Week 1 has come and gone, and the Tennessee Titans are in the very same spot that fans have come to expect from them. A new head coach and staff, a completely retooled roster, and a favorable matchup at home all thrown out the window. The Titans are an 0-1 team for the sixth year in a row.
Many problems plagued Robert Saleh’s debut against the New York Jets, most of which he addressed in a memorably dour postgame press conference. At the same time, however, most of those issues can be managed to some extent.
A middling defensive rotation stacked with veterans? That’s why you took a rookie EDGE and LB. The offense grinds to a near all-game halt? At least Wan’Dale Robinson and Carnell Tate looked the part.
But what about Cam Ward? When your franchise quarterback doesn’t check his box, the fallout isn’t as simple as crossing your fingers that he’ll improve. Ward is a one-man unit. If he isn’t ticking, the team isn’t ticking.
Cam Ward was the Titans’ biggest worry in Week 1
Through that lens, Ward coming up short in Week 1 is easily Tennessee’s most worrisome takeaway. He completed 19 passes on 32 attempts, totaling a mere 140 yards and one score that didn’t ultimately matter in the fourth quarter.
Compared to Ward’s rookie debut from an entire year ago, we see some growth. Ward passed 12/28 on the road against the Denver Broncos, eeking out just 112 yards and no scores. Further to his credit, Ward threw no interceptions in either contest.
Yet pitted against 35-year old Geno Smith, who carved the Titans’ secondary up for 215 yards on 19/24 passing, Ward looks much less promising. Where Smith connected on explosive plays downfield, Ward missed open receivers.
Where Smith was precise under pressure, Ward looked scattered. A team is only as great as the guy under center, and yesterday, the Titans were simply outmatched. All that, and Saleh still isn’t worried about his guy.
Robert Saleh has the utmost faith in Ward
In the aftermath of Tennessee’s loss yesterday, Saleh doubled down on his confidence in the young QB. The Titans’ coach believes that Ward is at his floor right now, and that it’s a “long process” to get him where he needs to go. In Saleh’s eyes, Ward is on track for a multi-year trajectory of improvement.
Will that mean double-digit losses now give way to double-digit wins later? That’s the plan, no doubt, but all that fans are being given in the meantime is a task to trust a process they have no familiarity with.
Nissan Stadium stood idly by as Will Levis operated on exhausted potential for two full seasons. Those same fans then continued to watch as the Brian Callahan train flew off the rails in the following year.
Now, a 23-10 loss deep into another new era, you have to imagine that patience is running a little thin. A rebuild stops and starts with the QB that is brought in at the core of it. Until Ward really, truly starts, the Titans are perpetually frozen in a time that everyone beyond the sideline is sick of.
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