Munchak pleased with trip to Dalton

The Tennessee Titans enjoyed their “break” from training camp that came in the form of Monday’s road trip to Dalton, Ga., where they practiced with the Atlanta Falcons.

“I think it served it purpose. I think guys had a chance to compete in a lot of areas against other people. They made some plays. I think it was a good workout for us,” Coach Mike Munchak said. “I think it just raised the energy level. They don’t know you as well. You don’t know them. It kind of gives you more reality of what it would be like in a game. It’s not game conditions. They’re not tackling. They know they’re not gonna get hit. That’s the next step, which will be the preseason games.”

The Titans start the preseason Saturday night in Seattle.

The Titans appear no closer to making a decision on their starting quarterback after both Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker went against the Atlanta Falcons defense on Monday.

Both players had their moments, and both said getting to work against the Falcons was good for them.

“It’s great to change the pace a little bit and go against some guys that you’re not used to going against every day, and get a little different look. I think it was productive for both of us,” Locker said.

Hasselbeck, entering his 14th NFL season, said he knows the offense had a bit of an advantage because there was no live tackling, but said the work was good nonetheless.

“You don’t know exactly how good you are, but there’s a little bit of an advantage because there’s no tackling, but it’s good work and you can learn from the tape,” he said.

Munchak was eager to see how his quarterbacks fared without game planning against the Atlanta defense, which features some solid cornerbacks in Brett Grimes and off-season pickup Asante Samuel, whom Titans entertained thoughts of acquiring. Samuel picked off three passes in the work against the Titans on Monday.

“It was good competition. They’ve got some great DBs. They were making some plays especially early,” Munchak.

As for the trip itself and the atmosphere, the Titans gave a thumbs up to an idea Munchak says he would like to make a yearly event.

“We’d love it. It serves both our purposes. Obviously it’s close enough where there are fans of both teams in this area. If the schedules work, we’d love to find a way to continue to find a way to get together in training camp,” Munchak said.

Hasselbeck said he excited by the estimated crowd of more than 8,000 fans in attendance Monday.

“Coming down here, we stopped seeing houses about five miles ago,” he said. “But there was loud music and tailgating. The fans made it feel like it was not training camp.”