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Cam Ward isn't shy about saying what the Tennessee Titans need to fix.
Taking roughly 10 minutes of questions from reporters after Titans practice on Sept. 10, the rookie quarterback offered answers and reasons for the team's offensive struggles in the season-opening loss to Denver, and how they can be fixed in the upcoming home game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 14 (noon CT, CBS).
In total, The Tennessean counted nine areas where Ward said he and his teammates can be better, and a handful of explanations on how that can happen. Here's a breakdown of Ward's suggestions.
Let's call the first two points our midweek fixes. Getting more reps together will help establish a rapport. As Ward points out, he and his teammates never played more than three series together in the preseason. Building takes time.
And all that time needs to fit into the shorter windows available in-season. During OTAs and training camp, coaches had an entire summer to install plays and packages. Now players have only a couple of days to learn game-week schemes designed for specific opponents. The Titans need to get better about learning and capitalizing on those packages.
The tempo section. Titans coach Brian Callahan has talked about wanting to get play calls in faster, too, so this isn't simply Ward's critique. And several offensive linemen talked about the snap count problems against Denver. Tackle Oli Udoh went as far as to admit he was consistently too slow off the ball, which certainly didn't help against the Broncos' speed-oriented pass rush.
From Ward's perspective, increasing the speed of the operation will make everything crisper.
"I wasn’t on my A game Sunday," Ward said. "There are things I wish I would’ve had back from just my position, getting in and out of the huddle faster, getting the play call faster. It’s really just us staying on top of the pace, staying on top of the playbook."
Here are the Ward-specific fixes. Ward says he wasn't expedient throwing the ball, especially in situations where he could've found a receiver near the sideline and chucked a ball over his head and out of bounds to avoid a sack.
He also admitted to "bad pocket movement" that made life hard on his offensive line.
"Me and the O-line, we’re good," Ward said. "I take full responsibility on my part. They’ll do the same as well. It’s their first game with me without me getting taken out for the preseason games. We’re still getting used to each other. But we’re going to turn it around fast."
Ward said he'll never get mad at a receiver for dropping a pass, just like he'd hope a receiver would never get mad at him for throwing an interception. Mistakes happen. How players respond and move on matters more to Ward.
That being said, receivers winning at the top of routes — meaning when the ball is coming their way — is a huge key to the Titans being more explosive.
Let's let Ward explain this one.
"I think the whole game we never found a rhythm," he said. "Really we only need one play on offense to get that. We didn’t do it enough. It all comes down to myself and the receivers. We’ve got to make plays in the passing game. I think we did a great job running the ball on Sunday. But we’ve got to continue to play complementary football with the defense. It really just takes effort and playing fast. That’s really the two big things everywhere I’ve been. We’ve always played fast and we’ve always played with effort. That took care of a lot of stuff."
Here's a tricky one. Ward talked about his knack for checking and changing plays at the line of scrimmage, something Callahan gives him license to do. But Ward also talked about needing to firm up his understanding on why Callahan is making the calls he is for a stronger knowledge base on when the right times to check plays are.
"If it’s a look that I like that I’ve seen all week on tape, I want to check to a specific run concept or pass concept," Ward said. "So that’s just me and him really just getting to it with each other. This is his first time with me, a quarterback who likes to check plays. Really it just comes down to I need to learn more of why he’s calling specific plays on this down, whether to just freelance it and get to my own play."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Worried about Titans' offense? Cam Ward has 9 fixes, reasons in mind
Continue reading...
Taking roughly 10 minutes of questions from reporters after Titans practice on Sept. 10, the rookie quarterback offered answers and reasons for the team's offensive struggles in the season-opening loss to Denver, and how they can be fixed in the upcoming home game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 14 (noon CT, CBS).
In total, The Tennessean counted nine areas where Ward said he and his teammates can be better, and a handful of explanations on how that can happen. Here's a breakdown of Ward's suggestions.
1. The Titans need reps
2. The Titans need to adjust to the regular-season practice schedule
Let's call the first two points our midweek fixes. Getting more reps together will help establish a rapport. As Ward points out, he and his teammates never played more than three series together in the preseason. Building takes time.
And all that time needs to fit into the shorter windows available in-season. During OTAs and training camp, coaches had an entire summer to install plays and packages. Now players have only a couple of days to learn game-week schemes designed for specific opponents. The Titans need to get better about learning and capitalizing on those packages.
3. The Titans need to get in and out of the huddle faster
4. The Titans need to call plays and snap the ball faster
The tempo section. Titans coach Brian Callahan has talked about wanting to get play calls in faster, too, so this isn't simply Ward's critique. And several offensive linemen talked about the snap count problems against Denver. Tackle Oli Udoh went as far as to admit he was consistently too slow off the ball, which certainly didn't help against the Broncos' speed-oriented pass rush.
From Ward's perspective, increasing the speed of the operation will make everything crisper.
"I wasn’t on my A game Sunday," Ward said. "There are things I wish I would’ve had back from just my position, getting in and out of the huddle faster, getting the play call faster. It’s really just us staying on top of the pace, staying on top of the playbook."
5. Cam Ward must get the ball out quicker
6. Cam Ward must move around the pocket better
Here are the Ward-specific fixes. Ward says he wasn't expedient throwing the ball, especially in situations where he could've found a receiver near the sideline and chucked a ball over his head and out of bounds to avoid a sack.
He also admitted to "bad pocket movement" that made life hard on his offensive line.
"Me and the O-line, we’re good," Ward said. "I take full responsibility on my part. They’ll do the same as well. It’s their first game with me without me getting taken out for the preseason games. We’re still getting used to each other. But we’re going to turn it around fast."
7. Titans playmakers have to win at the top of routes
Ward said he'll never get mad at a receiver for dropping a pass, just like he'd hope a receiver would never get mad at him for throwing an interception. Mistakes happen. How players respond and move on matters more to Ward.
That being said, receivers winning at the top of routes — meaning when the ball is coming their way — is a huge key to the Titans being more explosive.
8. The Titans need to establish rhythm
Let's let Ward explain this one.
"I think the whole game we never found a rhythm," he said. "Really we only need one play on offense to get that. We didn’t do it enough. It all comes down to myself and the receivers. We’ve got to make plays in the passing game. I think we did a great job running the ball on Sunday. But we’ve got to continue to play complementary football with the defense. It really just takes effort and playing fast. That’s really the two big things everywhere I’ve been. We’ve always played fast and we’ve always played with effort. That took care of a lot of stuff."
9. Cam Ward needs to see the game through Brian Callahan's eyes
Here's a tricky one. Ward talked about his knack for checking and changing plays at the line of scrimmage, something Callahan gives him license to do. But Ward also talked about needing to firm up his understanding on why Callahan is making the calls he is for a stronger knowledge base on when the right times to check plays are.
"If it’s a look that I like that I’ve seen all week on tape, I want to check to a specific run concept or pass concept," Ward said. "So that’s just me and him really just getting to it with each other. This is his first time with me, a quarterback who likes to check plays. Really it just comes down to I need to learn more of why he’s calling specific plays on this down, whether to just freelance it and get to my own play."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]. Follow Nick on X @nicksuss. Subscribe to the Talkin’ Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Worried about Titans' offense? Cam Ward has 9 fixes, reasons in mind
Continue reading...
