The agenda is already overflowing with anxiety from the Tennessee Titans’ appalling season opener, but I’ve got another aspect that isn’t getting as much attention as it should:
This team didn’t have its new head coach’s back.
Can’t imagine that anyone in the Titans’ building wanted to beat the New York Jets more than Robert Saleh, who’d been abruptly fired by that franchise less than two years ago. The Jets blindsided Saleh five games into his fourth season as head coach and reportedly had him escorted out by team security (per NBC Sports). Indignities like that tend to stick with a person.
The NFL putting the Jets first on the Titans’ 2026 schedule was the kind of thing the NFL does to feed a storyline. Saleh, meanwhile, didn’t try to make the opener
about himself, either publicly or privately with his team. But he didn’t have to say anything. His Titans were keenly aware for months how much this first game loomed as a personal matter of pride for their new coach.
It was shameful, then, how poorly those players performed for Saleh in the coach's Titans debut.
You would’ve expected far better. Saleh certainly did.
“Last week sucked,” he said. “It wasn't close to the standard. It wasn't close to what we expected us to perform at. It wasn't even close. I made the comment that I would have bet every asset I have in my family’s name that we would have come out in the second half and played a hell of a lot better than we did. We didn’t.”
The risk of avalanche is real for the Titans in Week 2, as that Week 1 no-show could continue to snowball in a difficult matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. Saleh's mettle is already being tested. This week is going to reveal much about the man who has been tasked with leading the Titans out of the gutter and back to NFL relevance.
How might Saleh get his Titans to respond after they failed to do it once for him already?
Let's peek under the hood, shall we:
For one thing, Saleh could have piled on and harped solely on negatives after the Jets debacle, but it sounds like he's keeping it more positive. Titans players said he used footage from training-camp practices as examples of success performing the same tasks they failed to do against the Jets.
“Saleh showed it today," defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said prior to practice on Sept. 16. "During training camp and preseason, we showed that we could do these type of things like run the ball, stop the run, affect the quarterback . . . It's on tape (from the preseason). It's up to us to go out there and do that.”
“We all know what it's supposed to look like,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson II echoed. “It just didn't look like that this past Sunday, for a number of reasons. (Saleh) was just reminding us, again, ‘This is what it's supposed to look like. You've done it before. Get back to it.’”
Delving back into training-camp footage after Week 1 might seem a little unorthodox, but it makes sense.
Strengths the Titans came to believe about themselves this preseason vanished against the Jets. Most notably, the ability to run the ball offensively and lean on an impactful defensive line were to be important parts of this season’s identity. Saleh isn't abandoning hope they still can be.
“I don't think moving the goal post week to week is the answer for a football team that's trying to grow," Saleh explained, "but at the same time you don't want to be stagnant . . . You trust in the things that you've been working on since OTAs. You continue to build on those things, and you trust that through repetition we'll be better.”
A steady, stay-the-course demeanor from Saleh won’t satisfy the immediate bloodlust of an exasperated Titans fan base. It could help restore the confidence of a shell-shocked group of players, though.
Either way, those players are all going to have to perform much better for their coach than they did in Week 1.
“It’s important to do things in practice to kind of get it down and to get the reps and whatnot, but I mean, you've got to show up on Sundays,” Johnson said. “I'm saying that to myself as much as everybody else on the team. We know that. We're just excited for this opportunity on Sunday to do that.”
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: Titans' Week 2 response will reveal much about Robert Saleh's leadership | Estes
