Woodside Laughs Off Pressure in Preseason Start

It is no longer Arthur Smith’s concern whether or not Logan Woodside can handle pressure from an NFL pass rush. Still, it is possible that he just wanted to know.

In his first preseason game as Atlanta Falcons head coach Friday, Smith, the former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, put one of his former pupils under almost constant duress with a steady stream of blitzes.

“Arthur was definitely getting after me a little bit,” Woodside said following the Titans’ 23-3 victory over the Falcons, “which was pretty funny.”

Woodside, who has been in the NFL since 2018 but has thrown just three passes in the regular season, was the first of two quarterbacks to play for Tennessee in its preseason opener. Ryan Tannehill and pretty much every other starter on offense got the night off.

Woodside played the first two quarters, got his team to halftime with a 13-point lead and even got to work in the two-minute drill. His passer rating for the night was a tidy 103.2.

The 26-year-old’s enduring memory of his most extensive action since the 2019 preseason, though, will be the pass rush dialed up by Smith and defensive coordinator Dean Pees, who not long ago had the same job with the Titans.

“Yeah, the definitely were blitzing a lot,” Woodside said. “I just have to do better about recognizing it early and trying to help the O-line out and get the ball out quick. I think as the game went on, I tried to do a better job of that.”

Woodside was sacked on each of the Titans’ first two possessions. Both were on third-down plays and forced a punt.

After that, he completed seven of 11 passes for 58 yards and directed three consecutive scoring drives, which included a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Batson. He had a chance to put up points on four straight possessions with the two-minute drive, but instant replay overturned what initially was ruled a 12-yard completion to wide receiver Fred Brown – against a blitz.

Woodside was sacked just one time on his final four possessions, which consisted of 26 plays.

“I thought one of the best balls that we through all training camp was the out route to (Brown) on the two-minute drive,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “We have to be able to drag our feet, but I felt like that ball was on time, in a great spot. So, that was encouraging. … (Woodside) showed some toughness.”

The only other time Woodside was sacked so often as an NFL player was when the Philadelphia Eagles got to him three times in the 2019 preseason opener. In that one, he was the last of three Titans quarterbacks to play and was on the field for the entire second half behind an offensive line and with receivers who were mostly longshots to make the roster.

Against the Falcons, Woodside’s blockers included this year’s second-round draft pick Dillon Radunz and veterans such as tackle David Quessenberry and center Daniel Munyer. He completed passes to eight different players, six of them with actual NFL experience.

And he faced down the kind of pass rush that is not common at this time of year.

“I didn’t talk to (Pees) after the game, but that’s football,” Woodside said. “It was good to see for me because, you know, we see the blitzes in practice, but to get out there and actually get hit and realize what’s going on, it was good.”