JAKE AND STACY
Heaps: Wagner and Adams must shine when Seahawks face Titans’ running game

There’s been a lot of excitement surrounding the Seahawks and their offense after their Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts, but Seattle’s defense faces a tough task in Week 2 when the Tennessee Titans come to town.
Heaps: 2 matchups will determine whether Seahawks beat Titans
The Titans are coming off a rough 38-13 loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals, but they possess one of the best skill position groups in football. Their offense has one of the top wide receiver duos in the game in Julio Jones and A.J. Brown, but it’s on the ground where the Titans make their identity known.
That’s because they have arguably the best running back in football in Derrick Henry, who ran for over 2,000 yards last season and led the league in rushing each of the last two years.
Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps thinks that the Seahawks’ No. 1 task on Sunday is slowing down Henry, and he’s looking for two players on defense to have big games. He explained who those players are and why he’s counting on them on Friday’s edition of Jake and Stacy on 710 ESPN Seattle.
“Two of your highest-paid players. This is a game, to me, where Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams have to go and show that they are worth the money that they are getting right now,” Heaps said.
Wagner is a perennial first-team All-Pro linebacker who is in his 10th NFL season while Adams was a second-team All-Pro safety last year in his first season with the Seahawks. Wagner is one of the highest-paid linebackers in football while Adams recently signed an extension making him the highest-paid safety in NFL history.
Heaps thinks that Adams and Wagner can show they’re worth every penny when the Seahawks face the Titans.
“These are two of the best players at their position in the NFL and these are two guys that are monsters when they play downhill,” he said. “They are monsters in terms of the impact they can have in the running game. I want to see these two guys, the energy, the juice, the enthusiasm and the level of play be at an all-time high when it come to limiting and tackling Derrick Henry.”
Heaps thinks that the challenge of taking down Henry and stopping the Titans’ running game is something these two star defenders have been looking forward since the schedule was released.
“If I’m Bobby Wagner, if I’m Jamal Adams, I’ve had this game circled on my calendar because this is a unique opportunity to go up against the league’s best running back, one of the league’s most explosive offensive units and be able to shut it down and be able to make a statement about who this defense is, what we can be and we as individuals, yes, we’re the very best at our position,” Heaps said. “I want to see Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams be violent, be impactful and play at the line of scrimmage.”
Listen to the second hour of Friday’s Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.
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