September 12, 2023 – The Tennessee Titans (0-1) play their first home game of the regular season this week against the Los Angeles Chargers (0-1). The contest will be the 200th combined regular season and postseason game at Nissan Stadium (69,143), which opened in 1999 and begins its 25th season as the home of the Titans. Kickoff is scheduled for noon CDT on Sunday, Sept. 17.
The Titans and Chargers will renew their rivalry for the second consecutive season and for the fourth time since Mike Vrabel was hired as head coach by the Titans in 2018. The Chargers won two of the three previous battles, including a 2018 matchup in London and last season’s contest at SoFi Stadium. The Titans won the most recent game at Nissan Stadium, a memorable 23-20 finish in 2019 that also marked quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s first start for the team and defensive tackle *Jeffery Simmons’ *first NFL game.
THE BROADCAST
The contest will be regionally televised on CBS, including Nashville affiliate WTVF NewsChannel 5, as well as on Paramount+ in the Nashville market. The broadcast team includes play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy,analysts James Lofton *and *Jay Feely, and reporter Tiffany Blackmon.
Fans in Nashville can stream live Titans games on mobile devices with NFL+, which offers access to local games and all primetime games on phones and tablets. More information on ways to watch NFL games can be found here.
The Titans Radio Network and Nashville flagship 104.5 The Zone carry all Titans games across the Mid-South with the “Voice of the Titans” Mike Keith, analyst Dave McGinnis, sideline reporter Ramon Foster and gameday host Rhett Bryan.
LAST WEEK AT NEW ORLEANS
The Titans launched their regular season last week with a trip to New Orleans and fell by a final score of 16-15. Kicker Nick Folk provided the only scoring of the day for the Titans, connecting on five field goals. The Saints’ one touchdown against the Titans defense, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, broke a 9-9 tie in the third quarter and proved to be the difference in the contest.
Running back Derrick Henry recorded a game-high 119 scrimmage yards, including 63 yards on the ground and 56 yards as a receiver. It was his 43rd career game with at least 100 scrimmage yards. He needs 177 more rushing yards to pass Earl Campbell (8,574) for second place on the team’s all-time rushing list behind Eddie George (10,009).
The Titans defense accumulated four sacks—all in the first half. Defensive lineman Denico Autry and outside linebacker Arden Key shared the team lead with 1.5 sacks apiece. Additionally, the Titans defense allowed only 69 rushing yards against the Saints to record the team’s seventh consecutive game dating back to last season without allowing 100 total rushing yards, which is the longest active streak of its kind in the NFL.
Tennessee used 22 players who appeared in their first game in a Titans uniform. That total included six offensive starters (tight end Trevon Wesco, left tackle Andre Dillard, left guard Peter Skoronski, right guard Daniel Brunskill, right tackle Chris Hubbard and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins) and a pair of defensive starters (linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting). The number did not include four additional rookies who were inactive.
THE CHARGERS
The Chargers hosted the Miami Dolphins in Week 1. Despite the Chargers rushing for 234 yards and three touchdowns, including *Austin Ekeler’s *117 yards and a score, the Dolphins prevailed by a final score of 36-34.
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