Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward struggled mightily in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
Even the most zealous Titans Kool-Aid guzzler would have to admit it was an ugly first game for the second-year signal-caller and 2025 No. 1 overall pick.
Ward was scattershot for much of his three drives, going 5-of-12 passing for 57 yards against Niners backups. The big-armed quarterback repeatedly missed his targets, particularly on slants and over the middle, putting the pigskin just out of reach of open receivers. Few reps in the pocket looked comfortable for the QB, and on the occasions he tried to make things happen outside of structure, Ward nearly turned it over.
In a year the Titans built the offense around the dynamic but inconsistent quarterback and provided a proven offensive coordinator in Brian Daboll, seeing Ward's first live action include so many misfires was cringeworthy. However, it’s far from the final test for Ward and the Titans.
“The good news is going back and digging in on the film, every pass play that (Daboll) called yesterday we’ve run in practice,” Titans head coach Robert Saleh said Friday. “You guys have been there and you guys have seen flashes of Cam and the entire offense operating at a very high level. It’s as simple as just time on task.
"Every single one of those plays he’s executed flawlessly in practice. He’s got to be able to have the confidence in not only himself but his teammates to execute, get your feet down, play with great technique and deliver the football just like he has. We’re going to continue to harp on the technique, all the fundamentals, continue to rep things at a high level. It’s just reps.”
Ward started the contest with a few solid plays, hitting Calvin Ridley in stride on a shallow crosser for an 18-yard gain, and a well-timed TE screen called by Daboll went for 16 yards on an 11-play opening possession touchdown drive, spearheaded by the rushing attack. But outside of those two completions, which netted 34 of his 57 yards, Ward hit just three more passes.
It wasn’t that Ward missed throws. That happens with every quarterback. It was that he botched what should have been layups. A starting QB can’t miss a slant by a yard when his WR has gotten open with ease. The inability to make the short throws restricted the entire offense, and Ward never stretched the field.
Saleh said part of the issue could potentially be attributed to it being the first live action for Ward and the rest of the offense in Daboll’s scheme.
“It’s the first time in live bullets, and there is a trust thing,” he said. “... It’s time on task. It’s building trust with his teammates. It’s building confidence in himself. There’s no doubt Cam is capable, we’ve just got to go out and execute.”
The panic button need not be pressed yet. It was always going to take some time for Ward to become comfortable in Daboll’s system. Going from off-script playmaker to station-to-station quarterback isn’t an easy transition. But it’s doable.
Ward developing into a legit franchise quarterback is critical to the Titans taking a step forward after three straight seasons in the AFC South cellar. We didn’t see it Thursday. There is a month left for Ward to turn things around before games matter.brb