The Titans’ season-opening loss to the Broncos on Sunday didn’t appear to be the easiest watch for Cam Ward’s dad.
Calvin Ward, the father of the first-overall pick in this year’s draft, seemed visibly stressed when taking in his son’s NFL debut in Denver, where the Titans’ offense did little to help their rookie QB in the 20-12 defeat.
With roughly a minute to go in the fourth, Ward tried to connect with wide receiver Calvin Ridley on a second-and-10, only for the veteran to drop the ball.
The Fox broadcast panned to Ward’s father in the stands at Empower Field at Mile High, capturing him getting up from his seat, walking to a railing in the stairwell and leaning down.
It was an afternoon full of self-inflicted miscues, as the Titans committed a number of drops and penalties.
Ward, 23, also struggled to find a spark under center, completing 12 of 28 attempts for 112 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions and one lost fumble. The former Miami product was also sacked six times.
“We didn’t score touchdowns, that’s really the biggest frustration,” Ward said postgame. “Shooting ourselves in the foot, getting in long (down and distance) situations. At the end of the day, we have to continue to get better. It’s only game one, and we have 16 more ahead of us.”
Coach Brian Callahan, who went 3-14 in his first season at the helm last year, remarked there are “things to clean up.”
“At the end of the day, we didn’t make enough plays to put ourselves in a position to win at the end,” Callahan said. “I thought our team played with great effort, and we had opportunities to go win it. … We couldn’t get any rhythm offensively at all. Defensively, I thought we played pretty good, but some of the third down penalties were critical. … Disappointed we couldn’t find a way to win.”
The fallout from the loss didn’t end there, as Callahan opened the door to criticism for his curious explanation as to why he didn’t challenge an incomplete ruling on a catch from rookie receiver Elic Ayomanor.
“Yeah, you gotta get a foot in bounds too,” Callahan said, per Pro Football Talk. “We didn’t have a clean look at whether his foot was down as well. An elbow doesn’t equal two feet, so his foot would’ve had to come down as well. The call from upstairs was that it wasn’t worth challenging.”
A day later, Callahan reversed course on the decision-making, stating, “My interpretation of the rule was wrong… I’ll own it. We should have challenged the play and that’s pretty much all I can say about it.”
The Titans host the Rams (1-0) on Sunday.