Given the miserable past week — shoot, the past few years — for these Tennessee Titans, one might’ve expected a locker room of confetti and cartwheels, given how the season’s second defeat at Nissan Stadium looked a whole lot better than the first.
Here in that locker room, though, it isn’t like that.
And, I’m thinking, that might be the most encouraging sign of all during a Sept. 20 afternoon that offered a surprising amount of encouragement when it comes to this team. No one wants to hear about moral victories. Certainly not in the NFL. Even if that's exactly what this felt like for a Titans team that plenty of people just a week ago suspected might be bad enough to go 0-17.
We’ll get back to that. In the meantime, let’s listen to Titans coach
Robert Saleh. He’s rejecting the moral victory idea, too. He's saying how “sick” he was to lose 24-20 in the final seconds to the esteemed Philadelphia Eagles.
“Because we should be 1-1 right now,” Saleh says. “But we’re not.”
The Titans, without question, were better in Week 2. The defense was better. The pass rush was better. The offense remained sluggish for a while, but it did wake up and unearth some explosive plays. Quarterback Cam Ward was better. The run game was better. This looked more like the Titans we saw during training camp as opposed to the scorching-hot mess that wasn't competitive against the New York Jets.
But whether the Titans “should” have won this game is debatable. The Eagles dominated the first half, and they made more plays when it mattered in the end. Not a coincidence, those two things.
Philly’s offense was 11-for-18 on third down, and if you think that nearly 13 more minutes of possession time doesn’t add up by the business end of a 100-degree afternoon, then you haven’t played many games in such conditions.
I’m not saying that’s why the Eagles marched for a game-winning touchdown. But it didn’t help. Neither did a few key penalties and a pivotal sack of Cam Ward on first-and-goal, ultimately prompting the Titans to pack it in and settle for running plays and a field goal — same as at the end of the first half — to inch ahead 20-17 with 1:56 remaining.
Jalen Hurts didn’t settle. He threw a 19-yard completion to DeVonta Smith (who was Philly’s cheat code all day) on third-and-6 at the Titans 22. Then Hurts followed it up with a 3-yard touchdown pass to win the game, because that’s how teams like the Eagles are accustomed to winning.
The Titans, clearly, are not.
Which brings us back to those locker-room discussions about moral victories.
“I'll leave here with another loss. That's the only thing that matters,” Ward said when I asked him if he’ll head home feeling better about things. He isn't despondent, though.
“I'd argue it stings more,” Titans guard Peter Skoronski said, “feeling like we had that . . . It's not college football, when you have a small school going against Alabama and maybe they are tied at halftime. This is the NFL. There's 32 teams. There's no moral victories.”
Skoronski isn't angry or flustered. Neither is defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, really, even as shakes his head while trying not to say that "m" word. He repeats, instead, how there aren’t moral victories.
But . . .
“A lot of positives came out today,” Simmons says. “No one, absolutely no one outside of the building, gave us a chance. That ballgame came down to the end.”
He’s not wrong. Simmons just wasn’t willing, even after all the losses, to try to sell a goal of fighting hard and coming up short around a team with six wins in its past 30 games. Simmons still did, however, want to stick up for his teammates and note that this day wasn't a total loss. It’s a mixed reaction, and somewhere in there, this does feel like progress.
The Titans really did get better today. Seems like they realize that.
Except it still wasn’t good enough.
If you're wondering, they seemed to realize that, too.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Moral victory? Not in the NFL, even when it's the Tennessee Titans | Estes
