NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Tennessee Titans are days away from completing their home schedule for the season when they host the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The matchup presents another opportunity for Tennessee to manage back-to-back wins for the first time since 2022. Beyond the immediate goal, the game offers a chance to build the foundation for the future.
Related: Titans defeat Chiefs 26-9, securing first home win of season
“You get to see what guys can do early. You get a sense of their first year, what they’re really good at, and what we also got to work on,” said QB Cam Ward. “So there’s been highs and lows throughout the whole season for each one on this team. And that’s the best thing about it, as we start to get better individually and get better playing together. We start to just know the little things that we have to do to continue to be successful.”
The focus extends beyond this season’s final games. Players are emphasizing the importance of establishing expectations for next year.
“You know I’m expecting a lot of guys to be back here. When you can build that confidence, you can build the kind of standard that we want to play with going forward. That’s what we’ve been talking about,” said defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. “How do we want to finish now these last two games to set the tempo, kind of, and set the standard going into this offseason, training camp and then next season.”
Sunday’s game will feature another matchup between rookie quarterbacks. The Saints’ second-round pick, Tyler Shough, is coming off a 300-yard passing performance. Wide receiver Chris Olave was targeted 16 times in their victory.
The Titans’ defense will need to focus on Olave to succeed against a team riding a three-game win streak.
“I mean he’s their main threat outside, they’re going to try to feed him the ball. He has good yak, fast guy. He can take the top off the defense, we have to make sure we know where he is,” said Amani Hooker.
Darrell Baker Jr. acknowledged the Saints’ recent momentum.
“They might have caught their flow just like us, so we just have to do our job, stay disciplined, make sure our hands, eyes and feet are right, communicate, and we will like our outcome,” he said.
James Williams Sr. added, “He’s a great athlete, he’s a guy that’s understanding the system, now that they’re getting a little wins in, so it’s going to be a good test for us upfront and we’ll just be us.”
The defense will need to adjust in the secondary once again. Interim Head Coach Mike McCoy announced that cornerback Marcus Harris is out for the year with a knee injury.
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