The Titans walked out of Week 3 with a 12-7 loss to the Giants, and the box score tells the story: this was ugly from the start, messy in the middle, and sealed by Cam Ward’s worst moment of the day.
Ward had chances to bail Tennessee out. He also had enough misses to sink them.
The biggest one came with the game on the line. On 1st-and-goal from the 7-yard line, Ward escaped the pocket and had room to take a short gain with two timeouts still in hand.
Instead, he forced the ball into Giants safety Jevon Holland and threw the game-losing interception. It was a brutal finish, especially because it wasn’t even the first time Ward flirted with disaster.
He had two earlier throws that could have been picked off, and he also missed a wide-open Carnell Tate for a touchdown. Ward made some strong plays in the third and fourth quarters, but the errors were impossible to ignore.
Tennessee’s opening drive of the third quarter summed up the afternoon before the final collapse ever happened. Down 12-0, the Titans finally moved the ball, only for Ward to miss Tate on 3rd-and-goal after a near interception.
Robert Saleh then gambled on fourth down, and Ward followed with his third straight incompletion. A 12-play, 68-yard march produced nothing, leaving Tennessee stuck in a 12-0 hole it never truly climbed out of.
The Titans’ first-half offense was just as bleak. After Chimere Dike’s fumble on the opening kickoff, Tennessee went three-and-out on five straight possessions.
The sixth drive at least got them a first down, but it ended with a missed 59-yard field goal that handed the Giants favorable field position. By halftime, the Titans had only 54 total yards.
The Giants, with their backup quarterback, had eight first downs and 135 yards in the first two quarters.
Special teams, usually a reliable part of this team’s identity last season, has become another problem. Joey Slye has had kickoff issues.
Tommy Townsend has had punting issues. Then Sunday brought another setback when Dike coughed up the opening kickoff for his second lost fumble in three games.
For a player who was All-Pro as a rookie returner, that start has been a shock. The unit also drew four penalties, with three accepted.
There was another blow up front, too. Rookie right guard Fernando Carmona was injured on Tennessee’s opening possession and later ruled out at halftime with an ankle injury designation.
Carmona had been one of the few positive stories for a winless team, and he was replaced by sophomore Jackson Slater. An update on the severity is still pending.
And then there was the clock management. Saleh had already drawn scrutiny for similar issues with the Jets, and Sunday added more fuel.
Late in the second quarter, the Giants ran a surrender play on third down, and Tennessee badly needed the ball back. Instead, Saleh waited about 10 seconds before finally calling a timeout.
In the second half, the Titans had to burn a critical timeout after somehow putting 10 defenders on the field following a Giants timeout.
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Giants Win Sparked An Ugly Reaction Titans Fans Cant Defend
The loss to the Giants brought plenty of frustration into Titans circles, but the reaction around Cam Wards family has pushed the conversation well beyond football. In the aftermath, Wards sister, Chantel, used social media to address the harassment and threats being directed at their family, drawing a hard line between criticism of the game and personal attacks on people who have nothing to do with what happens on the field.
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Cam Ward Is Already Facing A Titans Concern Fans Know Too Well
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For Tennessee, the timing makes the matchup even more notable. Edge rusher is a spot the Titans will be watching closely as they map out the future, and Simmons has the kind of burst and all-around impact that can change the conversation fast. There is still a long way to go before draft boards are set, but games like this have a way of making a player feel a lot more real to the team that just saw him wrecking its offense. [Read more 🡒]