ESPN reacts to Cameron Ward falls short in debut as Tennessee Titans loss to Broncos 20-12 in opener

Cool and collected for now. First overall pick Cam Ward making his nine yardd game. Calm, cool, and collected. Picking up right where he left off at Miami would lead to a field goal. Last year’s 12th overall picks. New Jersey. Same results. Broncos lead 20 to2 on Dobbins first touchdown with his new team. Broncos trying to seal it with a minute left. Deciding to go for it on fourth and eight. Knicks just gives it the old heaveho to Marvin Mims. out of reach. Shawn Peyton’s gamble doesn’t pay off. So Ward in his first game in the NFL with a chance. 55 seconds. Second and 10. Got to catch that. Yes. Alvin Ridley must. Oh, Cam Ward’s dad. His front side. Jaquan McMillan with a sack fumble recovered by Denver to seal it. One of six sacks on Ward in this game as the Broncos take it 20-2. And life comes at you fast in the NFL. So do those edge rushers. Ward in his debut 12 of 28 for 112. Knicks spun it 40 times, but some questions there as well. All right, teams with the top overall pick in week one. You know, well documented is the stat that quarterback selected first overall. They don’t they don’t win in week one outside of Caleb Williams a year ago. It just doesn’t happen in 2025. No exception to the rule. Always begs question. when you get a number one pick out on the field for the first time. We’ll go there. I want some B Knicks as well. But let’s start here with the top overall pick in Cam Ward. We saw him under siege for much of this day. I was impressed in the way that he climbed some of those muddy pockets, but I I don’t know how much assessment we could do with the pocket he was given. Yeah, it was it was a long day. I I felt like it would be a long day with this matchup and knowing how well the Denver Broncos rushed the passer and they beat him up. They sacked him six times. I I think they hit him another 10 times. I mean, it was hard. It was a hard long day for Cam Ward. But to your point, Joe, he made some nice throws. I mean, the kid is a natural thrower of the football. I love his confidence. And the thing I love about today’s meeting for him in terms of experience. He got beat up, but he never wavered. He never blinked. He kept standing up, standing tall in the pocket, and trying to deliver for his guys. And unfortunately, there were some plays where his experienced players kind of let him down. So, he won’t see this type of pass rush week in and week out. But this is a great test on what the NFL is like. You’re not playing against Wake Forest. You’re not playing against Virginia. You’re playing against some of the best in the world. And when they see an opportunity, I’m sorry, they caught a straight. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give a straight out. But when you’re playing against the best in the world, it can be tough. And that was that’s what today was. Yeah, it was a it was definitely a learning curve for Cam today. Um um and I knew that it was going to be tough for him because I play for Vance Joseph. I knew the pressure that Vance love to send out send out quarterbacks because he’s a former quarterback in himself. So I know what he wants to present to the quarterback each and every down, especially a young quarterback. But to your point as well, Cam, he stood in there. He stood tall. He he he didn’t waver from the adversity. He looked it right in the face. But there’s some things he’s going to have to clean up because there was a point in this game to where he had his team in position off a muff punt and he took two critical sacks. Those are some of the things that he’s going to have to clean up in this game in order for him to take the next step. And I’m so glad that you brought that up because there’s about 11 minutes left in the game. It’s a 1312 game. Denver has the lead and Denver muffs the punt and so now Tennessee has the football at the 24 yd line. They came away with zero points from that because Cam Ward took two sacks, one of 16 yards and one of 11 yards, took them out of field goal range and they wound up having to punt at that moment when you were playing on the road at Mile High, which actually is the toughest place to play in September in large part because of the altitude. People aren’t used to it, especially at the beginning of the year, but the home team is right. You could have taken the lead right there. It could have been a 1513 game, right? Not even a touchdown, just kick it. And now now you’re putting the pressure on Bo Knicks who did not play well, who made mistakes today. So that was on Cam Ward. And then when they get the ball back with a minute left, when Shawn Peyton gifts him the ball basically at midfield, Calvin Ridley, but buddy, you are the one like top 100 player on that side of the football for this team. So you got to make that catch and his teammates let him down at that point in the fourth quarter. Yeah, he is one of the pieces in charge of unlocking the talent of Cam Ward. Not what we wanted to see from Ridley there. Maybe not what we wanted to see from Bo Knicks throughout this ball game. A couple questionable throws. Shawn Peyton obviously trusts his quarterback. It looked like maybe the play calling opened up a little bit from what we saw in season number one for Bo Knicks. Pat, I want to come to you first here. How did you assess the play? I thought uh the the play calling was a little suspect in my opinion. I I felt like they tried to throw a bunch of hideout plays, but they was perfectly covered. You know, both of those interceptions seem it was throwing the ball across his body, rolling out left, I believe, trying to throw it back right. Those just some throws that that are very very low completion rate throws. So, I believe the play calling kind of bit boicks in in the behind just a little bit to force those interceptions. And outside of the play calling, I noticed when they sent pressure, Bo seemed to be uncomfortable. He started to really press. Now, you know, Mike Tom used to tell us all the time in Pittsburgh, Pat, you know about this. Anytime you put bad tape out there for the NFL world to see, be prepared to see it week in and week out until you make it right. So now, if you’re going against the Denver Broncos, you saw the pressure that was getting at Bo Knicks and how rattled it made him. That’s what you’re going to see week in and week out until you become better at it. So, when you look at some of the rated uh a rate throws, it was because the pressure was there and he didn’t look comfortable like he did last year. You remember what Bo did? He was able to extend plays, make things happen with his legs. We didn’t see that. It was almost like he was trying to force himself in the pocket. I don’t like that for Bo Knicks because your athleticism is a blessing in which you could use to be a better quarterback, a really good quarterback like a year ago. Get out of the pocket and just become a plus one in the running game. Yeah, this is a Tennessee Titans team that isn’t all that talented and this is a defense that isn’t all that good, right? They weren’t last year. it was probably going to continue into this year. And so the fact that you have a playoff team in the Denver Broncos, one that obviously this is a team that’s led by its defense, but Shawn Peyton, Bo Knicks were cooking with gas for part a large part of last season. The fact that they struggled the way that they did, the fact that really it was Cam Ward’s teammates that let them let him down where we could have been seeing some throws into the end zone to potentially tie this game and maybe go into overtime. Little disappointed in what I saw out of Denver. If you ever have the option, learn within a win. And that is Bo Knicks day here as the Broncos do take down Cam Ward of the Titans in his NFL debut. Most games without a touchdown. Yes, we keep track. Six times the Titans have not scored a touchdown in the first touchdown of the career of Cam Ward. We’ll have to wait. 13 games in total on this NFL Sunday. And we got a

ESPN reacts to Cameron Ward falls short in debut as Tennessee Titans loss to Broncos 20-12 in opener

34 comments

  2. We got away w a lot but playing a role, we also tried out luck w some unfamiliar play calling. Titans could have definitely stolen this game…can’t play like this v the Colts

  4. and to add salt to the wound for us Titans fans….that one Win that shows up on that chart….by Caleb Williams rookie debut came against……the Titans…can't forget Will Levis tossing the game away on the pick 6. 2:10

  11. Cam needs to pull off heat off some those passes specifically ones off the seams. Yea its good for release but dont help your wrs when your throwing 100mph from 10 yards out

  12. 6 sacks for a loss of 50yards that’s a good game .. but we hold other rookie Qbs over the years to a different standard 👀👀of getting the ball out your hands ok he made some good throws but that’s a whole half of football field it didn’t come down to that drop pass

  14. Tennessee let this game slip away from them they were in it to win it all game!!!!! Cam ward did pretty good in my opinion the receiver's let cam down by not catching the football 🏈 more drives could of ended with 3 points if not 7 if they just caught the football 🏈!!!!! Calvin Ridley was terrible a high school player who's receiver probably had better stats then Ridley!!!!! So overall I think Ridley isn't a number one receiver 😂 number one receiver's catch the football 🏈 and he failed to do so and Tennessee overpaid him contract wise as well!!!!! The Titans need to trade Ridley and possibly a draft pick for a better receiver in my opinion

  15. Cam Ward looked very promising with that arm. Coaches didn't do him many favors and he knew the Broncos were always going to kill him in his first game. Broncos offense is anemic as you could see in the preseason but I also thought the Titans D made it really hard for Bo Nix and company and only a few big plays made the difference. 6 sacks x 17 games = 102 sacks this year for the Broncos lol.

  17. If you watched this game, you would know yes, Cam didn’t have a great game but for his first time out there playing for this poverty coach, he made some great passes that shows promise moving forward

  25. Now yall saying WR are the problem but yet Levis sucked no Levis was a rookie in a shit situation just like cam but now people defend cam 🤣 cam isn’t gonna get to sit behind that Miami o line anymore true colors are about to show

  28. The head coaches play calling just sucks. He put the game in Ward’s hands like he was Tom Brady. I mean get a clue as this is how coaches ruin QBs. No surprise that San Diego and Denver have gotten much better. Its the coach!

  29. You say Titans defense isn't all that good? REALLY???? So the #2 pass defense, #12 rush defense, and #2 total defense for yards allowed isn't that good? This show lost all credibility with that take.

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