DENVER, CO. (WTVF) — Cam Ward's first NFL start provided an opportunity for the Titans show they're a different team. But a bevy of now familiar mistakes spoiled Ward's debut and handed the Broncos a 20-12 win.
A week one win was there for the taking as Bo Nix and the Denver offense struggled and the Broncos turned the ball over four times. But the Titans couldn't take advantage of their opportunities and many familiar mistakes from their recent past resurfaced in a frustrating defeat that raises questions whether Brian Callahan's second team really can be better.
"I thought our team played with great effort," Callahan said. "We had opportunities to keep this game with the ball. We had the chance to go win it, even at the end, it was still an eight-point game. We didn’t make enough plays."
After organizing an entire offseason program around cleaning up self-inflicted mistakes, Callahan's Titans committed 13 penalties for 131 yards in the opener. His offense totaled just 133 yards with Ward at the helm, sputtering routinely due to the penalties and six sacks behind a rebuilt offensive line.
But still the Titans had their chances. They trailed by just one into the fourth quarter and had the ball twice in Denver territory but failed to score.
First, Tennessee gained possession at the Denver 24 following a muffed punt, but Ward took sacks on second and third down dropping the offense all the way back to midfield and taking them out of field goal range.
"“As soon as you take the first one, it goes into your mind that you can’t take the second one," Ward said. "But at the end of the day, you’re going through the play call. I can’t control a lot of stuff, but I can control the protections and getting the ball to my receivers.
Then after the defense forced a turnover on downs, the Titans failed to capitalize again, going three and out.
In all, Tennessee managed just six points off Denver's four turnovers and finished with a meager 133 yards of total offense despite having the ball in Broncos territory on seven different possessions.
"We didn't capitalize," Ward said. "(The) defense, they gave us the opportunity to win a game. We didn't get the job done. Everybody on the offense, we all accountable for our actions. We'll just watch the film and get better off of each other and win."
With the Titans unwilling to get going offensively, the Broncos finally broke through as J.K. Dobbins' 19-yard touchdown provided the final margin.
Ward showed poise despite being under constant duress from the Broncos prolific pass rush, but he completed just 12 of 28 passes. His longest completion was his first pass of the day, as he avoided the rush and completed a side arm pass to the flat to Tony Pollard who scampered 29 yards to set up the first of Joey Slye's four field goals.
The Titans led 6-3 late in the first half and had an opportunity to run out the clock and take the lead to the locker room with the ball backed up inside their own 10, but Callahan made the highly questionable decision to be aggressive in the half's final minute. He called three straight pass plays with Denver holding on to their two timeouts. The first two were incomplete, the third was a near safety as Ward was sacked just outside the end zone. A solid punt return by Marvin Mims gave the Broncos a short field and Nix hit Courtland Sutton for a 22-yard touchdown a couple plays later for a 10-6 lead.
"I was trying to be aggressive to see if I could get the ball moved out from underneath there," Callahan said. "We got a little bit of rhythm, so [we were] trying to take advantage of some momentum potentially and it didn’t really work out in our favor.”
Chimere Dike bailed his coach out with a 71-yard kickoff return to set up a Slye field goal to make it 10-9 at the half, but it was an inexcusable miscalculation by Callahan to cost his team the lead at the half and give the Broncos momentum.
And it's Callahan's leadership and his ability - or inability - to get this team to clean up its act that is the biggest takeaway from the Titans snatching defeat from a chance to get a huge week one road win.
Ward will have the chance to show what he can do all year, and Callahan as coach and playcaller will be instrumental in his growth. But the entire team needs to grow from a group that went a league worst 3-14 last year and made more of the same mistakes Sunday.
"I’m very much disappointed that we lost," Callahan said. "I’m very much disappointed in the things that we didn’t execute well enough and I’m disappointed in the penalty process. I didn’t think that that was something that was going to show up the way it did today, for obvious reasons. There’s plenty of disappointment, but the encouraging part is that we found our way to be in this game for most of it and we’ve just got to find a way to play better when we need plays to be made.”
It is just one week, but Callahan needs his offense to put up yards and points. He needs the O-Line, coached by his father, to be better. He needs the offseason emphasis on penalties and mistakes to show up on gameday. And, ultimately, he's got to get this team to show progress by winning football games.
Sunday in Denver it was there for the taking and the Titans gave it away. It's up to Callahan to rally the troops and make the performance around Ward better moving forward or the franchise quarterback will have a new coach soon.
