Nashville, TENN. - The Titans launched a full rebrand this offseason, complete with new uniforms, a new head coach in Robert Saleh and new offensive and defensive systems. But the 2026 season kicked off Sunday at Nissan Stadium with an all-too-familiar result as the Jets came to Nashville and ran away with a 23-10 victory.
The Titans have now lost 47 of their last 59 games dating back to the 2022 season, but they had vowed this season would be different.
Saleh would change the culture in the building, bringing a fire to the locker room and an experienced coaching staff to get the most out of a young team. The new offense would help Cam Ward take a major step forward as a franchise quarterback in his second season, and Saleh’s defense was supposed to help the Titans build one of the NFL’s best units around superstar Jeffery Simmons.
At least for week one none of that happened.
Instead, we saw a lot of the familiar mistakes that have plagued the Titans through four straight losing seasons.
Joey Slye kicked the opening kickoff out of bounds, gifting the Jets starting field position at the 40. The defense had a pass interference penalty and allowed a 30-yard Geno Smith pass to Omar Cooper Jr., as he broke through several tackles to convert a third and nine. Then Saleh was forced to use a timeout to avoid a penalty for having too many men on the field, only to watch New York rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq score on a three-yard jet sweep two plays later.
It was the Jets first touchdown in a season-opening drive since 2016, but it was more of the same for a Titans team that has now lost six straight openers and hasn’t won a season opener at home since 2010.
Saleh’s defense never found its footing. Smith completed 19 of 24 passes for 215 yards, unbothered by a pass rush that was supposed to be the strength of the Titans team. The Titans did not record a sack and had just two tackles for loss as the Jets blew the game open with two third quarter scoring drives to take a 20-3 lead.
Smith found Garrett Wilson wide open in the Titans secondary for 31 yards into Tennessee territory to get the first drive going. Then, after a holding penalty backed them up 10 yards, Smith hit Adonai Mitchell behind the defense for 40 yards. The defense appeared confused once again as it got caught with too many players on the field two plays later. As a pair of Titans defenders sprinted towards the sideline, the Jets snapped the ball to draw the flag and Breece Hall sprinted past all the legal defenders and into the endzone for a touchdown.
Hall started the next drive with consecutive 12-yard gains on the way to a 102-yard day. Smith then hit Wilson, who had a game-high six receptions, for 22 yards to get into range for a Jason Sanders field goal that extended the lead to 17 points.
Meanwhile, Ward and the Titans offense never found a rhythm. They got a field goal on the opening drive thanks to a pair of Ward scrambles and a 12-yard completion to rookie Carnell Tate. But they then punted on their next seven possessions before Ward hit Elic Ayomanor for the team’s only touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
One game should not be a referendum on Ward’s progress in year two, but those hoping to see the quarterback take significant strides did not see them in week one.Ward threw for just 72 yards through the first three quarters and finished the game 19 of 32 while getting sacked three times behind an offensive line that struggled to hold up.
The Titans did average 4.9 yards per carry but only ran the ball 14 times as they held the ball for just over 21 minutes compared to the Jets’ 38:46 of possession.
Even special teams, which often were a bright spot a year ago under coordinator Bones Fassel, struggled. Besides Slye’s opening kickoff out of bounds, All-Pro returner Chimere Dike fumbled a kickoff return and new punter Tommy Townsend failed to pin the Jets deep on multiple occasions, sending three of his seven punts into the endzone for touchbacks.
It’s just one game, but the result provided zero encouragement for a fanbase that showed up 64,000 strong Sunday looking for a reason to be optimistic about the season.
It will take more than new uniforms or even a new coaching staff to improve what continues to be a very bad product on the field.
Posted
and last updated
