Callahan directly lost the game

[Justafan]

After having a night to sleep on it, I'm even more concerned by what happened yesterday. It was a despicable loss and there is no sugar coating it. The Broncos were terrible and the Titans needed to take advantage. Instead, the coach sabotaged the team.

 

They were ultra conservative early, a strategy that backfired. Callahan's playcalling lacks urgency. Ward needs momentum and confidence. Instead, they cut his legs out from under him.

 

The sequencing of calls - including the pass, pass, pass sequence before the half that gave the Broncos the ball back without having to use a single timeout with 1:00 left on the clock and being backed up to your own goal line is one of the dumbest things I've seen from a HC in recent memory. Horrible. 

 

13 penalties for 131 yards, giving up 5 free first downs and sabotaging your own offensive drives screams of a poorly coached team that lacks discipline. They were just as bad last year and while they have an aggressive defense, you can't blame what happened yesterday on playing aggressive. It was STUPID.

 

The entire team looked disjointed and unprepared. The revamped offensive line looked completely overwhelmed. The WRs looked incapable of catching a pass. The defense generated FOUR turnovers and they scored 12 points. 

 

I was told all off season that Callahan grew last season and was fine. I was told it was Will Levis and the roster, not Callahan that was the problem last year. The same excuses that were made for Colt Anderson last year were also made for Callahan this offseason. 

Edited September 8, 2025 by Justafan

[ctm]

The penalties are on the players not the coaches, imo.  The WR drops are also on the players.

[BTiger3733]

Callahan has a lot of Mariota in him

[Titanstattoo25]

The end of half sequence was terrible but my biggest issue with that was after 1st and 2nd down went so horribly, why are you still aggressive on 3rd down?  Moore could’ve been called for holding in the end zone on 2nd down but you still want to risk it again on the 3rd down? Cut bait!

[AussieTitanFan08]

What we can't have against the Rams in a home game is the repeat of all the operational issues where Callahan was late getting the play call in, Ward simply needs to be given more time to get out of the huddle and able to have a longer look at the defense.

[AvgJoe]

Brian Callahan has no rhythm as a play caller or feel for the game. He seems like a good guy and I wish it would work out for him, but he looks and acts completely overwhelmed. 

[Justafan]

34 minutes ago, ctm said:

The penalties are on the players not the coaches, imo.  The WR drops are also on the players.

Of course some of this is true and there are shades of gray as well but when it’s a pattern across the entire team over a long stretch of time it points to a poorly coached team. 
 

im not absolving the players or saying there aren’t issues with the roster. 

[Justafan]

5 minutes ago, AussieTitanFan08 said:

What we can't have against the Rams in a home game is the repeat of all the operational issues where Callahan was late getting the play call in, Ward simply needs to be given more time to get out of the huddle and able to have a longer look at the defense.

This. We have to see progress going forward. Yesterday was unacceptable for the entire team. Yes, they lost to a better team who made things difficult and they should get their credit too, but the Titans shot themselves in the foot so many times. 

[Alcibiades]

There are only two things I miss about Vrabel. One is that in a close game, he would have run the ball when we were in FG range after the muffed punt and made sure we at least got a FG. He would not put his rookie QB in that position. Two, he knew the rules...every time. He even used them to get advantages sometimes. I'm not saying I want Vrabel back. He was flawed in so many ways. But those two things would have won us the game. 

 

Still, I expected the L here. Denver may have the best defense in the league (Seriously...they are very good). And we have a rookie QB and an OL that is still coming together (and an LT that is average at best). 

[japan]

8 hours ago, ChesterCopperpot1 said:

We could’ve run the clock out. That was the right call. We should’ve run it 3 times, killed the clock, went to the locker room with a 6-3 lead. It’s really quite simple. 

Of course.  This defense had been teeing off on Ward the whole 2nd quarter.

[japan]

10 minutes ago, AussieTitanFan08 said:

What we can't have against the Rams in a home game is the repeat of all the operational issues where Callahan was late getting the play call in, Ward simply needs to be given more time to get out of the huddle and able to have a longer look at the defense.

Let Ward call his own plays!

[AussieTitanFan08]

Just now, japan said:

Of course.  This defense had been teeing off on Ward the whole 2nd quarter.

 

With Latham exiting the game today moving about as well as my 76 old dad who has had a knee replacement I'm legit concerned for Ward with the prospect of Udoh at RT up against Verse next weekend.

 

Through no fault of his own Ward is going to have to speed up his processing or risk getting absolutely blasted by that Rams pass rush.

[ctm]

7 minutes ago, Justafan said:

Of course some of this is true and there are shades of gray as well but when it’s a pattern across the entire team over a long stretch of time it points to a poorly coached team. 
 

im not absolving the players or saying there aren’t issues with the roster. 

 

One play at a time.  Simmons' stupid shove is on him.  Ridley's drops the same.  If you want to talk about the playcalling before the half, then Callahan.

[japan]

1 minute ago, AussieTitanFan08 said:

 

With Latham exiting the game today moving about as well as my 76 old dad who has had a knee replacement I'm legit concerned for Ward with the prospect of Udoh at RT up against Verse next weekend.

 

Through no fault of his own Ward is going to have to speed up his processing or risk getting absolutely blasted by that Rams pass rush.

Definitely.  We saw both sides of the Ward 'drifting' strategy in the game yesterday.  Sometimes you get him drifting back to the endzone then finding a wide open Ridley for a big first down.  Other side of the coin he knocks you out of FG range with two bad 'drift' sacks.

[japan]

2 minutes ago, ctm said:

 

One play at a time.  Simmons' stupid shove is on him.  Ridley's drops the same.  If you want to talk about the playcalling before the half, then Callahan.

Simmons shove was incredibly stupid and troubling, but it didn't matter in the scheme of things with how the game played out.  Ridley's drops? Not so much...