The Tennessee Titans suffered a heartbreaker on Sunday, falling to the Houston Texans 16-13 in Week 11 action.
Once Matthew Wright’s final kick sailed through the goalposts, attention turned back to the Titans and the unforced penalties that hampered their offensive effort against the Texans’ stout defense. The biggest culprit was second-year offensive tackle JC Latham, who not only had his hands full with the Texans’ dynamic edge unit, but he also struggled with the snap count and racked up an unacceptable three false start penalties.
After the game, Latham was asked about the miscues and offered an interesting explanation.
“Yeah, man, it’s frustrating. We had four false starts in practice on Friday, but the cadence just felt different out there today.” Latham said, “I don’t know if it was the crowd noise or just how Cam was calling it in the huddle— I jumped the gun three times. It’s unacceptable, especially at home. Gotta lock it in better, get back to work tomorrow.”
Latham is correct; his penalties were unacceptable. Not just because the Titans were home at Nissan Stadium, but because it continued an undisciplined trend that dates back to the start of the Brian Callahan regime in Nashville. Tennessee has been one of the most penalized teams over the past two seasons and has shown little improvement in that regard.
While Cam Ward also spoke to the issue after the game and took responsibility, the fact remains that Latham must be better and locked in from the start. Tennessee has invested heavily in the offensive line, including drafting Latham in the first round, and has not seen much improvement, especially from Latham, who was drafted to be a foundational piece, not an anchor holding them back.