NASHVILLE—When Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald decided to take the Seahawks on the road for joint practices against the Titans, he was hoping for an experience that would both help his team sharpen itself from a football perspective, and that would also help the team bond.

Those two goals were accomplished in Nashville this week, so while Macdonald would have preferred to win Saturday's preseason game—the Titans won 16-15 on a last-second field goal for—the trip was a big success from a big-picture standpoint.

"I'd say overall net positive," Macdonald said. "A lot of the things we said we wanted to come down here (for). Fortunate to come out relatively healthy. I felt like we got great work with all ones, twos and threes, and special teams. Great to go against somebody else, like you said. And then, it's cool just to spend time with one another. Would've been great to put an exclamation point on it and come out with a win. But, just kind of leaves us hungry for more moving forward. But net positive for the whole week."

In two days of practice, the Seahawks and Titans got in some very competitive work, with starters from both teams facing off for much of the practices, and both teams also did so with the intensity never crossing the line to the point of the fights that have marred so many other joint practices in recent years.

But the growth for the Seahawks extended beyond the work done on the practice field. With players, coaches and staff spending so much time together, there were ample opportunities for team bonding, not the least of which occurred during a Thursday night team and staff dinner at a local barbecue restaurant, an evening highlighted by not just good food, but also some hilarious talent show performances by rookie players and a few first-year coaches, including offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

"It was a great idea to come out here and bring pretty much the whole organization," quarterback Sam Howell said. "We had a great dinner Thursday night. The guys really got to spend a lot of time together and I think that's what builds a team. Spending time, especially away from home, on these road trips together is something that is really important to Mike. Building that culture, building that family-like atmosphere here with this team, and I think he's doing a great job in doing that."

Howell added that the extra time spent around Macdonald, Grubb and other coaches only reiterated that, "They love football and they love this football team. They want to do whatever it takes to get this team to where we need to be. They want to win just as bad as players want to win. It's fun to play for coaches that really want it."

Perhaps nobody got more out of the week, football wise, than rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight, who got all the first-team work with the starters in practice, but who, unlike the rest of the starters, started Saturday night and played an entire three quarters. And he too felt like there was a lot of benefit to come out of the experience the team had in Nashville.

"For one thing, the team just got better just taking this whole trip down here for a few days," Knight said. "Everybody bonding more. But I will say for the joint practices, it felt good going against someone else other than yourself. I feel like everybody tried to see where everybody was at. I'd say it was a pretty successful trip for us."

The Seahawks last held some semblance of joint practices in 1991 when the team went to Portland to practice with Atlanta, but based on the experiences had on and off the field, it's a safe bet that the wait for the next occurrence of joint practices will be a lot shorter.

"I think it was really beneficial for us as a club," said second-year outside linebacker Derick Hall. 'Especially with a lot of guys, even some third and fourth-year guys, we've never had a joint practice. It was big for me to be able to see a different color all week and not practice against each other. I think it took the edge off on that piece a little bit, but I think it was very productive for us to go up against someone else all week long. Then, use that preparation for the game today. I think it was really, really big."