Tennessee’s 26-10 sobering loss to the Jets came with a reality check the building refused to accept all offseason long: Cam Ward is still a work-in-progress.
The Titans head coach Robert Saleh finally admitted it Sunday, among other things, in an attempt to do some damage control for all the times Ward missed perfect opportunities to score.
“They’re all a work in progress,” Saleh said post-game.
Robert Saleh Says Developing Ward is a Process
In Ward’s second year as the signal caller, the Titans’ offense failed to secure 400 yards in their season opener. Ward is yet to have a 300-yard passing game in the regular season, and he has only twice completed 70% or more of his passes. Achieving any of these milestones would have helped in setting the tone for the season.
With a modest 140-yard, one-touchdown performance against New York to kick off Year 2, Ward is still looking for a breakout game that validates the ‘Titans might dominate the AFC South’ rumors that started this offseason.
Saleh still defended his quarterback, shifting the blame to Ward constantly moving from coach to coach and having no stability so far.
“I’m not trying to shield the quarterback, so bear with me on this. But these kids coming into this game, like look at Cam. He’s got 7 different coordinators over the last seven years. So he’s trying to build a foundation, and we’re trying to build a foundation for him. And we’re trying to give him some stability. And we’re trying to give him some things that are repetitive week after week without having to reset. So his growth will happen throughout the year,” Saleh said.
Is Cam Ward a bigger project than Titans HC expected?
The first-year head coach observed Ward throughout the offseason, and somewhere, he saw the potential Ward has. For Saleh, Ward has the mental makeup and the resources; he just lacks some stability.
“His growth is gonna happen next year and the year after. Like, this young man is at the floor of what it takes to be an NFL quarterback, but he has all the tools, the mental makeup, to get to where he needs to go.”
“It’s time on task, it’s giving the kids stability, it’s giving the young man the chance to be repetitive in his day-to-day process with the right coaching to help him get better, and that’s really for all of them. It’s a long process to get these kids where you need them to go, to get to quarterback especially,” Saleh said when asked point blank if Ward is a bigger project than he initially expected.
Reports coming out of the OTAs had the Titans working on fixing Ward’s pocket presence and accuracy all offseason long. Saleh even mentioned that Ward showed progress in his pre-snap communication and getting his plays right.
“(Ward) is much improved with regards to his pocket presence. He did have a couple where you wished he would’ve stayed in there and delivered a strike,” Saleh added.
“But he also had some where, especially on that first drive, where he was stepping up and through, and extending drives with his feet and doing a really nice job.”
The Titans face the Eagles next, who are coming off a 24-22 win over Washington. One week can bring about only so much progress, but we’ll see whether Ward has any improvement in Week 2.
Titans HC Robert Saleh Comes Clean About Cam Ward’s Week 1 Struggles