The New England Patriots could be spending a few days in Nashville this August.
The Tennessee Titans are one of the Patriots’ four 2019 preseason opponents, and the teams already have discussed potentially holding joint practices together ahead of their exhibition matchup at Nissan Stadium, according to Titans head coach — and former Patriots linebacker — Mike Vrabel.
“Clearly you know all the head coaches, but you have a better relationship with some of the other ones, and (Patriots coach Bill Belichick) is one that I have a better relationship with,” Vrabel told the Titans’ official website. “So it was, ‘Hey, we’re putting in to play you guys in the preseason.’ And Bill was like, ‘Can we come to Nashville and practice?’
“I think that would be a great idea. We practiced against the Patriots when we were in Houston (with the Texans), and I feel like they are a good team to practice against just because of the same expectations, trying to get stuff done, trying to get things accomplished but not fighting or anything.”
The Titans blew out the Patriots 34-10 last November in Vrabel and Belichick’s first meeting as opposing head coaches.
The Patriots also could look to practice with the Detroit Lions, whom they’ll face in their preseason opener sometime between Aug. 8 and 12. Matt Patricia spent six seasons as New England’s defensive coordinator before taking over as Detroit’s head coach last spring.
Belichick requested preseason games against the Titans and Lions, according to ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss.
The Detroit and Tennessee matchups both are road games, with the latter scheduled for Week 2 of the preseason (Aug. 15 to 19). The Patriots will close out their exhibition slate with home games against the Carolina Panthers (Aug. 22 to 25) and New York Giants (Aug. 29 or 30). The exact date and time of each game will be announced at a later date.
Last year marked the first time since 2011 that New England did not hold joint practices during training camp.
