NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Titans players on both offense and defense have adopted rookie quarterback Cam Ward as their little brother. Ward wanders around the locker room joking and having a good time with pretty much everyone on the team. But when it's time to take the field, Ward is strictly business.
After leading his team back in improbable fashion to give the Titans their first win of the season Sunday, he got affirmation from one of the team's most-respected veterans in Jeffery Simmons.
"I told him that's why we drafted you with the No. 1 overall pick," Simmons said after the game. "His calmness, his poise in that pocket. I don't know many rookie quarterbacks that could have that type of poise when the game came down to him and he knew it."
Ward had only completed 5 of 16 pass attempts for 58 yards in the first half of the 22-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals on the road, but after being down 21-6 in the fourth quarter, he came alive when it mattered most, going 13 of 18 for 193 yards in the fourth quarter alone.
"The end of the game are what quarterbacks kind of live on," offensive coordinator Nick Holz said. "That was a pretty impressive performance. You really saw the ball come out, and he played really decisively. When you get one of those guys who can do that, you feel really good about it. You know you're never out of it because you have a guy that can bring you back."
Ward said he wished he had gotten off to a better start, but he found solace in a strong finish. Three of Ward's best throws came in the clutch. Two of them were deep throws to Calvin Ridley for a total of 85 yards. Ward also found Gunnar Helm on a perfect over-the-shoulder throw for 19 yards that got them down to the 1-yard line, setting up a Tony Pollard touchdown run.
The win over the Cardinals hardly means Ward or the Titans have arrived. It took a couple of miraculous plays to come out victorious.
Cardinals running back Emari Demercado's 72-yard run should have put the game away in the fourth quarter. But he fumbled the ball into the end zone before scoring, which led to a touchback that gave the Titans the ball at their 20-yard line. A few series later, Ward's pass intended for Ridley was tipped by Arizona linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. and intercepted by Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. But Taylor-Demerson fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Tyler Lockett in the end zone for the score.
Despite a career-high 265 passing yards, Ward was focused on being a more consistent player and attacking the week of preparation in hopes of stacking another win Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox) against the Las Vegas Raiders (1-4).
"We still have a lot to prove to ourselves from an execution standpoint," Ward said. "Not having interceptions, fumbles, negative plays, that's the biggest thing. A lot of times throughout the season, we've always shot ourselves in the foot. We didn't do that towards the end of the game, so we just got to build off that."
Titans coach Brian Callahan agrees with Ward's conclusion. Callahan emphasized that there are still plenty of things to correct despite the win.
"That's not the way we want to live, nor is it sustainable," Callahan said of the comeback win. "We got to find a way to play better earlier. That's the key and having the same mentality about how we feel after a loss when you're correcting the tape and making sure you're correcting what needs to get corrected."
Despite the circus-like events that fell in the Titans' favor, they know that Ward is the key to success. His numbers through his first five starts leave room for a lot of improvement, but Week 5 was the breakthrough that they had been waiting for.
For example, per Next Gen Stats, Ward's 51.8 overall completion percentage is 6.3% lower than any other starting quarterback. He's completed a league-low 30.8% of his passes of 10 or more air yards. The league average is 47.9%.
Ward's three best throws each traveled more than 10 yards and had a major impact on the game. Callahan was pleased with the results in that small pocket of success, but wants more of it over the long haul.
"Be at your best when your best is required," Callahan said. "That was a big moment for his development as a young player. Now, how do we play with that sort of efficiency and that sort of precision from the first quarter to the fourth quarter? I'm really happy for what he's shown and grown with, and to see him in a big moment with the deck stacked against him and come through and play well at the end of the game was really encouraging."
