MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Tennessee mustered up only 134 yards on offense, dropping the first game of the season to the Denver Broncos.
The Titans, led by number one overall draft pick Cam Ward, faced a tough first opponent led by Bo Nix, Sean Payton, and one of the best defenses in the league.
First Quarter
The aforementioned defense stuffed the first two plays for the Titans behind the line.
On the first third down of the season, Ward tossed a shovel pass to Tony Pollard for a long 29-yard completion.
The big play would set up a 50 field goal for Joey Slye.
On Denver’s first drive, Bo Nix would carve up the Titans’ secondary and bring the ball deep into Titans’ territory.
The Tennessee pass defense would step up and force a couple of completions, leading to the Broncos settling for a field goal to tie the score up at three.
The Titans had a nice drive going, but two massive holding penalties (holding on LT Dan Moore and illegal formation on the O-Line) would end the possession after five plays.
Denver would have a nice drive going once again as Bo Nix completed 8 passes in the first 15, that was until the first big mistake of the game.
Nix threw a deep pass that was intended for Courtland Sutton but was intercepted by Roger McCreary to give the Titans the ball to end the quarter.
Second Quarter
Titan’s fans fell back in a sigh of sorrow after four plays into the quarter, when Talanoa Hufunga came in like a missile and hit stick Tony Pollard for a fumble recovered by Denver.
Thankfully, the defense for Tennessee would step up, forcing a three-and-out.
The Titans’ offense continued to struggle with punting yet again on the next drive, but the defense would force another turnover from Bo Nix.
Jeffrey Simmons would break through the pocket and ram Nix into the ground, causing him to lose the football, which was recovered by Sebastian Joseph-Day.
With the ball at Denver’s 38, the Titans wanted to get seven rather than three with the great field position.
Sadly, that would not be the case as Ward and Pollard would drive it all the way to the three-yard line before a third-down sack brought back up Slye for another field goal.
After stopping Nix from scoring in the final moments of the quarter, Ward and the Titans could have had the chance to tack on some more points, but the pass rush stumped the Titans.
Running the Titans back to their one-yard line forced them to punt, giving Denver the ball inside the 40.
After a defensive holding penalty on Jarvis Brownless, the Titans would give up an easy touchdown down the field to Sutton to bring the score to 10-6.
Chimere Dike would provide a spark at the end of the first half to Tennessee, running it 71 yards to set up a 42-yard field goal for Slye, who would knock it in to make it 10-9 going into halftime.
Third Quarter
If the first half said anything about the Titans, it was that the defense would lead the team this season.
That held true as the secondary stole Bo Nix’s lunch money again with an interception by Xavier Woods.
The Titans, despite excellent field position, would be stopped on third down yet again, settling for another field goal from Slye.
Denver would have their longest drive of the game, going 13 plays down the field, leading to a field goal for Will Lutz.
With just over four minutes left in the third quarter, six field goals and just one touchdown have been scored in the defensive slugfest.
Penalties continued to shoot the Titans in the foot, piling up eight before the final quarter. Mistakes led to a punt after a six-play drive that registered negative four yards.
Fourth Quarter
Both teams would trade punts, but when the Titans punted the ball to Denver, Marvin Mims would muff the punt, and the Titans’ special teams jumped on it, giving them the ball at the Broncos’ 24-yard line.
Denver’s pass rush would once again give the Titans O-line issues, giving up back-to-back sacks, knocking them out of field goal range, leading to another punt.
Denver’s offense would kick it into a new gear after a big 50-yard run by RJ Harvey and JK Dobbins, with his own 19-yard run, punching it in for a touchdown.
Denver would go up 20-12 after the extra point.
After a disappointing 3 and out, the Titans entered desperation mode with seven minutes left in the game.
Denver would get stopped on a fourth down, giving the Titans the ball with five minutes left at midfield.
Nothing would come from this as the Titans would punt yet again after yet another three-and-out drive.
Denver would start to get their offense clicking again with multiple first downs to start their drive as Tennessee starts burning its timeouts.
The Titans would eventually get a fourth-down stop that was overturned after an unnecessary roughness penalty was called on Jeffrey Simmons.
Denver would run the clock out to a minute left and burn all of the Titans’ timeouts.
Cam Ward would get the ball at the 36-yard line but a costly drop from Calvin Ridley and heavy pressure from Denver led to a three and out giving Denver the ball to run out the clock.
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