NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward’s biggest issue as an NFL passer is one he does not seem willing to acknowledge. A disconnect is forming between what Titans coach Robert Saleh says about Ward’s footwork and how Ward describes it himself.

At 1-6, that gap matters more every week.

Cam Ward’s footwork keeps breaking down when the lights come on

Footwork has been discussed at great length, and it is a tiresome topic to keep revisiting. The reason it keeps coming up is that Ward is not making the necessary corrections in games.

Media access during the regular season is limited to stretching and the individual period. Even in that small window, Ward routinely reps his footwork drills. Quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll are right there coaching him through it, and they have done so consistently since this staff arrived to help Ward succeed.

On game days, though, Cam Ward either forgets what he is being taught or has not committed it to muscle memory. More often than not, his mechanics deteriorate under pressure.

That is frustrating because the offense is producing better results. Tennessee has scored 50 points across its last six quarters of football. That follows a stretch of fewer than 12 points per game heading into the Colts contest a few weeks ago.

The Browns loss shows how one mechanical lapse can swing a game. Defensive failures played a role, and Tennessee had its worst day of the season in missed tackles. However, the Titans also held a 14-0 lead when linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. stripped Browns tight end Harold Fannin and recovered the football, setting up a short field.

Ward got sloppy on the very next play. He threw behind his receiver and directly into the chest of cornerback Denzel Ward, who made the interception. Cleveland scored its first points of the day shortly after.

It is hard to argue for progress when the win-loss column looks the same.

The protection is better, but the accuracy is not

Ward is well protected this year. Tennessee is tied for the sixth-fewest sacks allowed in the NFL, and Ward has gone down only six times through seven weeks. A couple of those came when he was run out of bounds. He took 55 sacks as a rookie.

Cutting down that sack volume should keep the Titans ahead of the sticks and allow them to sustain drives more consistently. Instead, Ward is inaccurate, in part because of his footwork.

Per Pro Football Reference, Ward’s on-target throw percentage sits at 71.1%. Among qualified quarterbacks, that ranks in the bottom seven. Only Jameis Winston (64.7%), Jalon Daniels (65.3%), Daniel Jones, Malik Willis, Jalen Hurts, and Deshaun Watson (70.5%) are worse.

Drake Maye leads the league at 85.1%. The rest of the top 10 includes Trevor Lawrence, Geno Smith (in large part because of the Titans game), Sam Darnold, Brock Purdy, Jacoby Brissett, Caleb Williams, Joe Burrow, Michael Penix, and Kyler Murray. That is hardly a star-studded group, which makes Ward’s ranking tougher to stomach.

On-target percentage is not the only way to measure accuracy. Still, I think it tells a more complete story than completion percentage, and Ward’s number is well below the standard Tennessee needs to sustain offense.

Confidence or delusion from Cam Ward is the question

Saleh has cited Ward’s need for improved, consistent footwork and more time on task. That assessment is accurate.

Ward offered a very different view on Wednesday when asked about the progress he’s making with his footwork.

“I think I’m very good at footwork right now,” Ward told reporters. “I’ve grown in that aspect from not only last year, but previous years. But you know, that’s something that’s going to continue to get better throughout my career. [It’s] something that’s not going to change overnight, something that, you know, it’s not going to be— it’ll never be perfected at the end of the day because stuff happens, you know, in the game that you can’t predict in practice.

“So, it’s more just continuing to stay balanced and staying flat through my throws. As I do that, continue to build [a] connection with my receivers and, you know, those guys make plays.”

That sounds fine in theory, but he is not doing it.

There is a fine line between athlete confidence and delusion. You have to be a little delusional about your own abilities to perform in pro sports, especially as a 4-20 starter trying to convince yourself the next rep will be better.

That delusion, however, cannot inhibit progress. Ward may be more self-aware in meetings, but the podium is not the place to tell reporters he is very good at something his coach says needs improvement.

He is right that live bullets change the equation. Even so, every viable starting quarterback keeps his base in a muddy pocket, and Ward has been kept remarkably clean.

Would the most generic answer possible have been better? Yes. Saying he has to be more consistent would have raised no eyebrows.

Instead, Ward’s response raises a harder question about whether he is stubborn on the one issue standing between Tennessee and a winning offense. Right now, it sounds less like confidence and more like denial.