The Tennessee Titans were absolutely abysmal in Week 3, losing 12-7 to the New York Giants. Quarterback Cam Ward threw an indefensible interception on 1st-and-goal from the 7-yard line. Ward escaped the pocket and could have ran for a short gain with two timeouts remaining. Instead, he forced the ball into Giants safety Jevon Holland.
It wasn't Ward's only glaring miscue of the afternoon. He had two previous would-be interceptions dropped. There was a wide-open TD missed to Carnell Tate. Ward did some great things throughout the third and fourth quarters, but he'll rightfully be criticized for the errors.
We have five instant reactions from the Titans' latest shortcoming.
5 instant takeaways from the Titans' pathetic 12-7 Week 3 loss to the Giants
Cam Ward's unacceptable misses
Trailing 12-0, the Titans finally put a drive together on their opening possession of the third quarter. Facing a 3rd-and-goal after a near interception, quarterback Cam Ward missed a wide-open Carnell Tate. It was an unacceptable miss from a sophomore No. 1 overall pick in a gotta-have-it situation. Robert Saleh rolled the dice on fourth down, and Ward fired off a third straight incomplete pass. A 12-play, 68-yard drive resulted in zero points and kept the Titans in an insurmountable 12-0 hole.
Later, the Titans got the ball back down 12-7 with 3:03 remaining. Ward completed several impressive passes, getting the offense to 1st-and-goal at the 7-yard line with 24 seconds left. That's when Ward made an unforgivable error. Panicking under pressure, he threw the game-losing INT to Holland. It was horrendous, considering it was first-and-goal with multiple timeouts left.
Special teams... not so special?
The Titans were terrible last season, but could at least hang their hat on special teams being excellent. That hasn't been the case thus far this campaign. Kicker Joey Slye has had kickoff issues, and punter Tommy Townsend has had punting issues. On Sunday, Chimere Dike fumbled the opening kickoff, marking his second lost fumble in three games. Dike was All-Pro as a rookie returner, so his early-season start has been shocking. As a unit, they were whistled for four penalties (three accepted).
Zero offense in Brian Daboll's return to MetLife Stadium
The weather conditions undeniably played a role, but the Titans' offense was abysmal throughout the first half. Minus the Dike fumble on the opening kickoff, the offense went three-and-out on five consecutive possessions. The sixth finally produced a first down, but concluded with a missed 59-yard kick that allowed the Giants offense to take advantage of positive field position. They totaled 54 yards in the first two quarters. By comparison, the Giants produced eight first downs and 135 total yards with their backup quarterback in the opening half. Unacceptable.
Titans lose rookie RG Fernando Carmona to injury
Titans rookie right guard Fernando Carmona suffered an injury on the team's opening possession. He was eventually downgraded to OUT at halftime with an ankle injury designation. Carmona had been a positive story for a winless team. He was replaced by sophomore Jackson Slater. We await an update on the severity.
Questionable clock management
Coach Saleh had his fair share of clock management gaffes with the New York Jets, and a few turned heads on Sunday. Late in the second quarter, the Giants ran a surrender play on third down. Trailing 6-0, the Titans desperately needed the ball back to string something together, yet Saleh waited approximately 10 seconds before calling an obvious timeout. In the second half, the Titans had to burn a critical timeout because they somehow had 10 defenders on the field after a Giants timeout.
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