NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans are saying all the right things heading into a Week 1 home matchup with the New York Jets. The question, as always, is whether they can back up the talk.

Another new roster, and another new coaching staff. This is the second staff Tennessee has hired in three seasons. 

The Titans offensive line has been a unit awash in disaster since 2020, when right tackle Jack Conklin left in free agency after the team’s AFC Championship run. Every attempt to rebuild the group through the draft and free agency has fallen short. With right tackle JC Latham, left tackle Peter Skoronski now under contract long-term, and rookie Fernando Carmona stepping in as the starting right guard, Tennessee is banking on this being the year the offensive line finally turns the corner.

JC Latham’s mentality is exactly what the Titans need

Latham, the former seventh overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, spoke in the locker room on Monday about a switch that flipped for the Titans offensive line this offseason.

“This offseason, just, I mean, I think we all kind of did a moment of self-reflecting,” said Latham when asked about the unit’s more aggressive attitude. “If we want to be the offensive line that we know we can be. We can’t be no pushovers. We can’t be nobody’s b***, just being completely honest. All the late hits or all the extra stuff that defenses kind of do to kind of try to bully the offense. If we want to be what we know we can be, we can’t stand for that. So, you know, that kind of switch kind of flipped. 

“One of the times in training camp and it really kind of lit a fire under all of us was we ran a play where Fernando (Carmona) was out in space and he was on Alontae (Taylor). He was blocking his ass off. It was like 40 yards down the field. To this point, ball’s out, but Fernando’s still finishing. And he gets into it with Tae, and we’re all like turning back to the huddle. And, you know, Coach pointed out that if any of us gets into it, we’re all getting into it. We’re all stepping up.

“And I kind of— we all kind of felt that kind of fire that lit under us, that not only was that a moment that we needed to have our guys back, but that was one of our rookies, you know what I mean? That moment solidified like, ‘Hey, if anybody picks on us, like we all got to step for each other.’  Those moments for sure every single day of like, you just can’t go for no bulls***.”

That is exactly the kind of approach you used to associate with the Tennessee Titans. 

That mentality, that nastiness, that refusal to be pushed around. Whether Latham and this offensive line can back it up is a question Week 1 will begin to answer.

Tennessee hosts New York in Week 1. 

We will find out quickly whether this offensive line’s new mentality is real or just another round of the right words without the results to match.