NASHVILLE – The Titans lost 27-20 to the Chargers on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Here’s a look at six things that stood out in the contest:
Rookie Chimere Dike once again provided a spark for the Titans, with a big play. Dike returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter of Sunday’s contest. Dike caught the ball, made a Charger player miss in the middle of the field, and then scooted to his right and down the sideline en route to the end zone. “I knew it was a touchdown,” Dike said. “I’m more happy for our unit. We talk about it all the time. So, those guys work their tail off for me every Sunday. Finally do my job and finish off the run and get into the endzone.” It was the team’s first punt return touchdown since Darius Reynaud had two against Jacksonville on Dec. 30, 2012.
Titans linebacker Cody Barton made a big play himself. Early in the first quarter, Barton stepped in front of a pass thrown by Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, and he intercepted it. Barton raced 24 yards the other way for the score, which gave Tennessee an early 7-0 lead. “When you get a play like that, it just energizes the whole team,” Barton said. “And we used that to our advantage, because shortly after we had the punt return for a touchdown.”
I led off with a touchdown on special teams, and another touchdown on defense. The offense, meanwhile, managed just two field goals on the day. Why? Well, going 1-of-9 (11.1%) on third down proved to be the biggest road block, but penalties didn’t help the cause either. The Titans managed just 206 yards and 10 first downs on the day. The Titans tried some trickery, and plays out of the Wildcat, but they didn’t work. “I’m really disappointed, especially because we know that’s the biggest problem,” quarterback Cam Ward said of the offense. “We have to execute on drives and we didn’t. So, special teams, defense, they did their jobs today and put us in a situation to win. Offensively, we didn’t do enough to win.”
Midway through the third quarter, the Titans had a first-and-goal at the Chargers eight-yard line. The offense got it to the Los Angeles one, with a third-and-goal. But running back Tony Pollard was stopped short of the goal line on back-to-back plays, and the game remained 20-17 Los Angeles. On their ensuing possession, the Chargers put together a 15-play, 99-yard drive that was capped off with a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Justin Herbert. Instead of the Titans going up 24-20, they found themselves trailing 27-17. “The big turning point, obviously, is getting stopped on the one-yard line and then letting the big drive go down there and score,” interim coach Mike McCoy said. “So that’s the difference.”
After the game, McCoy pointed to the penalties, which I was tracking early on myself. The Titans committed seven penalties for 60 yards in the first half, on offense, defense, and special teams. While the team cleaned up its act in the second half, when they didn’t commit a penalty, the yellow flags early once again made things more difficult for a team already struggling. “We had some self-inflicted wounds during the game,” McCoy said. “Penalties, certain things. You’ve got to eliminate that, and we had not had that problem the last two weeks. False start penalties, things like that, that’s what gets you beat and makes it that much harder to win a football game and be successful in situational football.”
The Titans swarmed Herbert during the game, sacking him six times and hitting him on 11 occasions in the contest. Edge rusher Jihad Ward was credited with 2.5 sacks and four QB hits while Dre’Mont Jones tallied 1.5 sacks and four QB pressures himself. Jones now has at least one sack in four straight games. Defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day and linebacker Cedric Gray also tallied sacks for the Titans. “From pressuring them to hitting them, to sacking them, I thought we did good from top to bottom,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, the biggest thing of them all, we did not win. And I want to win so damn bad because I mean we deserve more than one win. We work our butts off every week. I know we’re capable. We just got to do it.”
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