Expectations for Titans' Home Opener vs. Rams

On paper, Tennessee is 0-1, opening the season on a 20-12 loss in a game that provided plenty of opportunities for the Titans to get ahead, even if they came in as considerable underdogs. Nobody likes to lose, and in a league like the NFL, every single loss matters.

Then again, with a rookie quarterback at the helm and new players at different positions across the board, for the Titans to leave Denver - especially considering the Broncos' recent rise in stock - with a single-digit deficit and a chance to turn things around at home the following week, that feels like a win.

The trademark egregious mistakes that often set the Titans back last season were, for the most part, nowhere to be seen in their first game of the new season. It's messy for a team at any stage in a rebuild to find their footing but, thankfully, Tennessee looked like a unit rising out of those ashes. Cam Ward, while he didn't throw a touchdown, avoided an interception in his first NFL start and managed to eclipse 100 yards passing in a hostile road environment. He managed to connect with six different receivers in total.

Defensively, the Titans came away with two interceptions to boot, one of which coming by way of the recently resigned Xavier Woods. So while they couldn't quite manage a victory, much is to be proud of for a team that was lucky to keep the scoreboard in single digits last season. All the same, if the Titans want to keep this season from getting out of hand like the aforementioned last one, they'll still have to hope for some changes from this week to the next.

Perhaps the biggest of the bunch is delivering on the offense's clear potential. The flashes Ward showed in week one will have to come to fruition at some point in order for his team to flourish. Unfortunately for him, the Rams will be coming into town with a consistently top-rated pass defense in the league. Los Angeles makes it hard to score.

But if the Titans defense can continue to disrupt, there are much worse problems for a football team than waiting on your highly-touted rookie to break through. It may end up being a matter of patience for the Tennessee faithful, but with weapons like Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett, Ward won't have to look far for breakout options on his offense. The Rams struggled relatively to score at home in their week one win over the Texans (14-9), too, providing a glimmer of hope that their trip to Nissan Stadium may yield similar, if not lesser, results.

Only time will tell where Ward and his offensive crew ends up, but if week one is any indication, they'll be the key to unlocking this team's full current potential.

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