After a demoralizing collapse against the Jets, center Austin Schlottmann insists Tennessee can rediscover its preseason spark before facing a high-powered Eagles roster in Nashville.
All of the hope and optimism surrounding the Tennessee Titans seemed to disappear on Sunday.
In a game that felt like one the Titans could win, they fell flat against the New York Jets. The Titans' defense made 35-year-old Geno Smith look like a Pro Bowler.
He didn't even throw a touchdown pass in the 23-10 loss. He finished with 215 passing yards and only missed five passes on the day.
After the game, Smith said he wasn't touched by the Titans' defensive line, which is just the worst thing you can hear from an opposing quarterback after a loss like that.
Plenty of fans are ready to give up on the team after that loss, which is understandable. The Jets haven't been to the playoffs since 2010, and the Titans couldn't score a touchdown on them until the final three minutes of the game.
It's hard to find hope with this team right now, but center Austin Schlottmann still believes.
He spoke to the media on Monday and said the team could still look the way they did in the offseason.
"Yeah, I don't know if I have an exact answer for you as to why, but I think we've put in a ton of work, starting back in April. We've done some really good things in that time and it didn't show up yesterday. Some of it did, some of it didn't. But we know that we can be that team that built those good things throughout that time. We can get to that. We just, like I said, we just got to keep working. We got to attack this week. We got to make a good plan. We got to have good practices and be ready to go."
The Titans will have to improve greatly to have a chance of beating the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles just beat the Washington Commanders 24-22 after stopping a two-point conversion in the final minute of the game.
What's going to be even tougher is slowing down running back Saquon Barkley. The three-time Pro Bowler is a problem for whatever defense he faces.
Then, Schlottmann and the offensive line have to worry about keeping Jordan Davis in check, who just signed a massive extension shortly after the Titans gave Jeffery Simmons one.
The Eagles present a lot of problems for the Titans. We'll see if this team can rise to the challenge or fail again at home.
Kickoff is at noon CT on Fox from Nissan Stadium.
