Any and all of the hope, goodwill and optimism that the Tennessee Titans carried into the 2026 NFL season evaporated in an afternoon.
Robert Saleh's tenure as Titans coach began with a wheezing, unremarkable showing in a 23-10 loss against the New York Jets at Nissan Stadium on Sept. 13. The offense was static and sputtering, barely mustering 100 yards before the Jets started sitting back in prevent defense in the final five minutes. The defense was disjointed, with multiple instances of too many players being on the field, and consistently got bullied around the line of scrimmage. And the special teams looked out-of-sync too, with a lost fumble and a friendly-fire collision in the return game.
Coming off back-to-back 3-14 seasons, the environment
started to feel hostile early in the second half. Home fans rained boos down on running back Tyjae Spears after dropping a would-be third-down conversion with 8:51 left in the third quarter. On the ensuing Jets drive, boos continued as Jets running back Breece Hall broke tackles and Jets receiver Garrett Wilson broke open for long gains.
The boos continued for the rest of the half as operational mistakes, bad passes and misplayed special teams plays continued. By the midpoint of the fourth quarter, there were more green Jets jerseys in the crowd than Titans gear.
The magnitude of this loss is tough to oversell. The Jets are one of the NFL's few teams that entered the season with lower preseason expectations than the Titans. Based on preseason Super Bowl odds and ESPN's game predictors, this was supposed to be the second easiest game on the Titans' schedule. Three of the Titans' next four games are against legitimate Super Bowl contenders in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Houston.
It's not going to get easier than this, and the Titans already got overmatched by a bottom-of-the-pack opponent.
Cam Ward and the offense can't get anything going
This was the kind of day where the Titans' offense pretty much only worked when QB Cam Ward had to scramble away from pressure and scamper toward the sideline for a short gain. The run game was beaten at the line of scrimmage. The pass protection never jelled. Long-developing pass plays never got long enough to develop.
Ward finished his day 19-for-32 with 140 yards and a touchdown, up there with his least productive performances from his often-unimpressive rookie year. Fifty-five of those yards came on Ward's lone touchdown drive, a soft-coverage clinic in the game's final five minutes when the Jets had already clinched the win. Pressure and drops were contributing factors, but Ward also missed open receivers downfield and in short distance.
A conservative gameplan, and a jumbled operation
The Titans punted on fourth-and-3 from the Jets' 49-yard line, fourth-and-4 from the Jets' 45-yard line and fourth-and-9 from the Jets' 43-yard line. All three punts from Tommy Townsend bounced through the end zone for touchbacks, barely flipping field position.
That extra-safe gameplan from Saleh's Titans plays in contrast to coach Aaron Glenn's decisions with the Jets, who converted two fourth downs and had a third fourth-down conversion overturned via penalty.
These second-guess worthy decisions come on a day where the Titans also had to burn a defensive timeout for having too many players on the field on the goal line and, one quarter later, allowing a red zone touchdown on a different play where there were too many players on the field. The offense also burned a penalty in the second half for a pre-snap miscommunication.
Slow start felt awfully 2025 Titans
The Titans only mustered 55 yards on 17 plays in the first half as the Jets controlled the clock for 21 minutes and a special teams turnover took away a would-be possession. The O-line got pushed around and the Titans couldn't find any connections downfield. It wasn't a situation where the offense was giving up sack after sack and throwing interception after interception. Just a lot of stalled-out series where good execution could've made a difference.
If it all felt familiar, it probably should've. The Titans' inability to sustain drives was their undoing in 2025 as well, when turnovers and high-profile mistakes weren't really a problem but wins were still plenty hard to come by.
One bright spot: Rookie Anthony Hill Jr.
Playing in place of injured starter Cedric Gray, second-round pick Anthony Hill Jr., logged 15 tackles and two pass breakups to lead the team. Not bad for a debut.
What's next?
The Titans continue their quick homestand to start the season next week with a game at Nissan Stadium against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 20. Kickoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be televised on FOX.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Robert Saleh's Titans debut ends in boos, blunders as Jets bully way to win
