Film Study: THEY WON A GAME: How Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans best the Arizona Cardinals

Film Study: THEY WON A GAME: How Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans best the Arizona Cardinals

All right, let’s talk about uh quarterback who won a game last week. Cam Ward pulls off the victory and the Titans as a whole pull off the victory. Let’s talk about uh you know there’s a couple good plays early on, a lot of not great stuff, but they finally were able to turn the corner towards the end. Let’s talk about it all. First, this was a good play. Calvin Ridley, who we’ll touch on more in this game, but he he had some some good plays here. He looked like Calvin Ridley again. You see this is zone coverage. you have a one-on-one match up with him going towards the outside right here. You’re going to see that Cam Ward takes the snap, runs a play action, you know, well blocked play, and you see Ridley’s just able to get open. And this is a big part of what what I want to see when I’m trying to evaluate a quarterback is, you know, if no one’s getting open, it’s hard to evaluate, right? Like there’s only so much you can do. Well, here you have someone getting open. Uh, now you see Ward getting rid of the ball at the perfect time. Ridley makes the grab even, you know, says, “Hey, I’m not out of bounds yet. I can pick up a couple more yards.” was good play by him. Really well-ran route, but a good job by Cam Ward. And these are the kind of things you want to see. Unfortunately, you didn’t see these uh a ton uh in the first three quarters. There was some good plays like this one for example. You see how this actually a really good play by Ward. It’s the Cardinals are going to sell as though they’re blitzing on this one. They will drop back into coverage and just play zone. And it’s a third down and six. So, you know, the idea is get Ward to throw the ball quicker than he needs to and get an incompletion or maybe even a turnover. That’s a route on the screen that can definitely work against this coverage. But the issue is Ward’s going to have to read this coverage well and make sure he doesn’t throw this at a bad time that could result in a turnover. However, that’s going to be exactly what he does. He takes a snap, puts it really right on the money, maybe a touch behind, but still very catchable ball. And given the concept, you have to make sure you just get it through the window. And sometimes your receivers is going to have to make a tough catch because of that. So I I have no issue with that throw whatsoever. I think it’s actually a good play by Ward just ultimately uh you know Cardinals not able to or excuse me Titans not able to capitalize with the catch. That was Tyler Lockett who’s having a very bizarre uh season. Um but yeah the not able to not able to get that done. Also, this play too. Like, it wasn’t There were some stuff like this where it’s like I have a hard time fully blaming the uh the receivers, but also you could argue some of it, the blame goes there. So, it’s a zone coverage concept and you have a receiver running a deeper route that’s going to go over the middle. And this is trying to just get the corner who’s on that side of the field to go over the middle with this receiver. Then, they will have a player whose lineup as a fullback run a route to where that corner now isn’t. That’s the way this play is designed to work. pitch uh Julius Chestnut who was running this play who again part of why you you run to play through Julius Chestnut is because teams are not expecting you to throw to a guy named Julius Chestnut. Well, you’re going to see that Cam Ward runs to play action. Chestnut is open right here. That’s just a great name. That’s a, you know, awesome name for Julius Chestnut. Um here though, the throw is a touch off. I think if that’s a receiver, that’s still an easy catch. It was a little bit high. And again, that’s the downside of throwing to Julius Chestnut instead of maybe someone else who’s more used to getting the ball is, you know, uh, they could have made the grabs. So again, like the concept, like the play design, got to be a little bit more precise and just the players have to execute and get that play to work. Also, this play, so this is a third down and three situation. So Titans are going to try for a quick pass here. Ward’s going to take the snap. This ball ends up getting tipped at the line. Might have had a chance of being caught, but you see the contact was early and the flag came out. They picked up that flag though because the ball was tipped. So on a tipped pass, you’re allowed to now contact uh players. So no pass interference. The Titans punted in this situation. They actually punted three straight times kind of around midfield. One was a fourth and three, one was a fourth and two, and one was a fourth and one. They punted on all those. So getting close to the first down marker, but those are three straight three and outs. Wouldn’t have hated going for some of those. But now let’s go over here. So the Titans decide not to. And ultimately at a certain point, you know, the the defense is kind of keeping you in it. And if we’re being honest, Cardinals mistakes is keeping you in it. The Cardinals fumbled the ball at the oneyd line. Obvious, you know, just dropped the ball at the one yardd line. They also uh had a play bounced off Kyler Murray’s helmet on the snap and then was recovered by Tennessee. But still with 12 minutes left, you’re down 15. You need a play here. And this is going to be Calvin Ridley going up against zone coverage, quarters coverage, going a deep shot over the middle. Ward is going to take the snap. A lot of times these routes get covered up by both safeties, but really again I think maybe both were a little bit late in getting over there, possibly thinking the other guy was going to grab him. Also just a great route by Ridley uh to beat I think the safety that you see in that black circle with him uh read the play and was trying to get over and Ridley just ran around to beat him and Ward to his credit paying attention to this makes a beautifully accurate throw down the field. good catch from Ridley and a really good route from Ridley and they’re able to pick up that big completion. This is something we thought we were going to see entering the season and we just unfortunately haven’t seen as much. Well, we were able to see it here. This next one, um it’s going to be a man coverage concept right here. And they’re going to run a little pick play/ uh rub route here. Ridley is going to get in the way of the uh the player who’s covering a tight end. The tight end runs uh down the field. That’s the way this is designed to work. But when Ward takes the snap, a couple things here. So, it’s Gunnar Helm who is running this route and it’s it’s honestly covered very well by Arizona. They’re doing a good job on this play. Also, they’re doing a good job of creating pressure for Cam Ward. So, under pressure again, you got to get the ball into the end zone here. You’re down 15. You need to you need a play. So, Ward wall under pressure gets the ball over there and throws a beautiful throw. I mean, that’s a that’s a highlevel throw, right? This is why you draft Cam Ward first overall. You know it. Are there more consistent play players in the NFL today? Absolutely. But there are not 32 quarterbacks who can make some of these throws that he can make. He has the talent to be a star player and that’s why you draft him first overall. This play, another example where it’s going to be a zone coverage concept and kind of the way it works is you have a tight end running a deeper route to try and clear out the area. Ridley’s going to be right with him but stop in a gap in coverage. Hopefully this can get open. Ward is going to take the snap. And like I mean this is is this open? Like there is a tight window here. You can see what Ward likes about it which is the Cardinals player kind of further towards the sideline is covering the back who’s in the flat underneath right here. There is another Arizona player but you know he’s a couple steps away from the play. So Ward’s basically just going to say I think I can get it there before Arizona can adjust to this. Look at that tight window throw man. I mean there are three Cardinals right around that area. But hey, if it works, it works, right? And for for Cam Ward, it worked. He got the completion there. So, you know, it was only second and 10, but helped set up a third down and short that allowed them to set up this next play. This one was weird. No getting around it. This was weird. So, um it’s a threeman rush. Uh and the rush is slow to get there. Ward’s going around trying to see if he can make a play happen. Again, no issues with this. This is what he did in college. This is what he does well. Uh moving outside and, you know, around the pocket. Uh what’s going to happen is watch as this ball gets tipped up and intercepted. So it’s a tipped interception and then there’s a fumble. The ball gets batted into the end zone and the Titans recover and score a touchdown that allows them to make it just a two-point game. So I mean if the Cardinals just don’t fumble the football after getting the interception, then things are good. Obviously it was a fluky interception to begin with. So incredibly fluky play, but just as you draw it up, the tipped pass, interception, fumble, recovery in the end zone. Tyler Lockett recovered that. So, hey, uh, making making the play of the game in a sense. Uh, although I would actually say one other play was the real play of the game. Heading over here, I talked about Ridley’s big day. I’ve already mentioned his name a couple of times. Well, here I don’t get the coverage for Arizona. I really don’t. They’re leaving Ridley one-on-one on the outside in a situation where uh the Titans, you know, if if they gain the a chunk play here with 33 seconds left, they can kick a field goal four to win. Uh, only 33 seconds left though and one timeout. The Titans probably do need a chunk play if they’re going to get a a easy field goal. Maybe they can get a little bit to get a long field goal, but you don’t want that. Ward’s going to take the snap. He’s He knows where he wants to go all the way. He looks directly at the safety. Usually when quarterbacks do that, they’re just trying to not tell the safety what they’re doing because of that. The safety goes on the other side of the field. Now he goes and looks towards Ridley who is not wide open. I mean, there is a step, but there is just a step. This is going to have to take a perfect throw. But look at that thing, man. I mean, that is you couldn’t ask for anything better than that. Ridley gets the catch. They get inside the 15 yardd line. They do kick the game-winning field goal. So, like, yeah, I mean, impressive day from Cam Ward. It’s still not the cleanest stuff right now, but like it’s really good. And even the interception wasn’t his fault. Like, I don’t know. I mean, this is this is what you want to see. And I think if Ridley can really get going here, it’s what gives you you hope if you’re a Titans fan. They play some, you know, maybe not the strongest uh teams the next couple weeks. You play the Raiders the following week, the the Patriots the week after who do look good, but you know, we’ll see. You get a little bit of time to uh to try and adjust and make things look better. But for a season that’s all about developing Cam Ward, getting a performance like this has to make you feel good if you’re a Titans fan. So yeah, that’s what I think. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Always love hearing from you. And of course, as always, thanks for watching.

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