Locker looks solid in round one of Titans QB battle

The Tennessee Titans quarterback battle is far from over, but Jake Locker showed Saturday night that he is certainly a serious contender to unseat Matt Hasselbeck and win the job.

The Titans lost 27-17 at Seattle, but Locker looked poised in leading Tennessee's offense to a field goal drive in the second quarter. Overall, he finished 7 of 13 for 80 yards in the game.

Hasselbeck had a some bad luck in his homecoming to Seattle, where he played for a decade. His first pass on the first play from scrimmage bounced off the hands of a diving Nate Washington and was intercepted by Brandon Browner and returned for a touchdown. He later had another deep pass picked off as well. Hasselbeck finished 5 of 9 for 45 yards.

The Titans' real concern might be with Chris Johnson, who had just eight yards on five carries and struggled to find running room on four of his five rushes. CJ had hoped to prove last year was an aberration, but that will take a much better showing than he had Saturday night. He also dropped three passes.

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Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com