Following a shaky home opener, Tennessee’s signal-caller relies on a rigid film-study routine and unwavering process to rebound before facing the high-powered Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward just had a rough outing on Sunday against the New York Jets.
There's really no way to sugarcoat it.
Ward didn't throw any interceptions, but he definitely didn't have a clean game either. He threw for 140 passing yards and one touchdown, completing 19 of 32 passes. When he wasn't running for his life, his accuracy wasn't very good.
He missed multiple receivers throughout the game and could've played better.
Ward consistently connected with rookie Carnell Tate, who led the team with 38 receiving yards on four catches.
It's great that Tate was able to have a part of the offense in Week 1, but the Titans need to be better at everything if they want to have a chance to hang with the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2.
The Eagles have way more weapons on both sides of the ball than the Jets do. There's Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith on offense. On defense, they have Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Cooper DeJean and others.
Ward gave us an inside look at how he recovers after a brutal loss like Sunday's. For him, it's all about making sure he doesn't change his routine. He prioritizes watching film immediately after a game.
He then makes sure to hit Monday hard and to prepare for the next opponent after seeing what he needs to improve. The main thing is to make sure that his routine never changes, whether it's after a win or a loss.
"Um, after the game Sunday, immediately watch the film, see what I can get better at, and I attack Monday," Ward said. "Come out here, work out, go through the same process. The end of the day, you're going to win and lose games, but it's about how the process level and making sure that you never change throughout it. Um, you're always going to have, you know, some type of adversity, whether it's early in the season, late in the season, or mid-season. Um but I think the biggest separator, everything is how you handle it. Um, for me, it's doing the same stuff, you know, continuing to, you know, listen to, you know, the stuff that really matters."
Unfortunately, throughout his career with the Titans so far, Ward has experienced many losses. It's still great that he's been committed to having the same routine throughout all those losses.
The Titans won three games with Ward as the starting quarterback last year. His first win came against the Arizona Cardinals in a game with a wild finish. Ward threw an interception that Arizona fumbled, and the Titans recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.
Tennessee then won the game on a field goal from kicker Joey Slye as time expired. The Titans also beat the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs during Ward's rookie season.
Ward and the Titans outlasted Shedeur Sanders and the Browns in a 31-29 thriller. The Browns failed to convert a game-tying two-point conversion, and the Titans won on the road in Cleveland.
The Chiefs were without Patrick Mahomes and were well out of the playoff race, but it was a valuable experience for Ward. It was also where we saw one of Ward's best throws of his rookie year.
The pocket collapsed and he rolled out to the left and threw a dart to Chimere Dike.
Now, Ward and the Titans have to improve significantly in a short time before facing the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.
If not, there will be more of the same in Nashville.
