NASHVILLE — In a season full of dumb things happening with the Tennessee Titans (0-4), one story stands out, if you even want to call it a story. Quarterback Cam Ward has had his character assassinated across the internet for a harmless hot mic moment following Sunday night’s Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. It turned into a full-blown assault on his character.

On Wednesday, Ward responded brilliantly in his first media availability since the clip went viral.

How a nothing moment became a Cam Ward character assassination

The quarterback and head coach must be made available at the podium after every game. The locker room opens once Titans coach Robert Saleh reaches the podium, which lets reporters talk to players who won’t be brought up for interviews. On Sunday night, the traveling Titans media members were wrapping up in the locker room with Jeffery Simmons when Ward arrived at the podium early.

The cameras and microphones were on. Ward was joking around with Titans staffers and PR in the room, just chopping it up:

“The rest of the media has three minutes to get here, otherwise I’m going to leave. Nobody’s in here, we can leave, right?”

Ward waited for us and did the interview. That part seems to have gotten lost in all of this.

Jared Stillman, who had his credential revoked as a part of the Titans media corps this past offseason, aggregated the clip and turned it into what feels like a personal attack. I think it’s either a grudge against Ward personally or a deliberate effort to highlight characteristics he knows will get trafficked in the worst corners of the sports internet. Either way, it’s unfounded.

There was no issue for the five Titans media members who made the trip (six if you count Jim Wyatt, who works for the team). There shouldn’t be an issue on anybody else’s end. And yet it has been turned into “arrogant young Black quarterback who doesn’t win and has an attitude problem at the podium.”

Sound familiar? 

That’s a lot of what Shedeur Sanders was hit with during the draft process. Those attributes aren’t even a problem, but they’re polarizing to a certain segment of the population. That segment found Ward’s postgame moment, called him a punk, and descended on it.

A Bomani Jones clip only made it weirder. 

Jones suggested Titans media couldn’t aggressively question the young quarterback without essentially getting a green light from the organization, alleging an inside job. That’s nonsense. We’re aggressively looking for answers as to why this team keeps losing, and whether the people in charge are capable of improving the situation around them. For an 0-4 football team, that’s hardly hardball.

Cam Ward handled it like a veteran

Asked about the clip and whether it impacts him, Ward made it clear where he stands:

“I actually didn’t know until I got sent it,” said Ward on Wednesday. “A lot of times I really don’t know anything was going on, whether it’s for myself or another teammate. But (the Internet is) gonna say something at the end of the day. I attack the progress that I have, getting better each and every week. And at the end of the day, they can say whatever they want about me. 

“The people in this locker room know what type of person I am. My family knows what type of person I am. So what any fan or other person out there on social media, what they think of who I am as a person will never have any meaning because at the end of the day. They don’t get to step up here and, and play a sport for a living. They go do their job that, you know, some of them may hate. I get up here and I love to do this. I love to go out here and work with my teammates. So it has nothing to do mentally with us because we know it’s something that’s out of our control. And with it, it’s fun because it’s just somebody else you get to prove wrong.”

Poised. Professional. Exactly the mental makeup we know him to have.

Why you shouldn’t bet against a mentally tough quarterback

I wouldn’t bet against any player built like that between the ears. Look at quarterback Bryce Young. Whatever his size deficiencies at 5-foot-11 or his lack of overwhelming physical traits as a No. 1 overall pick, Young is regarded as one of the mentally toughest players Nick Saban ever coached. He was benched as a rookie, came back, took his team to the playoffs last season, and has performed at a high level early this year.

Ward isn’t mentally small, either.

None of this excuses the results. He has won three games in a season and a quarter, and that’s not good enough. He understands that. But turning the production into a verdict on the person is categorically wrong and intellectually dishonest.

Journalistic integrity was cited when Stillman lost his credential, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he posted that clip without context. Wyatt pointed out on 3HL this week that Stillman has never covered a game. As somebody who has been friends with Jared, I vehemently disagree with how he went about this. It’s professional criticism, not personal. That’s why people question your integrity, because nobody with any would have done this.

Ward, meanwhile, just gained one more person to prove wrong.