The Tennessee Titans held their first padded practice of Training Camp at St. Thomas Sports Park on Tuesday, and thank God for it. Goodbye t-shirts and shorts, hello hitting. Football is closer to all the way back.
And in pads for the first time as a Titan, rookie QB Cam Ward was... bad. It wasn't awful. His day on the field wasn't without some nice reps. It was just plainly a bad day at the office. But the context of the practice is required to tell the full story. Let's talk about what happened and what it means:
Cam Ward's First Stumble (-ish)
A lot has been made of the national media's disregard for the Titans' first overall draft pick so far this summer. Cam Ward has generated as little buzz as any top pick in memory, and a lot of that has to do with the national media's lack of interest in the small-market Titans. For fans, that's understandably annoying.
But we in the local media haven't paid as much attention as many star QBs typically demand. Sure, it's been a whole heck of a lot more than the national crowd, but it's felt a little odd how little there's been to say about the young QB so far. And the truth of the matter is that, for the most part, he's been boring in the best possible way. Since joining the team in April, he's done just about everything right. He's had his ups and downs in practice, but he's generally created very little drama. He doesn't get rattled. He's not an emotional roller coaster. He does hard work, he does it well, and he prepares to do it again the next day. We haven't had a ton to say about him yet because, well, that's been all there is to say! He's looked pretty good!
That changed on Tuesday. The Titans first padded practice of the year was, for my money, the worst day of open practice we've seen from Cam. He went 6-of-17 by my friend Nick Suss's count over at the Tennessean, with three interceptions.
Ward was working more throws to the boundary, and in my opinion was clearly trying some things out in that area of the field where he hasn't focused on much this summer. Up until today, working the middle of the field had been his bread and butter, and was a strength in college too. I think he got screwed up on a couple of choice routes where his receiver read it wrong (or at least, differently). There were some communication issues, placement discrepancies, and he wasn't throwing a very good deep ball all day either.
Is this a reason for panic? No. Cam is learning, and if you ask any professional ball coach, they'll tell you if you aren't throwing picks in camp then you aren't trying. It's about pushing boundaries and seeing what works this time of year, and Cam is working on all of those things. It's also important to know that practice has mostly been 3rd down reps here at the beginning of camp, which puts the offensive in a tricky spot. Defensive Coordinator Dennard Wilson's scheme has as much complex, exotic nonsense in the bag as anybody in the league right now. He can put Cam in a blender on these looks in particular. Head Coach Brian Callahan has front-loaded some of the trickiest stuff here, so that Cam and others new to the system have the most time to rep, and think, and work on it. Some more neutral situations for the offense will be coming in the next couple days and weeks of camp.
Today's lackluster performance really registers mostly as the first day I've walked away from practice all summer with any kind of significant reason to doubt him. It's a testament to the consistency of his work so far. Could it become concerning if he starts to string together bad days? Sure. But based on what I know about Cam Ward so far, I'm not expecting him to get tight after a bad day or two. His steadiness is his strength. I'll be watching to see if he bounces back the rest of this week.
