Cardinals try to bounce back from close losses when they face woeful, winless Titans

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Cardinals are struggling a bit these days, losing consecutive games in gut-wrenching fashion on a pair of last-season field goals.

The Tennessee Titans are in even worse shape.

The woeful Titans (0-4) travel to face the Cardinals (2-2) on Sunday having lost 10 straight games dating to last season. Rookie quarterback Cam Ward — who was the No. 1 overall pick back in April — has taken his lumps. Tennessee is coming off a 26-0 loss to Houston and the Titans are averaging less than 13 points per game.

Even so, the Cardinals aren't in much of a position to take any team lightly.

“I talked to the team today, not to slight college football, but this is not a 0-4 college football team that has no chance of winning,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “Everybody in the NFL has a chance to win every game. They’ve got really good players, really good coaches.”

Still, things are pretty dire in Tennessee.

Titans second-year coach Brian Callahan is on the hot seat with a 3-18 record. Ward and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons voiced their frustration after last week's loss.

The reality is if things don't change soon, there could be a significant shakeup. Titans offensive lineman Kevin Zeitler said it doesn't have to get to the point.

“This thing can flip just like that," he said. "I know that’s on us as a team to keep pushing forward until we get that moment of where it flips.”

The Titans had leads in the second half of each of their first two games and trailed 6-0 going into the fourth quarter last week. They’ve been outscored 47-10 in the fourth quarter alone. Simmons said defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson told them they had two missed tackles in the first half compared to 35 in the second half.

“It’s the reason why I come in and say we are right there," Simmons said. "It’s just a small thing we can fix that going to help us win a football game.”

The Cardinals are a team that likes to run the ball, but their running back room has taken huge injury hits over the past two weeks.

Veteran James Conner went down with a season-ending foot injury against the 49ers on Sept. 21. Second-string back Trey Benson hurt his knee last Thursday against the Seahawks and was placed on injured reserve, meaning he'll miss at least the next four weeks.

That leaves Emari Demercado, Michael Carter and Bam Knight as the three options in the backfield. Quarterback Kyler Murray might consider taking matters into his own hands.

He has run for 148 yards this season, averaging nearly six yards per carry.

“I remember he took my ankles from me one time,” Simmons said. “So it’s one of the things when you get him in space and if you let him get out of the pocket, he can hurt your defense.”

Yes, Ward was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft after throwing a Division I-record 158 touchdown passes in college. But playing in the NFL is a different level and Ward has been busy learning as much as possible. Now he's coming off his worst game yet after Callahan handed over the offensive play-calling to quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree.

They get another game working together Sunday and Ward said his biggest adjustment has been understanding that every NFL game will be close, especially in the fourth quarter.

“No matter where it’s going to a shootout or it’s going to be a 6-6 ballgame, we always have a chance to win the football game at the end of the game majority of the time,” Ward said. “So just always preparing myself that it is always going to be the fourth-quarter game.”

Arizona's offense has been brutal during the first half of their two losses, getting just a field goal each time.

The Cardinals recovered in the second half in both games to make it close, but fighting from behind every week is not a great way to live in the NFL.

“We have to come out faster," Murray said. "Honestly, I wish I could tell you what it was as far as in the moment and even hindsight. We have to show up to the stadium ready to play because it’s kind of putting us behind the eight ball against the good defenses that we’ve played so far. It won’t suffice going forward.”

AP Pro Football Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.

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Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) loses the ball after being pressured by Houston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter, left, during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) scrambles during the first half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)