Watching the Tennessee Titans‘ final offensive play in real time yesterday, it looked to me like Cam Ward made a terrible decision to throw the ball. On the broadcast, it looked like there was a lot of room to run in front of him when he decided to throw the pass that was ultimately intercepted to end the game. After rewatching the play about 100 times, not running there was the smart play. There were two defenders between him and the end zone that would have stopped him.
The real issue was the throw. Here’s the final play:
Elic Ayomanor is running to the back left corner of the end zone. As old friend SuperHorn mentions, if Ward throws it to that corner, Jevon Holland has no chance to pick it off, and Ayomanor would have had a chance to catch it for a touchdown. The real problem is the accuracy of the throw. Watch it again. There is no shot that ball Ward threw was getting completed, even if he is able to throw it over Holland.
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With that being said, I also don’t think Ward was being reckless with the ball here. As I mentioned above, a throw to the corner is either a touchdown or an incomplete pass. That means they win the game or live to play another down – which would have been 2nd and goal from the 7.
Ward has done more wrong than right this year. The thing that is really starting to scare me is his overall inconsistency. There have still been flashes of a solid quarterback in there, but he can’t put that together consistently from play to play, much less from game to game. The only way he is going to be a franchise quarterback is to play consistently. Through 20 NFL games, he has not shown the ability to do that.
