Seahawks vs. Titans Preseason Preview: Cam Ward’s Big Test and Seattle’s Backup Battle

The reigning Super Bowl champions are heading back to the field, but this Sunday night in Nashville has nothing to do with defending a title. The Seattle Seahawks visit the Tennessee Titans for a Preseason Week 2 matchup on Sunday, August 23, kicking off at 8:00 p.m. ET on FOX from Nissan Stadium. If you are new to football or just getting into betting on it, preseason games can look confusing at first glance — the score genuinely does not matter, yet coaches, players, and bettors are all paying close attention. Here is why this particular game is worth watching, even without the stakes of the regular season.

What’s Actually at Stake Sunday Night

It helps to remember that Seattle enters this game as the defending Super Bowl LX champion, but that trophy has zero bearing on what happens Sunday. Preseason football exists for a completely different reason: it is a live evaluation window. Coaches use these games to see which backup players deserve a roster spot, how new pieces fit together, and whether players coming back from injury are ready for real speed. The final score almost never means anything, but the individual snaps absolutely do.

That is exactly the situation Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald finds himself in. Seattle’s reserves and backups lost their preseason opener 17-7 to Dallas, and Macdonald has been vocal about wanting better execution and finishing drives from his second and third-string units this time around. When you hear a head coach talk about “execution” in a game his team might lose again, that is preseason-speak for: we are watching who can be trusted when it counts later.

The odds market treats this game accordingly — low-stakes, but not meaningless. Tennessee is currently favored by 4.5 points with the total sitting at 37.5, and some books have that spread as high as -5 with Tennessee’s moneyline around -218. Lines like these mostly reflect roster continuity (a defending champion resting more starters than a rebuilding team) rather than any deep read on which team is actually “better” — a good reminder that betting preseason football is a different animal than betting the regular season. If you want to follow the number as it’s tracked live, you can check live NFL odds as kickoff approaches.

Cam Ward’s Chance to Settle In

If there is one storyline that matters more than the scoreboard, it is Cam Ward. The Titans made Ward the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft, and this is only his second career preseason start, which makes every throw worth watching for Tennessee fans trying to project what their new franchise quarterback looks like under new head coach Robert Saleh.

Ward’s preseason opener was uneven — he completed just 5 of 12 passes for 57 yards in a 19-13 win over San Francisco, a game Tennessee actually won on the strength of its run game rather than its passing attack. The Titans piled up 167 rushing yards on 31 carries (5.4 yards per carry), and Tony Pollard capped a 90-yard, Ward-led drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. That is a solid formula for a win, but it is not exactly a ringing endorsement of Ward’s passing rhythm just yet.

The encouraging sign came Friday, not in the box score. In a joint practice between the two teams, Ward threw touchdowns to Elic Ayomanor and tight end Daniel Bellinger against Seattle’s actual defensive personnel — not scout-team looks, but real NFL defenders trying to stop him. For a rookie quarterback still building chemistry with his weapons, connecting against a real opposing defense in padded work is a meaningfully better data point than anything from the stat sheet of his first preseason game. Sunday is his opportunity to carry that rhythm into a game that counts on the injury report, if nowhere else.

Seattle’s Backup Battle

On the other sideline, Seattle’s story is less about one player finding his footing and more about several players trying to prove they belong. After that lopsided reserve unit got beat by Dallas in the opener, expect Macdonald to lean on this game as a genuine evaluation tool for backup jobs.

Two names worth tracking: Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe. Lock, who went 9 of 13 for 40 yards and a touchdown in the opener, is competing for real backup quarterback reps behind Seattle’s starter. Milroe, meanwhile, showed some intriguing dual-threat ability in his own preseason debut, going 5 of 8 passing for 36 yards while also adding 36 rushing yards on the ground — the kind of athletic upside teams like to stash and develop. Watching how each is used Sunday, and how cleanly they operate the offense, tells you a lot about where Seattle’s coaching staff currently has them stacked on the depth chart.

Unfortunately, this week’s joint practices also delivered real bad news for Seattle. Wide receiver Jake Bobo, a fourth-year pro out of Duke who has quietly built a role in Seattle’s offense, suffered what Macdonald described as an apparent serious knee injury during a joint practice session with Tennessee this week. It’s the kind of moment that captures exactly why these practices and preseason games matter — not every roster spot gets settled by a highlight, sometimes it gets reshuffled by an injury nobody wanted. Seattle will now likely need another receiver to step up during this exact stretch of the preseason to fill that void.

What to Watch and Best Bets for Beginners

If this is your first time watching or betting on a preseason game, keep your expectations calibrated. Starters typically play limited snaps (if they play at all), so do not expect to see the Seahawks’ or Titans’ full-strength lineups grinding out a normal NFL game. What you are watching instead is a live audition: backup quarterbacks, roster-bubble skill players, and young defenders all trying to put good tape on film before final roster cuts.

For newer bettors, that context matters a lot when looking at a line like Tennessee’s current 4.5-point favorite status. A number like that in preseason is driven far more by which team plays its backups longer than by which team is objectively stronger — Seattle, remember, is the defending Super Bowl champion, yet is still an underdog here because it is a lower-stakes evaluation game for both sides.

• Watch Cam Ward’s completion rate and any signs of building rhythm with his top targets
• Track how quickly Seattle turns to its next option at receiver after the Bobo injury
• Note who gets extended run at backup quarterback for Seattle — Drew Lock or Jalen Milroe
• Remember: the final score is far less important than who wins individual roster battles

Whether or not you have money on this one, the appeal of preseason football for a casual fan is simple: it is your first real look at how new coaches, new draft picks, and new depth-chart hopefuls might shape the season ahead — and Sunday night in Nashville has plenty of that on display.