NASHVILLE Kwon Alexander Jersey , Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans won their first playoff game in 14 years in a thrilling rally from 18 points down on the road.

Then they fired coach Mike Mularkey once the postseason run ended in an ugly rout.

Yes, expectations are very high in Tennessee where consecutive 9-7 seasons with Marcus Mariota just didn’t cut it, not with an offense that didn’t get the most out of the young quarterback.

Now the Titans have first-year head coach Mike Vrabel with his three Super Bowl rings as a linebacker in New England in charge of a roster that needed only a little tinkering in the offseason.

“Now we’ve just got to pick up where we left off,” linebacker Brian Orakpo said. “It’s not a rebuilding stage, we just reloaded essentially.”

This is the 20th season for this franchise since dropping the Oilers’ nickname for the Titans, and they capped that debut season with a run to their lone Super Bowl appearance in Atlanta. The Titans unveiled redesigned uniforms in April and are hoping for another trip to Atlanta — site of this season’s Super Bowl.

Three-time Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker said they have plenty of motivation from how their last playoff berth ended in a 34-14 loss to New England .

“It didn’t sit well with me,” Walker said. “I think everybody in that locker room felt the same way. I worked as hard as I could this offseason.”

Some things to know about the Titans, who open the season Sept. 9 at Miami:

FIRST-TIME COACH: For so many years, Vrabel was seen as a sure winner once he became an NFL head coach.

Now the man who played 14 seasons and was an assistant coach for four more will be making all the big decisions on his own. Vrabel has tried to prepare himself by watching tape from games over the past decade to decide what he would do in specific situations. Everything from tossing a challenge flag to deciding whether to go for it on fourth down will be a first for Vrabel this season, with fans and critics watching closely.

“My playing career is going to help us win zero games,” Vrabel said.

MARIOTA TIME : The Titans already have picked up the fifth-year option on Mariota, and that $20.9 million for 2019 could prove a great deal if offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur’s offense helps the quarterback look like the Heisman Trophy winner he was at Oregon. Mariota is going to get to run and throw more in an offense the Los Angeles Rams used to lead the NFL in scoring last season. Mariota is coming off his worst season Terrell Suggs Jersey , having thrown more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (13). But he enjoyed a rehab-free offseason and looks faster playing without a knee brace.

DEFENSIVE CHANGES: Legendary coordinator Dick LeBeau is gone, replaced by another longtime success in Dean Pees. The Titans did so much right under LeBeau, ranking fourth against the run and tied for fifth in sacks.

But they were 17th in points allowed and 25th in yards passing given up. That’s why general manager Jon Robinson signed cornerback Malcolm Butler and drafted linebackers Rashaan Evans and Harold Landry to shore up remaining holes.

He also replaced safety Johnathan Cyprien when he was lost to a torn ACL with another veteran in Kenny Vaccaro in training camp.

YOUNG RECEIVERS: This position easily is the biggest question for the Titans. Veteran Rishard Matthews missed the entire offseason and the preseason with an undisclosed injury. Corey Davis is expected to be the top guy; the fifth pick overall in 2017, he didn’t catch his first touchdown pass until the playoff loss in New England — against Butler. After Davis, there are young and unproven receivers in Taywan Taylor and Tajae Sharp. That makes Walker so valuable with his 356 catches since 2013, most by any tight end.

NEW BACKFIELD DUO: The Titans released DeMarco Murray in March , and it’s now time for Derrick Henry, the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner, to show his skills after leading the team in rushing last season despite only two starts. They also signed Dion Lewis to a four-year deal to give Mariota another dangerous receiving threat and a change-up to the powerful Henry .

TOUGH START: Five of their first eight games are on the road, including the franchise’s first trip to London to play the Chargers on Oct. 21. The first month isn’t kind, with Houston and the defending champion Eagles visiting, along with a trip to Jacksonville. If the Titans survive Kyler Fackrell Jersey , four of the final five games are in Nashville, where they went 6-2 last season.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, rookie Josh Rosen will begin his first NFL season on the sidelines as Arizona's backup quarterback.

The preseason, though, will be his chance to shine, beginning Saturday night when the Cardinals play at home against the Los Angeles Chargers.

"We want him to play quite a bit and really get into the flow of the game," coach Steve Wilks said.

Rosen said his two weeks of training camp have "gone really well."

"I think I've gotten better pretty much every day since I've gotten here," the former UCLA star said before Wednesday' practice.

Sam Bradford is Arizona's starter but the Cardinals view Rosen as their franchise quarterback of the future. Why else would they have moved up five spots in the draft to pluck him 10th overall?

Asked for specific areas of improvement since he became a pro, Rosen cites "a bunch of things."

"The most tangible is probably the playbook," he said. "I feel a lot more comfortable and fluid with it at the line of scrimmage. I'm focusing more and more with what the defense is trying to do to me rather than making sure I get the right snap count and in the right protection."

He said he's also picking up "the little things on how to use the double-cadence to try and buy yourself time and get someone offside, just little tricks of the trade I didn't know when I was in college."

From the beginning Bradford and Rosen seem to have gotten along well.

"Sam's actually really good with all those little things," Rosen said. "He's a crafty vet and very successful for a lot of different reasons. He might not share every reason with me K'Waun Williams Jersey , but I'll take advantage of the ones that he does."

Bradford said Rosen "asks the right questions."

"He's hungry for information," Bradford said. "It seems like he's always trying to learn something. It doesn't stop in the meeting rooms. Even at the dinner table he'll ask me.

"It's fun to be around someone like that and to hopefully try to be able to help him. I share with him some of the experiences I've had, some of the things I've learned over the years. Hopefully it can relate to him and can help him in some way."

Wilks wouldn't say how much Rosen will play on Saturday night but it will be long enough to do some serious evaluation.

"The mechanics of really running the offense," Wilks said, "putting guys in the right position from a protection standpoint, going through his progression and reads and really just trying to detail the fundamentals."

Rosen is running second on the depth chart, ahead of Mike Glennon, who also figures to play a lot Saturday.

Early in camp, Rosen said he was thinking too much.

"I think I've gotten a lot better since then and continue to each day," he said. "The less thinking you can do, the more you can allow yourself to physically do what I've been doing since Pop Warner, and play the game I know."

As a big-name rookie quarterback Mike Remmers Jersey , Rosen knows his every move will be scrutinized by fans and critics.

"It's part of the game," he said. "I stay relatively offline for the most part. The most pressure I feel from anyone is myself. I'm very, very highly self-critical, almost too much at times. There's no pressure that should be greater than my own."

There's no changing his throwing style either, which includes an occasional sidearm toss on a bubble screen.

"It's not just how hard or far you can throw it," Rosen said. "It's being able to change your arm slot and delivery. I think Aaron (Rodgers) is the best at it because sort of like mid-throw, your ability to throw sidearm to fit a quick screen in there or just kind of contort your body to get halfback screens and stuff in there."

No one has tried to alter that style, he said.

"They drafted me for what I can do and I'm here to deliver that," Rosen said.

He said he's made preparation for the NFL a day-by-day process.

"Right now I'm fully in work mode," he said. "I'm trying to be the best that I can be and over the course of my career I'm trying to win Super Bowls. And right now I'm trying to put my best foot forward in this preseason game."

Adidas Patrice Bergeron Jersey