Titans Joint Practice Notebook: Cam Ward clearly has a different set of rules behind the microphone than every other team employee

The Tennessee Titans had their second straight joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday, and they bounced back in an explosive way. I was on hand in Flowery Branch, Georgia, to see practice and speak with Brian Callahan, Cam Ward, and various Titans players. If you missed Day 1’s recaps, click here and here […]

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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The Tennessee Titans had their second straight joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday, and they bounced back in an explosive way. I was on hand in Flowery Branch, Georgia, to see practice and speak with Brian Callahan, Cam Ward, and various Titans players. If you missed Day 1’s recaps, click here and here for everything you need to know.

To recap Day 2, let’s dive into Cam Ward’s unique stance at the podium, a bounce-back day, and a whole lot of fighting!

Cam Ward’s Lack Of Scars

The Titans have done a very good job this year at setting expectations appropriately. Whether I’m hearing from the coaching staff, front office, or leaders in the locker room, it’s a lot of the same reasonable expectation-setting: “This is a rebuild in process, we’re being patient with Cam and the young guys, there will be ups and downs this year.”

But then when Cam Ward takes to the podium, things get turned up! Here’s what he had to say on Wednesday to the media:

“I think we also have the ability to be a top-10 offense, but it’s on every guy in that huddle, including myself, to bring the right mindset every day, and us also playing together. I think that’s the biggest thing that we always play together. We never point fingers at each other on both sides of the ball, and we just gotta always have that mindset that we could be the best offense in the NFL, and then it really just comes with just us caring about each other on the field, off the field, I think a lot of that stuff will translate.”

He also went on to discuss how he earnestly believes his receiving corps is one of the top-5 groups in the NFL. Now, we all know that’s crazy. And I’d wager he knows that’s crazy. Remember, this is the guy that (on a Fortnite stream) said pre-draft that Treylon Burks was a top-5 receiver in the league. In a twist of irony, Cam Ward is already a top-5 podium-exaggerator in the NFL.

This is a reflection of Cam’s lack of scars. I don’t really think it means anything deep; it’s just an interesting quirk of the Titans right now. Everybody but him is working hard to set reasonable expectations. But Cam, the sweet summer flower and intentionally optimistic leader that he is, remains ready to shock the world in 2025. Go do it, young man!

A Titans Bounceback Day

I won’t recount the full day of Titans practice for you. It was a lot of standard operating procedure. But make no mistake about it, it was an improvement from the first practice! The team was tighter in its operation. It felt less like a beatdown and more like a stalemate. Here’s how defensive leader Cody Barton described it:

“I think as a team we came out a little more energized today. You know, coming out the gun shooting. So, you know, yesterday felt. as we were walking off the field, it felt not as good. But when we looked at the film, it wasn’t as bad as we thought. You know, there’s actually a lot of good plays out there to be had, and guys were doing their job. But energy wise, though, we came out hot today.”

The energy certainly shone through. Early in practice, fighting came early and often. More on that in a moment, but first, here’s what LB Cedric Gray said about the day of skirmishes:

“Yeah, I think today went pretty well. I think guys came out with a lot of energy. As you can see, a few fights broke out. So I think it was just very competitive on both sides. I don’t think anybody started off slow. I think everybody came ready to play today… I felt like we still got a lot of stuff done, like you said, it was a lot of chaos going on, but once everything calmed down, everybody locked back in and got back to something specific.”

Fights!

The Titans did a lot of fighting at practice today! It was indicative of a team that, as CB Jarvis Brownlee put it yesterday, spent a day thinking about the “expletive” practice they put out there on Tuesday.

Things started out chippy early in the practice when the Titans’ defensive line and Falcons’ offensive line got into it during an individual period before team periods.

Then once 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s began, things got hot. The first and biggest fight of the day took place on the Falcons’ offensive field, and it was a bench-clearing brawl. Jeffery Simmons’ helmet got ripped off, as well as Julius Woods’, and CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr. had to be escorted off by teammates. On the Falcons’ side, WR Ray Ray McCloud was involved on the initial play.

Then, we saw multiple aftershocks from the original fight in the next half hour or so. At one point, it felt like every other tackle on that Titans field was going to lead to a big scrum. Caleb McGary and Femi Oladejo got into it once, and then in the punt return period, we saw Elic Ayomanor and Van Jefferson involved in a skirmish.

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