Titans Training Camp Notebook: Starting offense struggles to put their money where their mouth is, another kicker problem?

The Titans players, coaches, and executives have spoken to us all offseason long about the hard work they’ve done to, no pun intended, tighten up this ship. “You are what you emphasize”, they’ve… well, emphasized. And so they’ve worked hard to foster leadership and accountability through their custom offseason program. They’ve done extensive research on all the “Self-Inflicted Negatives”, or SINs, they committed last season. And they’ve done everything in their power to weed out these sloppy inefficiencies in their game.

That’s all really good stuff. Now, do it! And today at practice, in the final couple of periods, the old sloppy Titans reared their ugly head a bit.

The first team led by Cam Ward took to the field to start a redzone period, something the team really hasn’t done much of so far in camp. 1st & 10 from the 20 yard line. Two penalties later, it’s suddenly 1st & 25 from the 35. They scratch and claw their way back down to set up a 4th & 4, which results in Ward probably being sacked, a reception that gets tackled short of the sticks, and a holding penalty on the offensive line that wipes any of that junk out anyways. It was gross.

The 2nd and 3rd teams got their shot, and it went better for them. The highlight of that period was a Tim Boyle touchdown to rookie Elic Ayomanor on a go ball up the sideline. Elic had a very nice day, by the way. He’s good at this. When the starters got another crack at it, they settled for a FG. Cam was ruled down for a “sack” on the play that would’ve put them in position to keep driving. To cap off an ugly finish to an otherwise good day for the offense, Ward threw a perfect ball to Ridley deep, dropped gently into a bucket, and it was dropped. Groans rang out across the grounds.

Now, what does all of this mean exactly? It’s not some big cause for panic. We’re talking about one tough drop and two lackluster redzone drill drives. But these are hallmarks of the terrible 2024 Titans, and more importantly, the exact things that made them terrible in the first place. It’s what they’ve worked so hard to weed out. I’ll be looking for them to get these self-inflicted issues in order in the coming weeks. Brian Callahan’s tenure can’t endure another season of pure slop.