Skip to main content
Join Now

Cam Ward debut: FOX cuts to his dad stressing out after key drops, multiple sacks

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater09/08/25samdg_33
Titans QB Cam Ward
Isaiah J. Downing | Imagn Images

QB Cam Ward did just about all he could this afternoon in his professional debut with the Tennessee Titans. His dad thought so too with how he was reacting to some of his team’s miscues, especially late in today’s opening loss in Mile High.

Ward dealt with several mistakes, multiple being from his teammates on the offense, during the course of the 20-12 loss for the Tennessee Titans to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. That caused Calvin Ward, his father, to react by getting out of his seat following another key drop during the final drive attempting to come back in the final minute of the fourth quarter, which they caught on the broadcast on FOX.

Ward, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, finished his first game in the league being 12/28 (42.9%) for 112 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. However, the Titans’ offense did not capitalize on several chances to either extend their lead early or tie the game late at Empower Field.

In the receiving corps, WRs Calvin Ridley (4/8 for 27 yards) and Elic Ayomanor (2/7 for 13 yards) combined for nine drops. That includes five straight incompletions on the final two drives as Tennessee tried to cut into the lead combined by Ayomanor and Ridley as well as WR Chimere Dike and TE Chig Okonkwo. That’s before the Titans’ offensive line allowed six sacks on the day to the Broncos’ defense, with a sack being what ended the game as it resulted in a lost fumble by Ward. Their offense also posted just 133 yards in total, at an average of 2.4 yards per play, while going only 2-14 on third down.

“At the end of the day, didn’t make enough plays to put ourselves in position to win at the end. I thought our team played with great effort. We had opportunities to keep this game, with the ball and a chance to go win it. Even at the end, it was still an eight-point game,” Brian Callahan said postgame. “Didn’t make enough plays. Going 2-14 on third down is going to make it hard. 13 penalties for 130 yards or whatever is also going to not win many games doing that. So, that was disappointing. Couldn’t get much rhythm on offense. Our third downs were – I felt like we were 3rd & 10-plus almost the whole game, so hard to get a rhythm going offensively. And then, when we did have opportunities, we had some drops and some things that happened that didn’t allow us to keep going. Couldn’t get any rhythm offensively at all.”

“I mean, we didn’t score a touchdown. That’s really the biggest frustration. Shooting ourselves in the foot. Just staying in long situations, which we can’t stay with,” said Ward to the media. “At the end of the day, we just got to continue to get better. It’s only game one. We got a long road ahead of us. We got 16 more to try to get a win.”

Ward is the latest top pick to still go on to lose his opener in the NFL. It’s on the Titans to improve around him, though, as their season continues, especially coming off of what was a bit of a messy performance from their offense today to start his career.