Quick Thoughts: Titans Down 49ers, 19-13
It's past midnight and we're still reacting to that Titans win in San Francisco.
Man, it feels good to be back. I’m sitting here as the clock approaches midnight with a candle lit, a bit of brown water in a glass, and a football game to digest. It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve done this, yet here we are…on the brink of another season. I digress. For the first time in roughly seven months, we have some new Titans football action to break down!
That said, I’m tired as fuck and have a warm bed and a soft pillow calling my name. So, we’re going to do this stream-of consciousness style with my initial thoughts. I’ll review the tape, maybe I’ll write about a play/player or two, but otherwise, I’ll get back with y’all on Tuesday evening for Football & Other F Words.
Important reminder: this is all tape study pending…I don’t know when the all-22 drops, but I’ll review it and reserve the right to change my mind once I get a better look at the game than the broadcast copy provides.
Titans-Niners Stream of Consciousness
It didn’t feel great. I get it. The passing game still clearly has a long way to go in terms of chemistry and timing, something that has carried over from last season. Many will say the first team defense looked underwhelming (more on that in a minute). And, it wasn’t the inspired brand of football we were hoping to see after training camp reports made it feel like this team was ready to turn the corner. What this week has really been is a cold splash of water to our faces and a long hard look in the mirror. This front office did some major roster rebuilding in the offseason, but tonight was a reminder that while there’s some quality pieces to build around on this roster, there’s still plenty of work to do. Without some of their impact players, the quality of play cratered after the first team guys left the field. It was a reminder that this roster is still quite thin. It was also a reminder that sometimes things take time to jell. It made me feel like the 2026 may hinge upon how quickly the Titans can build that chemistry. But, at the same time, I just never felt the same panic that some of the social media crashouts did.
For one, that opening drive was run porn. I mean, that 95-yarder that concluded with Tony Pollard punching it in the end zone had me pounding my chest. It wasn’t perfect, and again, it’s hard to process in real time from the broadcast copy, but it had me wanting to tweet some incredibly reckless things about this offensive line. Those guys played with attitude, they played well, and they asserted themselves on the 49ers backups. Fernando Carmona is the guy I’m most excited to watch, but in real time, I thought Dan Moore and JC Latham played pretty well.
I think the defense is just going to look funky to us for quite some time. It’s such a stark contrast from Dennard Wilson’s, we may just have to get used to how it looks. They want to stick to that four-man front and run zone coverages behind it. It may look wonky when four guys get after the quarterback and everyone else drops out of the frame of the television, but that’s how it functions. Four men rush. Everyone else drops and then works back to the play as needed. That simple. The weakness of this defense is that if your four-man front doesn’t get home, quarterbacks can sit back and carve up the weak spots between the zones with those digs and other in-breaking routes. We saw San Francisco do that tonight. Such an aggressive front is also susceptible against the run, which we saw on a few plays tonight too. If you want to see how truly bad it can get, go watch how the Seattle Seahawks carved up Robert Saleh’s defense in the playoffs last year. Where Saleh likes to change things up is on 3rd down (where we saw some DB blitzes and a mugged-up linebacker or two) and in the red zone. That’s where the Titans defense bowed up tonight, and I think it’s how this defense will live - the quintessential “bend but don’t break” unit. It’s a personnel-proof a scheme as I’ve studied, but that also doesn’t mean you can just take guys like you and me off our fat asses and put ‘em on the field and it’ll run just fine. What got the 49ers in trouble down the stretch is the injury bug. If you don’t have the horses to pressure the quarterback and stop the run, it can obviously have an exponential impact on the rest of the defense. That’s where I felt like the first team was alright, and will only get better with time and getting the full vision of the personnel group together.
So, big picture-wise, the reason I never felt truly panicked about how this game went sideways is because I think the first quarter or so painted an accurate depiction of what we’ve thought this team would be for a few weeks now: a team that’s going to play sound schematic defense and run the ball on offense while the chemistry develops in the passing game. And, that’s what I saw tonight.
It wasn’t pretty for Cam Ward. He still struggles on those slants and timing-based in-breaking routes. That’s something I pointed out on his Miami tape, and tonight made my stomach turn a bit thinking it hasn’t really gotten much better since then. More so, it’s his tendency to get a little jittery if the pocket isn’t perfect. He missed a few throws tonight, and it seemed like he wanted to bail from the pocket the moment he sensed the slightest bit of pressure. It’s preseason game one - let’s not push the panic button just yet. However, it shouldn’t be cast aside as nothing either. It was objectively an underwhelming performance from a player we’re expecting (maybe more “hoping”) to see a major leap from in 2026.
Cor’Dale Flott drew the ire of Titans Twitter tonight, and I’ll say it was a surprise to see him struggle the way that he did, but I also don’t want to beat up on him too much right now without being able to watch the tape. I’ll always remind you guys that receiver and corner might be the two hardest positions to really evaluate from the broadcast copy.
If the attitude of the offensive line wasn’t enough, look at what this team has in the running back room between Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears and tell me this team isn’t built to run the ball. Nicholas Singleton had some explosive chunk runs tonight too - imagine if this unit goes three deep behind a nasty offensive line (and stays healthy ‘cause there ain’t shit behind ‘em). This could be a battering ram offense.
Something was up with tackling at times tonight - Cody Barton pulled up on a dead-to-rights sack and Marcus Harris pulled up at the sideline. That was weird. Were guys just tentative because it’s the preseason? Or, do we need to rep this shit in practice?
Femi Oladejo played a TON of snaps tonight, and good for him. He certainly looks the part, and this defense should streamline his responsibilities and allow him to play faster. That should be a good thing for him. I’m excited to watch how he stacks days after tonight.
I hope they got all of David Martin-Robinson’s brain matter off the field after that insane hit he took.
Man, I don’t think it’s a good sign for Cordell Volson that he was playing so late into this thing. If I’m basing my opinion on tonight alone, it’s hard not to see Carmona as this team’s starting right guard, which would’ve felt insane to say a few weeks ago.
I desperately needed a bomb to Tyren Montgomery to save my night, and it didn’t happen. What’s going on there?
Other guys that stood out to me tonight that I’m excited to watch the tape on: James Williams, Mani Powell, Jalyn Holmes, Malik Herring.
Will Levis ain’t gonna do much to improve his trade value, is he? Shit. Fuck.