Despite a winless start, Tennessee’s retooled offensive line is defying expectations. New faces and emerging starters are finally providing the pocket protection Cam Ward needs to succeed.
The Tennessee Titans have had an awful start to the 2026 season.
They are now 0-3 after losses to the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants. I think people underestimated how good the Jets were. That's understandable.
Geno Smith has looked better than expected, throwing for 783 passing yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Based on how the Jets usually are, it looked like a winnable game for the Titans. Instead, they lost 23-10.
Then, people didn't have much hope for the Titans-Eagles game. I, for one, expected the Titans to get blown out.
Instead, they took an early 7-0 lead after Amani Hooker nearly had a pick-six against Jalen Hurts. The Titans took a team that won a Super Bowl a couple of years ago and almost pulled off the upset, had it not been for an impressive final drive from Hurts and the Eagles' offense.
There was another winnable game in Week 3.
The Titans faced a Giants roster full of key injuries. Jaxson Dart is out for the season with a knee injury, meaning that Jameis Winston is the starting quarterback. Brian Burns, Andrew Thomas and Malik Nabers were dealing with injuries leading up to the game.
It really felt like if there was a game that the Titans could pick up their first win under Robert Saleh, it would be in Week 3 against the Giants.
The Titans lost a sloppy game 12-7 after Cam Ward threw an interception on the Giants' eight-yard line with under 30 seconds to go and two timeouts remaining.
It's been a frustrating season to be a Titans fan so far. There was so much hope and optimism about the team in the offseason, and now the Titans are getting into the meat of their schedule.
It's hard to find anything to feel good about so far, but there is one reason for optimism heading into Week 4.
The offensive line has been a problem ever since Taylor Lewan retired after the 2022 season. The Titans allowed the sixth-most sacks (56) during Ward's rookie year.
They actually lost two offensive line starters in the offseason, as Lloyd Cushenberry and Kevin Zeitler departed the team.
To replace them, the Titans were going to have an offseason position battle for both positions. They brought in Austin Schlottmann and Cordell Volson in free agency and selected Pat Coogan and Fernando Carmona in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Schlottmann won the starting job at center, but the knock on him was that he didn't have much starting experience. Before this season, he had 85 games played with 18 starts.
Then the Titans trusted Carmona after he won the starting right-guard job in the preseason over Volson.
Left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and right tackle J.C. Latham just had inconsistent seasons in 2025.
Yet somehow, the Titans currently have one of the best pass-blocking offensive lines in the NFL. The Titans rank second in pass-blocking efficiency (90.8) in the entire NFL. I'll give you a moment for your jaw to hit the floor.
The Titans have allowed just one sack so far. They've allowed three total pressures this season. Jackson Slater allowed one pressure on Sunday, and Peter Skoronski has allowed two.
This makes Ward's struggles look even worse. We put a lot of blame on the offensive line when Ward made mistakes. Now, it looks like he's the one who has to get better, which is crazy to say, given that the offensive line has been a dumpster fire in recent years.
The job that offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo has done is nothing short of amazing. In just three games, he's done a better job than the so-called offensive-line guru Bill Callahan did in two years with the franchise.
It's going to get tougher for the Titans to keep this up after Carmona's injury on Sunday. He sustained an ankle injury and will be out for the next few weeks. Slater suffered a serious foot injury, and both of them will be on the injured reserve, so they'll be out for at least the next four games.
If this keeps up, it's going to be harder and harder to blame Ward's issues on the offensive line. Something is going to have to change with him now that the offensive line is playing at a more consistent rate when the Titans throw the football.
It's hard to be positive right now, but Bricillo has done a great job so far. It's up to Ward to improve at this point.
