Cam Ward puts on teach tape clinic in improved Titans offense | The Install with Greg Cosell

Cam Ward puts on teach tape clinic in improved Titans offense | The Install with Greg Cosell

Welcome into the install with Greg Coell of NFL Films. Greg, good to have you for another week. Things not obviously going the Titans way as far as the record goes. trade deadline is right around the corner and they’ve started to move some parts here. But I I was really encouraged by the fact that uh not only did Mike McCoy at the podium on Monday after the Colts game have really glowing praise for Cam Ward, but you very rarely go out of your way to text me before we do the podcast. Uh not not generally, but like about specific plays, about things that you’re excited about. Thank you. I just, you know, I’m just grinding away watching tape. I don’t normally text. You know, I think the most relatable thing for you to say there uh would be that the audience would identify with the idea that you don’t want to talk to me more than you have to during the week. I understand, buddy. It’s okay. I get it. I really do. Right. Right. Right. But you you did seem excited about the idea that Cam Ward, despite the margin of defeat, came away with one of his more complete performances without question. And just one quick overriding worldview that I think and I know that this is hard for fans, but I think right now with the the personnel staff that they have, they’re veterans. They understand where this team is. The goal now is to is to acquire as many draft picks as possible. acquire as much talent as possible because if we’re being honest, as the personnel department knows, and like I said, fans don’t like to hear this, but there are realities, is it’s a team that’s talent deficient. So, you know, people might look at Roger McCreary and say, “Oh, he’s their slot corner, nice player.” The point is they’re not going to sign him after this season. Uh, he’s good, but not great. So, let’s let’s just start accumulating draft picks. That’s the overriding goal here. They need talent. They need players. So essentially, I think they’ve said that there’s two guys that are untouchable. That’s Warden Simmons. And I think at that point, you’re dealing with, hey, if if a team makes an offer and you can get draft picks, we’re good to go. So anyway, that’s kind of the overriding view because it’s not really about obviously would they like to win on Sunday against the Chargers? Of course they would. But it’s not really about that right now. It’s about making sure that Cam Ward continues to develop into ideally a great player. And and to their credit, Greg, and I know again to your point, fans don’t want to hear this when you you you want your football season to matter, and obviously it’s been some time since the Titans have played meaningful games, but Mike Borgansi and Chad Brinker have been straight up about this from the from the jump essentially that they want to accumulate, I believe they said, uh 30 picks in the in the next three drafts and uh as many picks in the top 100 as they can get. I think somewhere between 10 to 12 was kind of their their stated goal if I remember correctly. So, they’ve been upfront with people about the idea that this is just going to take time and that they’ve started to show some signs with the young offensive players. Now, they can focus down the road on defense and kind of balance this thing out as we go. At least that’s the hope, right? That’s the plan. And then you have to draft well. And obviously not every pick will be perfect, but you hope you draft well enough that players turn out to be good or even an impact player because you can get an impact player in the second or third round. That does happen in the league as we know. So that’s the plan. But anyway, the goal is as we discussed um I guess when when coach Callahan got got fired that the focus has to be on making Cam Ward a great player. Whoever the coach is, however they go about it, that’s got to be the plan. Because otherwise, unfortunately, as I said to you a few weeks ago, you and I would be having the same conversation in two or three years, you know, and we don’t want to be having that conversation in two or three years, nor do the fans. Um, but I thought, you know, let me try to put Cam Ward in context the way I look at quarterbacks. A lot of people might be aware of that if they’ve had a chance to come to our install, if they’ve heard me speak with you and on 3HL over the last number of years. You know, there’s certain things that I look for when when you look at a quarterback that you have to be able to do in the NFL. We we know that there’s basics, you know, and I’m giving a very cliffnotes version, but you we know that you have to be able to to make the right decisions and throw the ball accurately. You know, that that that would be the bottom line. But then there’s so many things that go into that. And one of the things you have to be able to do in this league, especially as a pocket quarterback, and even though Cam can make some plays with movement, if he’s going to become a great player, it’s going to be be because he becomes a precision pocket quarterback. And one of those things is being able to deliver the football with bodies around you. You have to be able to deliver the ball from squeezed pockets because that’s going to happen in this league. And as an overview of of his game against the Colts, I thought he showed tremendous poise and composure in squeezed pockets. I mean, quite frankly, the O line, despite being rebuilt to some degree, has not played up to the level that that they’ve hoped. That’s just the reality. Um, so he’s been under a lot of duress this year. And it’s been mixed. Being fair, the the results have been uneven. There’s been times he’s been good and other times he’s been not so good. um and he’ll have to continue to progress in that area. But I thought that on the first possession this week, it was third and 10 and he at DK who by the way is really coming on and I really liked his tape coming out of Florida and I did get a chance to chat with him briefly when I was down there. Really impressive kid as I’m sure you know, you know, you’ve probably had a chance to talk to him as well. Really impressive kid. Um I thought that was a great example of a couple of things. Number one, it’s third and 10. very difficult down to convert in the National Football League even for great quarterbacks. And what happened is the Colts ended up playing cover two that they got to by changing the picture buck pre- snap to post snap with late rotation, which not only is can be a problem for a young quarterback, but that can be a problem for any quarterback. And you’re seeing that more and more in the league where teams change the picture pre- snap to postnap because now they’re demanding that the quarterback be a postnap operator. He’s got to see that in the space of a beat because he doesn’t have a lot of time. So that’s the first thing and Cam recognized that. And the second thing, the pocket got really squeezed on him. So he made the right throw. The concept was what we call dagger where it’s an inside vertical and a dig outside underneath it. And DK ran the dig. And he read it. He stood in there. He delivered the football. And there was there was a body. I think I think it was Moore that might have been pushed back into him if I’m not mistaken. Um, and he and literally when he threw the ball there was you probably couldn’t have put a piece of sandpaper between Moore and uh and and and Ward and you know he felt that. There’s no question quarterbacks feel that stuff but he didn’t break down. He kept his eyes downfield and he delivered a strike. And those are the kinds of things I look at that that you have to be able to do in this league. And I thought right away I said, “Oh, haven’t seen a lot of that this year. That’s a really good sign.” Um, and that happened a number of times throughout the game, which is why I initially mentioned Buck, the poise and composure, because don’t forget this kid’s been under a ton of pressure all year. It’s very easy for quarterbacks like, look, I can go back years and years tell you about quarterbacks that literally never got over the fact that they were under incredible duress as rookies and never never could really get beyond that. And it’s it’s a hard thing. Yeah. And and he’s managing the situation as best he can. Right now, Greg, he is the most sacked quarterback in in football. And again, we understand that some of these things are are self-inflicted. Some of these things are offensive line. Some of these things are just good plays by the defense, well dialed up blitzes and things like that. Like every just like interceptions, sacks have context, but it’s a learning process for him. Now, this drive ultimately, this this drive where he completed the pass on third and 10, it ultimately ends in a sack and they’re not able to uh they’re not able to come away with points on that specific drive, but he did extend the drive and give them an opportunity uh as that game started. I want to go to another play in the first half that you mentioned, a throw to ELM, a completion to Elle Manor uh in this game that was a first and 10 play with 26 seconds left in the half that ended up being a 26-yd reception. What did you see? What was the concept? This this was a big time throw. This this is an NFL throw right here. Um and it was 26 seconds a 26yd play. It was late in the first half as you mentioned. Um and you know it was the middle was open. That’s what we call when the safeties are split we call middle open. So it was a seam throw by Ward and again it was a squeezed pocket because Moore got driven back into the pocket like Lu. But Ward stayed poised and he drove a strike with velocity and precise ball placement to eye manner. That was one of those throws that you just go, “Wow, that that that’s an NFL big-time throw.” Um, again, I don’t watch press conferences. It would not have surprised me if if Mike McCoy mentioned that play specifically because it’s just one of those plays, you know, where you kind of go, “Wow, that’s that’s really good.” So, I don’t know. Did he happen to mention that? I’d be curious. He he he did actually and uh it was unfortunate because he was talking about within the context of the end of half and obviously they were trying to get field goal position. They miss the field goal uh and don’t come away with points but still Mike McCoy was very encouraged about the fact that Cam Ward put them in that position. Yeah. And that was big- time throw. Now, there’s one other play, you know, just which a lot of people are probably looking at and saying, you know, oh god, you got to make that throw. And that was an incompletion he threw to Ayam Manor where he was open. Um, and probably people think, oh, you got to make that throw. Well, it’s funny because um Manner actually slowed down. He was not expecting the ball because he was not really the read on that play. And I’m sure fans are not aware of this. They probably think, oh, you know, he’s open. You got to make the throw. Jefferson on the outcut at the sticks was the primary read and it was third and 14 and Ayam man was really clearing out to create space underneath and then the defense unfortunately did not play it properly. The halffield safety Moore just didn’t didn’t react to Ayam Manor, but he but I manner slowed down and then all of a sudden he’s open and Ward sees it and he throws it and it looks like oh my god what a bad throw. He overthrows him. But that was not on Ward. That was on Manner. He even if you’re a clear out guy you can’t slow down. Yeah. And and Mike McCoy also talked about that, Greg, because from our vantage point, at least in the immediate, right, it looked like a Cam Ward miss. And then you see the replay in the press box uh in the televisions above us for those who aren’t familiar with the press press box setup. And you do see him kind of look up and and not quite pause, but obviously he’s not running full tilt. No. No. So, like I said, you see it on t whether you’re watching for a fan, you know, in in Nashville, whether you’re watching on TV or you’re at the game or whatever, the immediate response is, “Oh my god, I am manner wide open. Cam Ward’s got to make that throw.” But that’s what happened on the play. So, you know, I just want to give that some context because we know that Ward, you know, he’s obviously been up and down this year and the team’s not done well. And it’s always easy to look at the quarterback and say, “Gee, did we make a mistake, you know, with our draft and all that?” you know how you know you all those conversations start but that was not on Cam Ward. Uh a play that Cam did make is a second and 10 in the second half of this game. Now the Titans at this point are trailing 31 to7 but obviously still trying to make something happen. Uh he finds Chigonquo the tight end over the middle for a deep ball. It’s a 23 yd gain. Yeah this this this is just a really good throw. The coverage it was what we call twoman coverage. So what they’re doing is they’re playing two deep safeties and man coverage underneath. And normally when you play man coverage underneath in two man with two deep safeties very often the the the uh man coverage guys can kind of play underneath routes because they know they have someone over the top. So they they almost can try to undercut or tailgate routes is the term we use. Um and a conquarded situation. Um the linebacker matched him. the linebacker Johnson, a player who doesn’t play a lot, but he was the linebacker there. Um, and uh, I thought that, you know, Al Conro, he ran the dig route. He created separation out of his speed cut. And this is what you look for on throws like this. You look for where is the ball placed because you can get completions on these plays, but you want to give him the ball so he can run when he catches it. Okay? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen completions where it’s thrown on a guy’s back hip, he gets tackled right away. It’s still a completion. It still gain gains yards. It looks good in the box score, but he put it right out in front of Chig and he allowed him to then continue and make it a 23 yard gain rather than, you know, maybe a 15 yard gain. And you know, all yards matter in the NFL. And that’s what you look for with quarterbacks is where do they place the ball when receivers are relatively open by NFL standards. Do they give the receiver a chance to run after catch? Because the reality in the NFL, Buck, and maybe a lot of fans don’t see it this way, but run after catch is a function of the quarterback 99% of the time, not the receiver. So, you want to see the quarterback place the ball where the receiver can then run. He doesn’t have to slow down. He doesn’t have to reach back. He doesn’t have to reach up or down. He can just keep going and run with the football. And that throw was placed perfectly. Yeah. and and Greg, they’ve talked a lot this in the last couple of weeks, obviously, since the coaching change was made, about what they’re what the the growth that they’re trying to accomplish that they weren’t quite seeing it in the early part of the season. And, you know, again, they’re not they’re not improving by leaps and bounds in real time. As as you’ve mentioned, this is not microwave results. And he’s going to have to do uh you know, a thousand more of these reps in game before he gets to any level of mastery. We understand this. There’s a whole offseason for him to improve things like footwork without question that we’ve talked about as well. But they’ve improved in a number of different categories offensively. The offense while they while they may not be having the the the scoring success that they quite want to, there is a little bit more fluidity, a little bit more uh continuity to the offense and and Cam Ward seems to be getting that too. It looks more like an NFL passing game now. You know, it’s just But I want to make two points because I don’t want people listening to think, oh my god, that team’s bad. Ward’s not great. You know, you’re making it sound like he’s Tom Brady. No, that’s not the point. So, let me give you two things that do show up on tape and that need to be improved. I think overall he must become quicker with his reads. Sometimes he leaves clean throws on the field and then gets stuck in the pocket and then then the sacks are on him. When you get stuck in the pocket as a quarterback, the sacks are on you. You should not be getting stuck in the pocket. Okay. The other thing I would say is and and this is what I’m sure Mike McCoy is working with because he coached Philip River so he understands this um Ward needs to develop a more refined sense of what I would call the choreography of the passing game meaning tying his footwork and his drop and his back foot plan which must become firmer by the way to his eyes and his delivery. That all has to become tied together, you know, in a more you, like I said, choreography is a good word. You think of dancers with choreography, but that’s really what it is. You know, it’s really a dance. I mean, you you you you take the snap, you drop back. There has to be a rhythm to it. There has to be a bounce to it. Then you plant that back foot. Your eyes and and your feet have to be tied together. You know where you’re looking. You deliver the football. It’s all tied together. Cam has to develop a better sense of that because in in college you could sit there and wait and then deliver the ball. You know, uh in the NFL, you can’t sit there and wait and deliver the ball. You’ve got to it has to be cleaner. Uh he’s brought up a number of uh different times the kind of teach tape that they’re showing him, Greg. And in fact, the the opponent for the Titans this weekend, the Chargers, he’s brought up Justin Herbert as an example that they’ve showed Cam Ward a couple of different times. And obviously they’re not similar like players, but they’re they’re trying to show him operation, right? In some ways they are, but go ahead. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. No, no, I I I’d let you take it from there because Herbert is obviously a highle he’s no longer a prospect. Obviously, he’s been in the league for quite some time, but you’ve seen the development of of Herbert’s tools. Obviously, getting Joe Alt back into the lineup helped them tremendously on a number of different fronts based what based on what Los Angeles wants to do. But I guess where where would you kind of talk about similarities between those two players? Well, Herbert was a guy to me that and I liked him coming out. Obviously, who didn’t? I mean, the kid I I I’ve seen him in person. The guy just he’s he’s out of GQ magazine as a quarterback, you know, he’s central casting, but um and obviously he’s much bigger than Ward, but but Herbert did have to in become more refined as well in terms of playing with the timing and choreography of the pass game. You know, he needed that. you know, he’s another guy that that, you know, in didn’t didn’t come into the league having that particular trait and he’s developed that more and more as he’s played and it’s coaching. It’s just it’s just playing, you know, you got to play. So, in in that sense that there is that similarity. Um, but, you know, I think again, we know the Chargers are a good team. Could this Sunday be a game where they lose 30 to 10 and and it looks like the board takes a step back? Sure. because this is going to be a process. I didn’t want to make it sound like, oh my god, now he’s there and now every game’s going to be great. But the point is, you see enough snapshots where you think, okay, it’s all there within this kid and the fact that the poise and composure to me given the the offensive line play, given how often he’s been sacked, given the fact that there have been numerous times this year where there were not clean looks and he and he couldn’t get rid of the football in his in his mind. um just you know he played against a really good team last week. I mean the Colts are one of the best teams in the league right now clearly. Um do they have the best defense in the league? No. But they’re one of the best teams in the league. And he played with a with a lot of poise, a sense of awareness. I thought, you know, I thought he he he played through the process of playing quarterback. It’s a term I hear from Kurt Warner a lot who I I know well and talk to and, you know, he teaches me about the quarterback position a lot too. you know, I try to learn from as many people as I can and you know, he he played through the the process and the schematics of the pass game and and you got to be able to do that. You can’t be a really good NFL quarterback if you can’t do that. You know, we all get excited when he runs around and makes a throwback across the field and is he capable of doing that? Sure. But that’s not what’s going to make him a great quarterback if he’s to reach that level. Yeah. You want that to be the exception, not the rule. You want him to operate within the concept of the offense or the concepts of the offense and and do, you know, make the the the the the things that would seem monotonous to fans or whatever be routine so that he can be the most efficient version of himself and operate at the highest level. I’ll give you a play that that is probably a nothing play. Okay? It was early in the fourth quarter. He got sacked. Okay? And that sack was on Ward. Um um Ada Bori sacked him. You probably remember the play early in the fourth. Ward had Jefferson open on the dig route but didn’t turn it loose. That was an example where he never settled himself in the pocket ready to deliver. I mentioned that he has to, you know, plant that back foot more firmly. They that’s something he’s got to continue to work on. So, he gets sacked. So, the very next play, I think it’s either second or 15 or third and 15, I can’t remember. But he then comes back and hits DK for 14 yards, which he showed great coverage recognition and outstanding timing and and actually um the pass rusher beat the left tackle more and he took a shot just as he finished his delivery, but he threw that ball really early. If you were sitting with me in my office, Buck, and I froze it literally just before he separated his hands, you’d go, I’m not sure he’s throwing it to. you know, it doesn’t look like there’s receiver. You know, that’s but that came right after a sack and that says a lot cuz here he gets sacked. I guarantee deep down he knew that I missed that throw. That sacks on me. Players know that stuff and then he comes back and executes at a high level. You know, those are the things you look for. Staying poised, staying calculated within the game, staying controlled within the game. I think he’s done a pretty good job of that throughout the season. He he’s a tough kid and he’s going to have to be to to battle his way through the rest of what this is going to be and and obviously we’re just looking for those moments of incremental growth to put together a more a more a well-rounded picture of what Cam Ward can continue to become. And because the team’s not very good and the defense in particular is not very good as well. We talked about the O line. You know, there’s games where you get behind pretty big, you know, everything changes. It’s hard to play that way and it just magnifies, it makes the quarterback very often look like he’s bad, but it’s just hard to play that way and the coaches don’t want to play that way because then you feel like your game plan, you know, you might as well just tear up that sheet of paper and and move to something else because you can’t it becomes we’ve got to throw it almost every play. You try to stay as balanced as you can because it’s so hard to pass protect every single play, you know, for the O line because that’s a re that’s a reactive uh athletic move as opposed to a proactive athletic move. Pass protection I’m talking about. So, it’s very hard and the guys rushing are better athletes than your alignment. Absolutely. Uh four teams on a buy in week nine. Of course, you can get the rest of your NFL weekend started with the NFL matchup show. will have the Ravens at the Dolphins tonight, which is actually a more intriguing team than the record between these two teams would indicate. But with with uh Greg, with what’s uh coming up on the matchup show, there are a handful of intriguing matchups all over the place. What are you highlighting this week? Well, obviously the game that everybody points to when the schedule comes out, it’s probably the number one game of the year every season it seems in recent years is Chiefs Bills, right? So, we’re doing a full segment on that. I’m very anxious to see how this game plays out this year. Um, they’ve been super competitive games over the last what, two, three year, four years. It seems that the Chiefs win every regular season game, excuse me, the Bills win every regular season game and then the Chiefs beat him in the playoffs. That seems that’s what’s happened. But, you know, that’s way it’s been. Um, I’ll tell you, I want to give you a stat that blew me away when when we did our work this week, you know, with with with the guys on the matchup show. The Lions play the Vikings this week and the division games are always important, as you know. I know the Vikings are not as good this year as they were last year, but the Lions beat the Vikings twice last year. Okay, just check this out. You’re seated, which is good because these this number is ridiculous. Last year in the two games against the Vikings, Jir Gibbs had 47 touches for 330 yards and six touchdowns just in the two games against the Vikings. Those are Jonathan Taylor versus the Titans numbers, Greg. That that seems impossible, right? I mean, it’s crazy. Um, but the other big game, you know, not the only other big game, but a re two really big games on the schedule this week are Colts, Steelers, Broncos, Texans. Really big games on the schedule. So, obviously, they’re in our matchup show. And um yeah, so it’s it’s a good week, actually. And it’s it’s a good it was good week of film for me because there were six buys so I had a little less tape that I that I felt like oh my god I missed that game and I missed that game. Feel feel a little less pressed. Uh and of course we’ll be getting JJ McCarthy back in the lineup for the Vikings this weekend which will be interesting and uh I always curious to see what happens between the Chiefs and the Bills. To your point my friend I appreciate your time as always. Uh, we’ll see how things go on Sunday here locally, but we know that we’ll at least have one thing to talk about for the rest of the season, and that’s the progress of the young quarterback. No question. And we’ll keep doing that because that’s that’s the key. Absolutely. All right, Greg. Thank you so much. Thanks, bud.

Cam Ward puts on teach tape clinic in improved Titans offense | The Install with Greg Cosell