NASHVILLE – It was a disappointing start to the 2026 season for the Tennessee Titans. More Sports News
On a steamy day at Nissan Stadium, the Titans didn’t do much right in a frustrating performance against the New York Jets.
The end result was a 23-10 loss.
“Expected a better performance, for sure,” head coach Robert Saleh said after the game. “It’s Week 1. There’s still a lot of football to be played. It wasn’t good, but at the same time, like I’ve said, this is a young football team, and we’ll have a chance to grow from this.”
It was the sixth straight season opening loss for the Titans.
The Titans couldn’t get anything going on offense for most of the day.
Titans quarterback Cam Ward finished the day 19-of-32 for 140 yards and a touchdown, with the team getting its only touchdown drive in the closing minutes when the game was out of hand.
“I am very disappointed,” Ward said. “We are better than what we showed offensively. We trained a lot this offseason, we had some hard days. It didn’t pay off for us today, but it is going to pay off for us eventually, whether it is next week or the week after. We are going to get it rolling.
“It is only Week 1, and there’s a lot of stuff to build. But we have a lot of stuff to learn off of.”
On defense, the Titans had trouble getting stops as the Jets controlled the game.
The Jets outgained the Titans 367 to 195 yards in the contest, and New York had 19 first downs to Tennessee’s 11. The Jets had the ball 38:46 minutes to 21:14 for the Titans, and on a day with the heat index in the 100s, it appeared to take a toll on the home team.
It all added up to a rough beginning of the Robert Saleh era.
“You can be surprised about a lot of stuff,” rookie linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said if the outcome. “All you have to do is execute better and we’ll see where the results lead us next week.”
On this Sunday, things didn’t start off well for the Titans, who saw the Jets take an early 7-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown run by Kenyon Sadiq, which capped off their opening drive.
On their opening possession, the Titans cut the lead to 7-3 on a 42-yard field goal by kicker Joey Slye.
The Jets put together a 19-play drive in the second quarter, but managed only a 33-yard field goal by kicker Jason Sanders, which made it 10-3.
After Chimere Dike fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Titans defense rose up and got a big stop. And after a missed field goal by Sanders from 54 yards out, the score remained the same.
The Jets led 10-3 at the half.
The second half didn’t start any better for the Titans, as the Jets surged ahead 17-3 on a four-yard touchdown run by running back Breece Hall.
Two more field goals by the Jets, one in the third quarter and another in the fourth, made it 23-3.
An 11-yard touchdown pass from Ward to Elic Ayomanor with 2:42 left accounted for the final score, and left the Titans searching for answers after Week 1.
“We have a long season ahead of us – this is not the end of our season,” defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said. “I hope our fans can stick with us. We are going to go through those growing pains, but at the end of the day we have to take the corrections and get ready for Week 2.”
The Titans return to action next Sunday at Nissan Stadium against the Philadelphia Eagles.
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