ESPN QB expert exposes exactly what Cam Ward must fix in Titans’ preseason pressure test
Seventeen practices have shown why the Tennessee Titans remain confident in Ward, but Sunday’s national spotlight gives him an important opportunity to change the conversation.
NFL preseason week 2 is going to feel like a lot more than just NFL preseason week 2 for Tennessee Titans second-year quarterback Cam Ward.
After an underwhelming performance in San Francisco against the Niners in the first Titans preseason game of the Robert Saleh era, Ward has all eyes on him. The Titans are the only game on Sunday in the second week of the preseason, hosting the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in a primetime slot on Fox, nationally broadcasted.
That spotlight only turns up the intensity for a quarterback who went 5-for-12 for 57 yards in three possessions with the first-team offense in his preseason opener. The Titans scored a touchdown on the opening drive, going 95 yards down the field with some strong run plays and a couple of nice throws. Ward completed 2 of 4 passes for 35 yards on that first drive and added a 2-yard scramble. The opening series looked fine. What followed did not.
Dan Orlovsky calls Cam Ward’s tape the most disappointing of preseason week 1
That scramble on the first drive was the exact play former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky led with on ESPN’s NFL Live when he said Ward’s tape was the most disappointing he watched from anyone in preseason week 1.
“As disappointed as I was out of anybody’s tape in preseason week 1, I’d say number 1, Cam’s played enough football in the league already to have cleaner eyes. This is a sail concept up top. When he gets that safety at the bottom of the screen to rotate and those defenders lift, this should be an easy throw to that corner flat. And instead it’s a scramble, and I think he gets 1 yard on this. Cleaner eyes, that ball should go there 100 out of 100 times.”
“Number 2, no easy misses. It’s hard in this league to play quarterback. This is an RPO, that nickel fires, that means throw the bubble. He’s wide open. This is Wan’Dale Robinson, that’s an easy throw. You can’t miss this.”
“The third one, are we being competitive or careless? The defense has won the rep here, everybody’s covered. Competitive or careless? Because careless, hold on to the football, run backwards, try to float the ball away. That’s an intentional grounding penalty.”
“It’s preseason. I’m not overreacting, but you do want to see much improved play in Week 2 from Cam Ward to at least spring this offense into the regular season, because if he takes a step, Tennessee is going to be a very competitive football team, but they got to get him to play better.”
Orlovsky’s right. The first play he mentioned, Gunnar Helm was open on the out. Ward missed Wan’Dale Robinson on the second play. And the third play in that clip was the one that really derailed Cam’s night. That intentional grounding penalty was 17 yards, and the Titans could not recover offensively on that drive. They punted after getting back to the original line of scrimmage.
17 practices tell a different story than three preseason drives
A lot of people reacted the way Orlovsky did because that preseason opener was the first time they had seen Cam Ward since last season. I have a different vantage point. I’ve been at nine training camp practices heading into Sunday (the Seahawks joint practice will be my 10th), on top of seven OTA and minicamp sessions. That’s 17 practices of Cam Ward with my own eyes, not including the game broadcast.
That context gives me a different understanding from everybody else not in the local media, Titans fans included. I think that’s where a lot of the national reaction is coming from, and why this might be one of the more anticipated preseason games in Titans history. The weight on Ward’s shoulders for this 2026 season is enormous. The question is simple: is he the guy, yes or no?
Is it just a preseason game? Yeah, like Orlovsky said, you’re not freaking out. But you absolutely have to see growth from Cam Ward from preseason week 1 to week 2. He has to show clean eyes and a clean resume in this game.
Saleh’s snap ramp-up plan could give the Titans a real sample size
One thing I really like about what Robert Saleh is doing is he’s ramping up the snaps for his starters from Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3 in the preseason.
Saleh said after the game a week ago that 20 plays was the plan for the first-team offense in game 1. They got to 21. He also said they would try to increase and hopefully get to 25 to 30, then 30 to 35 over the next two preseason games. Together, that puts together something resembling a full NFL game. If they can get north of 60 snaps or even close to 70 or 80, now you’re getting a real sample size.
If you’re the Titans, you want Ward to get all of this out of his system right now. That’s what Orlovsky said at the very end of his breakdown. If the Titans can get Cam to iron out the wrinkles of this offense in a new system, slow down the play speed that was a little too fast, and smooth out the mechanics that caused some inaccuracies, then Tennessee could be a very competitive team. The offense has to be a positive force with Ward and all the other weapons around him.
It sounds hyperbolic, but there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Cam Ward at home against the Super Bowl champs on a national stage. He’s going to perform when the lights are bright at Nissan Stadium Sunday night at 7 p.m. CT on Fox. It’s the only nationally televised game he’ll have this entire year. This one matters.
