Haters were right, I was wrong. Once again, stop me if you’ve heard this before.

Titans lose another stinkfest to the Rams this past Sunday, losing 33-19, and showing a very competitive quarter and a half. A couple of decent takeaways, mainly Cam Ward, and a whole bunch of bad. Offensive line is a problem, receivers continue to drop balls, defense can only hold up for so long, and most importantly, play calling has gone backwards 12 years.

Cam Ward looked good. Much better numbers than last week, going 19/33 for 175 and his very first NFL touchdown. We’ll get to the touchdown, but I wanted to first mention his poise, accuracy and cannon of an arm. Cam Ward was sacked 5 times, getting him to 11 through 2 games. That’s bad! Not a very good way to help your young QB develop, but I’m not a coach. He was to blame for one of those, but the O-line has done him 0 favors thus far. I still love the way he moves in the pocket, extending plays and making something out of nothing, but it can still be to his detriment. He has a rocket of an arm and can really put the ball anywhere he wants it on the field, squeezing in some tight windows on what would be very ill-advised throws for most QBs.

Speaking of throws coaches shit their pants over, Cam Ward pulled a Will Levis and threw an underhand pass while falling, but he actually completed it! Was it luck? Was it skill? Who’s to say, but it felt good not being a pick 6. Then we get to the touchdown. A cardinal sin for quarterbacks, throwing across your body to the complete opposite end of the field. But again, it worked! Elic Ayomanor made a great catch, and I love seeing him and Cam Ward being on the same page and adjusting routes mid play. What a way to start your career, throwing your first touchdown on a pass he certainly got chewed out for. Although, something tells me Callahan has lost a lot of respect from the locker room, so I bet Cam will try it again. Overall, I thought Cam showed some good improvements from Week 1 to 2. He still needs help from the rest of the team, but he looks like he could be a guy.

Elic Ayomanor, as I mentioned, also looks like he might be a guy. Just a big strong receiver who tried his best to recreate the helmet catch. I am very excited about him moving forward, given he gets to run literally any route besides Go-Balls all game.

Tony Pollard continues to be maybe the most consistent player on the roster, running like he owes the NFL rent. Just a hard nose, bell-cow back that is going to give you all he’s got.

Chimere Dike is a legit returner. He should’ve scored, but a garbage “Block in the back” penalty was called. Notice how horse shit it was based on my parenthesis. The Rams squibbed it to him the rest of the game (Scared!).

Now the bad.

Offensive line was supposed to be revamped this year. I very much thought so going into the year, especially given how awful the Titans line has been in the last 3 years. Alas, it looks like same old Titans. A crumbling pocket every time the QB drops back, never really getting a consistent push in the run game, and looking exhausted by the end. Peter Skoronski is a stud, but how much can a guard really help at the end of the day. Dan Moore was paid a lot of money to give up a lot of pressures (should’ve known), and missing JC Latham was apparent. I thought Bill Callahan was supposed to be the O-Line guru? What’s going on Bill? What about the special sled we hyped up for 2 offseasons now? Why are we committing so many penalties? I don’t know how to fix it, I just know it won’t be an easy one, and we are most likey stuck with this for the rest of the year.

I want to blame the receivers again for not getting open and dropping balls, but I think you have to blame Brian Callahan here too. For the love of god, can we please stop sending everybody on Go-routes and deep crossers? That’s all we do. The couple times at the end of the game when we ran the quick game and let Cam get the ball out of his hands fast, we moved the ball! Have we ever heard of a deep curl? What about a stick or option route? Why must we continue to have the long developing plays when the line is obviously a problem? Enough of the Run, Run, Pass, and let Cam get in a rhythm! It boggles my mind why we only want to run up the middle for -2 to 2 yards, a negative screen pass, or throw a fade along the sidelines. Cam Ward’s touchdown was again, run forward routes, and Cam didn’t get the ball out of his hands for 8 seconds. That’s so so so long. I do not understand it. You know who did get the ball out of his hands fast almost every play? Matthew Stafford! He picked us clean running short to intermediate passes underneath across the middle of the field. Are we not allowed to do that as well? Apparently not, lets run the ball.

I’m not even going to mention not taking a shot with 12 seconds left to end the half and just giving up and taking the field goal. Just coaching so soft when you have free opportunities to take a shot, and then taking shots when you should just focus on getting a first down and gaining momentum.

The defense looked okay, but not how they looked last week. The lack of edge rushers is blatant. No real pressure on a seasoned QB who can get the ball out of his hands. The run defense looked solid for a half, and then fell apart after being on the field all game. Stafford tore apart our zone, and Puka and Devantae Adams feasted against man coverage. Cody Barton, Roger McCreary and Jeff Simmons played well, but everybody else struggles. Sneed looked decent in his first full game this year, but ultimately got beat. We knew this would be a tough game, but I thought we could at least put some pressure on them. And we did! For a quarter and a half. Classic Titans falling apart as soon as we start to look competent.

I got my expectations up this offseason because I thought we were much better than the worst team in the league last year. It feels like we have the talent to be competitive, but everybody forgets how to play football when game time comes. I don’t know if Callahan needs to be fired or not. I’m holding out hope he can put something that looks like a football team together, but I’m not confident. The play calling, penalties, and basic misunderstanding of the rules is not a good look! Not to sound like a whiney bitch, but if Vrabel was here, penalties and knowing the rules would not be an issue. Conditioning and playing with some energy would not be an issue. Play calling is another story, but it would look more competent that this!

Titans are as dead as we have ever been, but we’re at the point where we just have to watch Cam Ward’s development. As long as he continues to improve and stay healthy, we’ll be okay. Will it be with a different coach? As of right now I would say probably. Miss Amy is unpredictable, so he could be fired tomorrow, who knows!

Cam Ward will be fine and he will get better. Callahan hopefully figures it out. And hopefully I can make it to the end of the year without losing my mind.

Haters are fine.

I am dead.

Currently taking queestions.