Titans had shockingly bad stat line in Week 1 loss to Broncos

The Cam Ward era did not get off to a great start for the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Their offense struggled to move the ball and capitalize on some Denver Broncos mistakes in a 20-12 loss while also posting one of the worst single-game stat lines of the Week 1 schedule. 

Stats from Tennessee Titans season opener were shocking

Not only did the Titans put just 12 points on the board, they also managed just 133 total yards of offense. 

That alone is a problem, but what makes it even worse is the Titans almost matched that yardage total in penalty yards, finishing the game with 131 penalty yards on 13 accepted penalties. 

That combination of bad offense and undisciplined play is a losing combination against any team, and especially so on the road against a playoff team from a year ago. 

Cam Ward struggled in debut

This was always going to be a challenge for Ward. Not only was he playing his first game in the NFL, which is always tough, but he was also going up against a top defense from a year ago and in one of the toughest environments to play in the NFL given the altitude and crowd. 

Ward finished the day completing just 12-of-28 passes for 112 yards (only four yards per attempt) with zero touchdowns. He also took six sacks in the game, including two extremely costly ones late in the fourth quarter when the Titans had a chance to take the lead following a fumbled Denver punt. 

The Titans offensive line struggled to protect him while the wide receivers simply lacked any sort of game-breaking ability to help him out. Ward is an outstanding talent with a promising future in the NFL, but he joined a team that tied for the worst record in the league a year ago. There are going to be a lot of things to fix and it will take time. Patience is going to be a must for the Titans and their fans.