Titans HC Wants to Make Things Easy on Cam Ward

Entering last weekend's road duel with the Arizona Cardinals, the Tennessee Titans sat at 0-4 with criticism crashing down from all sides on every aspect of the franchise. From second-year head coach Brian Callahan to rookie, first overall pick quarterback Cam Ward, nobody was spared the vitriol of the media and fanbase surrounding the franchise; a group of people that, by all intensive measures and for lack of a better word, were fed up with a month of consecutive losses.

Now, given their first win (in intensely dramatic fashion) and a pack of positive performances on both sides of the ball, the heat has been ever-so-slightly turned down in favor of celebrating an far too rare win for a Titans team that needed one weeks ago. Better late than never, right?

Whether or not you view the now 1-4 Titans and their many question marks as a "glass half empty" or "glass half full" kind of ordeal, for the sake of the franchise's future, good developments inspire hope for whatever the team might look like down the line. In his weekly day-after press conference, HC Callahan expounded on Ward specifically, as he wants to make things easier on the QB.

"We're trying to make it as easy on him as possible. Some of those throws he made at the end of the game were high-level difficulty throws and really good catches, but trying to make those be the throws that have to happen a couple of times a game and the rest of it be as easy as possible, and he's figuring that part out as we go," he said.

Ward, despite throwing an interception and no touchdowns, chalked up a season high 265 yards through the air, including a game-winning drive in which the Titans marched effortlessly into field goal range to seal the deal on their inaugural victory.

Callahan continued, "I think he really calmed down in the second half and just focused on putting his eyes where they're supposed to be and just throwing the ball where it's supposed to go and not trying to do anything other than that."

"And I think you saw how effective that is when you do that and you can move the ball down the field as long as you take completions," he finished.

Above all else, Callahan and company want Ward to take what he's given. If Ward can clean up the messier deep ball attempts that are privy to being intercepted and, more often than not, settle for more cut-and-dry short yardage that defenses are giving up, you'll see the version of the QB that Tennessee is trying to foster.

Even so, Ward is learning like any other rookie, and with a win finally under his belt, perhaps the rookie now has the momentum he needed to loosen up and move the ball a little more freely. He has all the time in the world to develop, but this past week felt like a marked step for the expected future of the Titans franchise.

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