You don't want to overreact to Week 1 in the NFL (they say Week 1 is a liar), but some football fans understand how bad the Tennessee Titans' 23-10 season-opening loss to the New York Jets was. You surely didn't see them very much on RedZone.
The debate in Nashville last week was whether Week 1 was a "must-win game." Sure, it's just one game that has nothing to do with playoff hopes, but consider all that was at stake. You had a new head coach trying to exorcise the demons of his past against his former team. A franchise touting a rebrand paying tribute to the Oilers of old, playing their last season opener in the stadium that housed the first edition of the Titans, which captivated a city with a Super Bowl run in their very first year of existence. And they were playing another bottom dweller that hasn't registered a winning season in a decade. The result? A 23-10 beatdown where it felt like the Titans didn't stand a chance. Against the JETS. This was New York's first wire-to-wire victory and largest win since 2024, per CBS Sports Research.
If you want to know how bad it was, a Titans fan was caught on TV screaming, "Bring back Whisenhunt."
Ken Whisenhunt coached the Titans from 2014-15, and went 8-19. He's statistically the worst head coach in franchise history, and this drunk/heat-striken fan was praying for him to retake his post.
When your team loses in Week 1, you try to find reasons to be optimistic about the season. Good luck doing that with the Titans. Rookie linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. looks like a stud, but what else?
This new-look defensive front was supposed to be the calling card for the Titans. You have the best defensive tackle in football in Jeffery Simmons, paired with a defensive mind like Robert Saleh, who traded for Jermaine Johnson II and Solomon Thomas, while adding John Franklin-Myers and Jordan Elliott in free agency, plus Keldric Faulk in the first round of the draft.
They got pushed around by this Jets offensive line.
There was a drive in the second quarter where the Jets rushed a total of 14 times on the way to a field goal. A total of 74 yards gained on 19 plays. Talk about imposing your will. The drive took up 11:48 of game time. Breece Hall and Braelon Allen combined for 142 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Geno Smith wasn't sacked once.
"I don't think I got touched at all out there and that's always a great sign." -- Geno Smith
The secondary wasn't much better. Free-agency addition Alontae Taylor wasn't a match for Garrett Wilson, and Amani Hooker was lost on multiple occasions.
The defense was disappointing! But let's talk about the quarterback. Cam Ward was the talk of the offseason. If he could make a second-year jump like Drake Maye or Caleb Williams, then it would catapult the Titans into sleeper territory. It's logical. A No. 1 overall pick at quarterback can make that kind of jump, but would he? I mean, he now has a No. 4 overall pick at receiver and an experienced offensive mind in Brian Daboll. But the question always was: can Ward operate inside structure and run an offense? He definitely didn't on Sunday.
When it was all said and done, Ward completed 19 of 32 passes for 140 yards and one touchdown. The stat line sucks, but it actually feels inflated. He had 32 passing yards at halftime. Without looking at the film just yet, either the receivers weren't separating downfield, or Ward was totally unwilling to push the ball. On paper, this is the deepest wide receiving corps in franchise history, so you know which way I'm leaning. Maybe it's Daboll? I mean, we're watching a self-flea-flicker-fake-reverse that was apparently designed for the quarterback to run into a sack.
I'm not putting the entire loss on the quarterback, but he was a part of it. He walked into the stadium wearing a shirt that read:
"SEED
a dot right right to someone's f***ing face"
There were no "seeds" on Sunday. And it's wild that Ward conducted his postgame press conference wearing that same shirt. If I were him, I would have the staff get me something else to wear.
So, the quarterback wasn't good, the offensive line struggled, the offense as a whole put up 195 yards of offense, the defense disappointed and the special teams stunk. The Jets put a collar on you and took you for a walk. Where is the optimism? Sure, teams can get better as the year goes on, but what is the ceiling of the squad that looks hapless against Aaron Glenn and Geno Smith at home?
You had the coach on arguably the hottest seat in the NFL entering this season, feeling this good in your building.
Titans fans are sick of losing, and this was the most embarrassing sendoff to Nissan Stadium imaginable. We're left with many more questions than answers. Is Ward capable of being a franchise quarterback? Can Daboll figure out how to not only develop him but also get this offense to score points? Was Saleh the correct hire? This defense gave up 367 yards to the freakin' Jets.
Week 1 was an unmitigated disaster. The new coaches, new players, new logo, and new uniforms did absolutely nothing to help this franchise on Sunday. In fact, it's fair to question if this is as bad as it has ever been.
