For all of the offseason hype, Tennessee Titans fans were mildly disappointed by the offense over the first few training camp practices. Drafting Cam Ward was supposed to add excitement to a boring offense, and there was almost none of that to kick off training camp.
Then on Saturday, at the "Back Together" practice in front of fans at Nissan Stadium, the fireworks started. Fans finally got to see how fun the offense could be with Ward at the helm. Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, and Bryce Oliver made several big plays, while Van Jefferson was a consistent chain-mover underneath.
All that attention opened things up in the run game, specifically for Tyjae Spears, who looked electric with the ball in his hands at Saturday's practice.
Titans QB Cam Ward shows dynamic progress at third training camp practice
The sudden uptick in Ward's performance should have everyone asking where this was in the first few days of practice. Luckily, there is an answer for that if you look closely.
The first two days of training camp were simplistic and the gameplan focused on the short passing game and the screen game. Zach Lyons of 104.5 The Zone said as much on the Music City Audible podcast:
In that video Lyons says,
"...the last [first] two days of training camp that were open to everybody, it was like screens and it was very vanilla. This was the most exciting practice anyway. And this is where you really got to see I think in the first two days of training camp, you got to see a lot of the quick decision making and aggressiveness and tight window throws. Today or yesterday, Saturday, you got to see the explosives."
It's hard to create explosives when you are working that part of the playbook, so it makes sense that there weren't many "wow" plays from Ward in the first two practice sessions. Thinking about the emphasis on tight window throws and the quick game, it checks out that all of Ward's interceptions since being drafted are by Titans linebackers (Cody Barton has three and James Williams has one).
So not only have the Titans been focusing on the riskiest (middle of field) and least rewarding passes so far, but they've also been limiting the deep routes their receivers have been running. This was confirmed by Will Boling, who said as much during the Official Titans Podcast:
"The vertical routes. Fun to see some vertical routes today inside Nissan Stadium and some of the deep balls to Calvin Ridley and some of the off-script stuff from Cam Ward that the acclamation period of the first two practices didn't afford us the luxury of seeing quite as much and hamstrings and vertical routes sometimes don't go together. So those things you want to keep the hamstrings intact. You want to build up to some of the vertical plays and vertical routes off-script. As these guys get more acclimated, get more comfortable. Seeing Cam Ward Cook a little bit off-script and uh late in plays. We got a glimpse of that."
Every quarterback wants vertical routes in the offense, because it forces defenders to cover more ground, and it gives the quarterback wider windows to fit the ball into. However, Ward especially loves vertical routes because that is one of the things he did best in college.
Before the NFL Draft, Derrik Klassen had an article for The Athletic where he raved about Ward's impressive deep passing numbers:
"Where Ward shines, specifically, is to the intermediate and deep middle sections of the field. Ward is a big-game hunter who has never once backed down from throwing into a tight window. Digs, seams, benders, posts — Ward will make his money in the NFL on aggressive routes between the numbers......Ward’s 74.1 percent accuracy rate in the 11-20 yard range over the middle, as well as his 71.4 percent accuracy down the deep middle, are both stellar figures. His willingness to make those throws mirrors what you see from the league’s best passers, and Ward certainly has the arm talent to make it work...
Long story short, the team has been working to ensure that their receivers have sufficient time to acclimate to the heat and a return to practice. This has forced Ward to play against defenses that can blitz freely, because they know the field is mostly condensed. Simultaneously, it has kept Ward from doing something he does best, which is attacking the deep middle portion of the field.
Put all that together, and fans should expect to see more and more explosive days from Ward and the offense now that things have really started to ramp up in Tennessee.