The Seattle Seahawks could not keep their preseason winning ways going on Saturday, as they fell to the Tennessee Titans 16-15 on Saturday night. Seattle has officially lost their first game under head coach Mike Macdonald.

There is going to be plenty of tape for Macdonald to teach his team afterwards. Not that it was all bad, but it was a bit of a regression from last week on both sides of the ball. Seattle is clearly a team building something new, and there will obviously be a few bumps along the way, especially when fielding a team without their starters.

Without further ado, here are the top takeaways from Saturday's game against Tennessee:

Sam Howell likely locked up the backup spot

Not that this was any serious surprise, given the fact the Seahawks essentially traded a third rounder to acquire his talents, but Sam Howell looked sharp against the Titans. Once again, Howell got the start over the resting Geno Smith and did the best he could to earn the QB2 position. Howell finished his night completing 11-of-14 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown. His score to Easop Winston Jr. was a thing of beauty.

Where Howell shined the most was at the end of the first half, nursing a 9-7 lead over Tennessee. Howell marched the Seahawks 43 yards down the field in only six plays and 0:38 to give kicker Jason Myers a shot at giving Seattle a 12-7 lead before half.

Jason Myers kicks off preseason rust

Jason Myers has missed a PAT in both of Seattle's preseason games this summer, but he is perfect on field goal attempts. After missing his first (and only) PAT attempt against the Titans, Myers went 3-for-3 on field goals on Saturday. These crucial nine points gave the Seahawks a chance to win on a night where their offense was not providing much.

Oh, speaking of said offense...

Offense struggled to stay on the field in the second half

Without Sam Howell at the helm, the Seahawks offense could not find a way to continue drives. In their heir first three second half possessions, Seattle ran a grand total of 11 plays for 11 yards. Their final possession, which resulted in a field goal was only five plays for 22 yards. The lack of action from the offense resulted in a lopsided time of possession battle, losing 37:49 to 22:11 and forcing the defense on the field far too long.

Rushing attack dried up

Part of why the Seahawks' offense struggled to stay on the field in the second half was their inability to get their ground game going. Against the Chargers last week, Seattle rushed for 156 yards on 39 carries as a team. But against Tennessee? The Seahawks could only muster 64 yards on the ground on 18 total carries.

But the 64 yards is even worse when you consider the Seahawks went into the half with 65 yards as a team. Yeesh. Seattle's offense is going to find the most success this year if they can find a way to consistently run the ball.

Defense still comes up clutch

Seattle's defense might not have forced one final stop, but they did their best to win this game. When you, the road team, hold the home team to only 16 points, that should be enough to win - preseason or not. Safety Ty Okada gave the Seahawks their best shot when he intercepted a deflected Malik Willis pass on third down, which directly led to Jason Myers' 50-yard field goal to take a 15-13 lead with 1:55 left in the game.

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This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: 5 takeaways from Seahawks' 16-15 loss to the Titans