Titans keep losing as coach Brian Callahan tries to show some progress

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brian Callahan insisted Monday he's busy preparing to coach the Tennessee Titans against the Jacksonville Jaguars, not what controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk thinks of his first season.

“It’s a bottom line business and we’ve got to show progress and we haven’t shown enough,” Callahan said. “I would like to see more and we got two more opportunities to do it."

The Titans have lost four straight after a 38-30 defeat in Indianapolis, dropping the season series to their AFC South foe. They also have lost six of seven to drop to 3-12, putting the franchise two losses from matching the most in a season set in 2014 when the NFL played a 16-game schedule.

Asked if he thinks he will have to make a case to keep his job when this season ends, Callahan said he has no idea.

“My job is to coach the football team and get ready to go play Jacksonville,” Callahan said. “That’s the only thing that I focus on. And anything other than that, is out of my control.”

The Titans played a season-high 10 rookies in Indianapolis. Even with all that youth, they were flagged only four times matching their second-lowest total of the season. That was a huge improvement from the week before when Tennessee was penalized 12 times for 110 yards.

Callahan said every time they try to fix one thing, another issue pops up. Against Indianapolis, the run defense simply disappeared. They gave up 335 yards rushing, the most in franchise history since Oct. 1, 1961. They gave up touchdown runs of 65 and 70 yards to Jonathan Taylor.

A defense that entered Week 16 ranked 12th allowed Taylor to average 7.5 yards per carry and meant Anthony Richardson needed to throw just 11 passes. The Titans gave up 38 consecutive points — the third most allowed in a game all season just a week after giving up 37 in a loss to Cincinnati.

TE Chig Okonkwo. He led the Titans with nine catches and 81 yards receiving — both career highs. He also scored his the second 2-point conversion of his career. He became the first tight end with nine or more receptions in a game since Delanie Walker had nine Nov. 13, 2016, against Green Bay.

Mason Rudolph. Callahan defended the veteran's three interceptions with one going off running back Tony Pollard's hands and the third a last-gasp play to end the game and said he thought Rudolph had a good performance.

That said, Rudolph's numbers are almost a mirror image of the quarterback he replaced. Rudolph has eight touchdown passes and eight interceptions. He's completing 63.8% of his passes and has a 78.8 passer rating. That's nearly the same as Will Levis completing 63.7% of his passes with 12 TD passes and 12 interceptions.

Callahan said turnovers from the quarterback spot has sort of been “our Achilles' heel” swinging games. But he also hasn't made a decision yet on who starts Sunday, saying stats don't always paint the full picture.

“My goal is to try to put the best chance to win on the field for us and we’ll see what that looks like,” Callahan said.

Callahan said K Nick Folk might have a chance to be back after an abdominal injury sidelined the veteran in Indianapolis. The Titans are practicing with a walk-through Tuesday and taking Wednesday off for Christmas so the coach said he'll have a better handle on injuries Thursday.

But Folk's replacement Brayden Narveson missed a 53-yard field goal that would have given Tennessee a 10-0 lead.

The Titans waived Narveson on Monday afternoon. They also activated Jaelyn Duncan, hurt four snaps into his lone start at right tackle in a loss to Buffalo on Oct. 20, from injured reserve.

121 — Number of points allowed off turnovers this season. It's the most in a season for the Titans since at least 2000, topping the 108 given up in 2015. The Titans lead the NFL with 32 turnovers, which Callahan called their biggest issue.

“That’s insanity,” Callahan said.

The Titans visit Jacksonville on Sunday for their final road trip, trying to avoid being swept by their division rival. Then it's back home for the regular-season finale, hosting Houston before more changes this offseason in some form.

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Tennessee Titans safety Amani Hooker (37) celebrates his interception during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (99) pressures Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph (11) as he throws during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (99) reaches past Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill, center, to pressure quarterback Mason Rudolph (11) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Mason Rudolph (11) looks to throw a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Tennessee Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo, right, scores a two point conversion against the Indianapolis Colts safety Nick Cross (20) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan looks onto the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan looks up from the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen's port city of Mukalla on Tuesday after a weapons shipment from the United Arab Emirates arrived for separatist forces in the war-torn country, and warned that it viewed Emirati actions as “extremely dangerous.”

The bombing followed days of tensions over the advance of the separatist forces known as the Southern Transitional Council, which are backed by the Emirates. Despite the warning, the Council and its allies issued a statement supporting the UAE's presence, even as others allied with Saudi Arabia demanded Emirati forces withdraw from Yemen in 24 hours' time.

The UAE separately called for “restraint and wisdom” while disputing Riyadh’s allegations against it. It did not say it would withdraw from Yemen as demanded.

The confrontation threatened to open a new front in Yemen's decade-long war, with forces allied against the Iranian-backed Houthis possibly turning their sights on each other in the Arab world's poorest nation long stalked by famine and disease.

It also further strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, neighboring nations on the Arabian Peninsula that increasingly have competed over economic issues and the region’s politics, particularly in the wider Red Sea region.

“I expect a calibrated escalation from both sides. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council is likely to respond by consolidating control,” said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen expert and the founder of the Basha Report, a risk advisory firm.

“At the same time, the flow of weapons from the UAE to the STC is set to be curtailed following the port attack, particularly as Saudi Arabia controls the airspace.”

A military statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced the strikes, which it said came after ships arrived there from Fujairah, a port city on the UAE’s eastern coast.

“The ships’ crew had the disabled tracking devices aboard the vessels, and unloaded a large amount of weapons and combat vehicles in support of the Southern Transitional Council’s forces,” the statement said.

“Considering that the aforementioned weapons constitute an imminent threat, and an escalation that threatens peace and stability, the Coalition Air Force has conducted this morning a limited airstrike that targeted weapons and military vehicles offloaded from the two vessels in Mukalla,” it added.

It wasn't clear if there were any casualties from the strike.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry hours later denied it shipped weapons but acknowledged it sent the vehicles “for use by the UAE forces operating in Yemen.” The UAE broadly withdrew its forces from Yemen years earlier. It also claimed Saudi Arabia knew about the shipment ahead of time.

“These developments raise legitimate questions about how to deal with them and their repercussions, at a stage that requires the highest levels of coordination, restraint and wisdom, taking into account the existing security challenges and threats,” the ministry added.

Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces declared a state of emergency Tuesday, ending their cooperation with the UAE and ordering all Emirati forces within their territory to evacuate within 24 hours. They issued a 72-hour ban on all border crossings in territory they hold, as well as entries to airports and seaports, except those allowed by Saudi Arabia.

The Council's AIC satellite news channel aired footage of the aftermath of the strike, but avoided showing damage to the armored vehicles near the port.

“This unjustified escalation against ports and civilian infrastructure will only strengthen popular demands for decisive action and the declaration of a South Arabian state,” the channel said.

The attack likely targeted a ship identified as the Greenland, a roll-on, roll-off vessel flagged out of St. Kitts. Tracking data analyzed by the AP showed the vessel had been in Fujairah on Dec. 22 and arrived in Mukalla on Sunday. The second vessel could not be immediately identified.

Footage later aired by Saudi state television, which appeared to be filmed by a surveillance aircraft, purportedly showed the armored vehicles moving from the ship through Mukalla to a staging area. The types of vehicles corresponded to the social media footage.

Mukalla is in Yemen's Hadramout governorate, which the Council had seized in recent days. The port city is some 480 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Aden, which has been the seat of power for anti-Houthi forces in Yemen after the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, back in 2014.

Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula off East Africa, borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The war there has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the globe’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.

The Houthis, meanwhile, have launched attacks on hundreds of ships in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly disrupting regional shipping.

The strike Tuesday in Mukalla comes after Saudi Arabia targeted the Council in airstrikes Friday that analysts described as a warning for the separatists to halt their advance and leave the governorates of Hadramout and Mahra.

The Council had pushed out forces there affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, another group in the coalition fighting the Houthis.

Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990. Demonstrators have been rallying for days to support political forces calling for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.

The actions by the separatists have put pressure on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and are members of the OPEC oil cartel, but also have competed for influence and international business in recent years. Saudi Arabia in particular has sought to draw foreign firms from Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and long a hub for expatriate workers.

The countries have had border disputes in the past, even before the UAE's founding in 1971. Tuesday's airstrikes and ultimatum appeared to be the most-serious confrontation between the nations in decades.

There has also been an escalation of violence in Sudan, another nation on the Red Sea, where the kingdom and the Emirates support opposing forces in that country’s ongoing war.

A statement Tuesday from Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry directly linked the Council's advance to the Emiratis for the first time.

“The kingdom notes that the steps taken by the sisterly United Arab Emirates are extremely dangerous,” it said.

Allies of the Council issued a statement afterward in which they showed no signs of backing down.

Meanwhile, Israel has acknowledged Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation, the first to do so in over 30 years. That's sparked concern from the Houthis, who have threatened to attack any Israeli presence in Somaliland.

This frame grab from video broadcast by Saudi state television on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, shows what the kingdom describes as a shipment of weapons and armored vehicles coming from the United Arab Emirates, at Mukalla, Yemen. (Saudi state television via AP)