Titans lose 34-10 to Bills, fall to 1-5

ORCHARD PARK, NY – The Titans made a quarterback change on Sunday.

Unfortunately for the Titans, the results didn't change.

A good start turned into a bad end as the Titans lost 34-10 to the Buffalo Bills.

This dropped Tennessee's season record to 1-5.

“A tale of two halves,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said after the game. “Seems to be the story of our season so far. Find a way to play really well at the start and in the second half we didn't really play well in any phase. We have to find a way to fix this. We went backwards on offense, we had a million mistakes, quarterback hits, all of those things weren't good enough.

“Defensively, I think they scored on every possession in the second half.”

There was a lot of frustration in the Titans locker room after the game.

“Trash,” is how receiver Calvin Ridley described the day. “Not good.”

“The second half was a mess all the way through,” defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said. “Nobody wants to be 1 and 5. I think we all feel the same way: sh*tty. … I think everyone feels the same, from the locker room to the fans. They have the right to feel the way they feel.”…The second half of this game was bad football from the Tennessee Titans.

“We are in a bad situation right now. We just have to try to get out of it.”

Mason Rudolph started at quarterback for the Titans in place of the injured Will Levis.

Levis was among the team's inactives for the competition after persistent issues with his right shoulder continued during a week of practice when he was limited in two of the team's three practices.

Rudoph finished the day 25 of 40 yards for 215 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also lost the ball on a mishandled snap.

Running back Tony Pollard carried the ball 16 times for 61 yards.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns on a day when Buffalo totaled 389 yards on offense.

Behind Rudulph, the Titans started fast and took a 10-0 lead.

The Titans took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter when the veteran quarterback engineered a 13-play, 61-yard drive capped by a 25-yard field goal by Nick Folk.

The Titans extended the lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter on a four-yard touchdown pass from Rudolph to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine that capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive.

But the Bills responded quickly, scoring 34 straight points.

The Titans didn't make things particularly exciting in the second half.

“We got behind the scenes a lot (in the second half),” Rudolph said. “We had penalties on first and second down, negative runs, I missed a few shots. You can’t do that against a good team at home.”

“We have to get everything in order. I don't think it's due to lack of preparation, we just need to implement it. It's back to the drawing board. All you can do is work.”

After a 44-yard pass from Allen to Keon Colemen placed the ball at the Tennessee 11-yard line, the Bills scored on an 11-yard touchdown run by James Cook to make it 10-7 with 10:04 to play End in the second quarter.

Tennessee's defense, playing without cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, was solid early. After a fumbled snap by Rudolph, the defense actually forced the third three-pointer of the first half, keeping the Titans in the lead. The Titans defense forced four three-and-outs in the first half.

Things didn't go nearly as well after halftime, and that's an understatement.

The second half started ominously for the Titans, as Pollard suffered a three-yard loss when the Titans tried 4 yards to gain the ball^Th and 2 from their own 44-yard line.

Six plays later, the Bills took a 14-10 lead with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Allen to receiver Amari Cooper.

Things went downhill from there.

The Bills then extended their lead to 17-10 with 4:12 left in the third quarter thanks to another field goal by Bass, this time from 28 yards.

As the Titans struggled offensively, the defense eventually gave up.

The Bills made it 24-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter with another Allen touchdown pass, this time a four-yard completion to running back Ty Johnson.

Another Bass field goal made it 27-10 with 9:26 left in the game, before Bills running back Ray Davis scored with a 15-yard touchdown run to make it 34-10.

It was the exclamation point on a hard day.

“We’re human, you’re going to get frustrated,” Quandre Diggs said. “There's nothing wrong with being frustrated. You would be frustrated if something didn't go right for you. You need to get to work and figure out what you need to fix.”

The Titans return to action next Sunday against the Lions in Detroit.