The Tennessee Titans lost their Week 1 game 20-12 to the Denver Broncos. It was a series of coaching and player errors. Brian Callahan had a historically embarrassing moment at the podium during his postgame presser, and he called a terrible game for Cam Ward and the offense.
Lost in the mix of Sunday’s disappointing defeat was the health (or lack thereof) for four key Titans. The Titans aren’t talented enough to survive injuries to their core roster players. Four of them are already carrying notable
concerns, albeit some of them were pre-existing.
Expectedly, L’Jarius Sneed was on a snap count. He played just 19 total snaps, accounting for 26.8 percent of Tennessee’s defensive plays. Oddly enough, the Titans seemingly used up all of Sneed’s allowance early, and he didn’t play a single snap during the second half. Darrell Baker Jr. totaled 51 snaps.
Jarvis Brownlee Jr. appeared to be in significant pain after a second-half run-in, but ultimately returned. Brownlee played every defensive snap (70) but one. An injury to him would be catastrophic given Sneed’s status, and the lack of back-end depth at corner.
Right tackle JC Latham suffered a hip injury at practice a few weeks ago. The Titans claimed it was a non-issue. Well, it was an issue, because Latham re-aggrevated the hip injury and was forced to exit the contest. Oli Udoh was truly abysmal in his place, and the Titans’ offensive line could be totally derailed if the sophomore blocker is forced to miss time.
Sophomore defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat was also on a snap count. The big-bodied Sweat helped make a key fourth-down stop late, but saw his play-time limited due to missing multiple late-training-camp practices due to tonsillitis. The Titans need him to make an impact at the line of scrimmage.
The Titans were terrible in Week 1. They’ll be worse if the combination of Sneed, Latham, and Sweat can’t get right ASAP.
