Titans’ Narrow Loss Exposes Costly Mistakes
Everyone expected the Tennessee Titans to walk into Mile High and get outplayed by the Denver Broncos, but no one expected it to go down the way it did. The Titans were badly outcoached, and numerous gaffes fell at the feet of head coach Brian Callahan.
Coach Callahan did potentially irreparable damage to his identity as an offensive-minded head coach when he called plays with no rhythm or situational awareness. The Titans were defeated 20-12 by the Broncos in a game that was begging for them to execute the Week 1 upset.
Calvin Ridley looked like someone had swapped his gloves out with pads of butter. The offensive line looked like they were going through walkthroughs instead of blocking one of the NFL's most ferocious pass-rush units.
Titans brutal Week 1 loss was even closer than you think
The Callahan family and the team's most-trusted pass catcher let the Titans down on Sunday. On the brighter side, the Titans' rookie class looked like the moment wasn't too big for them.
Most importantly, Cam Ward was doing everything he could to drag this corpse of an offense to any points he could. Ward kept the ball out of harm's way while escaping pressure from the Broncos, and he never looked overwhelmed by the failures going on around him.
Femi Oladejo wasn't spectacular, but he appeared to understand his assignments, recording multiple schemed-up pressures. Oladejo was solid, which is an improvement from what we saw in the preseason, and it should give Titans fans hope that he is going to show improvement throughout the year.
Fourth-round receiver Chimere Dike had a 71-yard kick return with 15 seconds left in the half that set the Titans up for a field goal that helped keep them in the game.
Speaking of fourth-rounders, Elic Ayomanor should have been credited with an incredible catch on the sideline, and he showed why the team believes he should be a starter as a rookie. Similarly, Gunnar Helm also had a nice catch to move the chains and was able to create some separation.
However, there is still room to grow for each of these players. Ward had to deal with multiple drops or bobbles that cost him approximately 100 passing yards, but if he could have taken a little bit of velocity off of some of those passes. It certainly wasn't Ward's fault, but if his teammates continue to fail him, then these are the adjustments he will have to make.
Can Oladejo turn those pressures into sacks by pinning his ears back on those naked bootlegs and punishing the quarterback? Dike had a play late in the game where he misread the coverage and didn't break in like Ward wanted him to, so can Dike make one fewer mistake next week and become a playmaker on offense?
Helm had a bobble on a 17-yard route down the field that would have been huge for the Titans early momentum, and Ayomanor failed to get the first down on a third-down reception because he couldn't overpower cornerback Riley Moss for another foot or two. Can they tighten up and help their quarterback more going forward?
Despite the coaching issues and some veteran struggles, this rookie class was close to having a monster day that would have had the NFL talking had come away with a win. However, they all had rookie moments that kept them from overcoming poor coaching and execution. That is why it was a nice debut by this draft class, but it unfortunately falls short of special.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
