CLEVELAND — The Tennessee Titans (2-11) beat the Cleveland Browns (3-10) 31-29 in Week 14. Tennessee’s first real success playing complimentary football got them a real win despite 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward being outplayed by fifth-round quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Ward’s demeanor at the rare winning postgame press conference reflected the same kind of dissatisfaction that can help the Titans quarterback become truly great.

Beating the Browns wasn’t good enough for Cam Ward

“Dissatisfaction” almost feels to strong for Ward’s responses to questions on Sunday.

The rookie praised his teammates efforts at length. By no means did he insufficiently acknowledge the three turnovers Tennessee’s defense and special teams combined to set the offense up for short fields. Ward heaped praise upon coaches for setting him up for success and complimented his college in Sanders and Cleveland star pass rusher Myles Garrett to remain gracious in victory.

The better description might be that Ward came off as unimpressed.

“I treat the wins the same, I treat the losses the same,” Ward said. “There’s always something that I can do better. There’s a lot of plays that I missed out there, just not giving my receivers a chance. I”ll wake up tomorrow and I’ll do the same thing I did last week. Have to be better.”

Ward has no lack of drive, but putting him head-to-head against Sanders in a one-score game was a fun look at how much better he wants to be.

Ward completed 14-of-28 passing for 117 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and an interception. He helped negate Garrett’s league-leading pass rush skills by getting the ball out quickly. Ward did miss a lay-ups and also failed to capitalize on potential chunk passing plays to Van Jefferson and Chimere Dike that just have to become more routine.

A 14-yard score to fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor snapped a season-long drought of opening possessions without a touchdown. Running back Tony Pollard’s career day fueled a season-high 184 team rushing yards finally gave Ward and the offense enough balance to physically grind out a game.

Sanders made it interesting completing 54.8% of his passes for 364 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, another on the ground and an interception.

“With a personality of a Cam Ward, you know, or a Shedeur, both of those guys are competitors,” former Titans receiver Nate Washington said in an appearance on The Buck Reising Show. “I remember coming to Tennessee and signing with the Titans and having an opportunity to go back and play against the Steelers, whether they came to us or we went to them and just remembering like, man, I want to play well this game. Like, ‘I want to show these guys like, hey, I’m not that same guy that you guys knew from from then’. And even when I left Tennessee and went to Houston, you know, I had two touchdowns. Well, one touchdown each of each of those games. And it was important for me to show the Titans like, hey, man, I’m still being able to compete and bring something to the table. So it was always a competitive comparison.

“But as a veteran guy, as a guy that understands the game, someone has to remind him to stay in control and focus on his job, rather than trying“to compare his day or trying to compare his game to what Shadour may have done.”

Ward brooding about being outdueled by Sanders should drive both players in both of their careers for years to come.

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.