NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are back home following a 10-day road trip and a split of their first two preseason games.
How much the time together helps remains to be seen. The Titans are a work in progress, rebuilding after three straight losing seasons and leaning heavily on a rookie quarterback and a lot of other young players.
“At the end of the day, there’s not a whole lot of negatives to the whole process,” second-year coach Brian Callahan said Saturday. “And it’s going to help us down the road.”
The Titans wrapped up the road swing by beating Atlanta 23-20 on Friday night. Cameron Ward is 7 of 15 for 109 yards passing over five series through the first two exhibitions. Fellow rookie Gunnar Helm had a nice 25-yard touchdown catch on a pass from backup Brandon Allen.
Cedric Gray, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick out of North Carolina, got the start competing for an inside linebacker job with James Williams Sr. Gray had a half-sack, led Tennessee with seven tackles and had an interception wiped out by a penalty.
How the Titans improve rests largely on Ward’s development, and they’ve been pleased so far with what the No. 1 overall pick out of Miami has done to this point. One throw against Atlanta — on a deep incompletion on second-and-13 to veteran Van Jefferson — sums up how Ward sees things.
Callahan said after the game that Jefferson dropped an “incredible throw.” Ward took the blame for not putting the ball in a better location. The Titans coach credited the rookie with knowing how to have conversations and having a leadership quality of knowing what tone and how to talk to each person.
Ward is very open to coaching and criticism of how he needs to improve. The rookie also never pins blame on someone unless he’s “adamantly sure” somebody made a mistake, according to Callahan.
“It’s a conversation, ‘Hey, what could I have done better here to help?’” Callahan said of Ward’s approach. “And I think that’s what’s allowed him to improve at the rate he’s improved as he’s very much willing to take coaching and take criticism and open himself up to be where do I need to be better.”
The clock is ticking for the Titans, who have two padded practices before their home exhibition finale against Minnesota on Friday night. The team went 3-14 last season losing the final six games.
That earned it the chance to select Ward, and first-year general manager Mike Borgonzi did some maneuvering to wind up with nine draft picks in April.
Callahan’s task is getting those first- and second-year players ready for the NFL by Sept. 7 at Denver while also preparing the veterans. He said there’s a balance, with the only way young players improve is by playing.
“When you have opportunities to let those guys go grow, they got to go grow,” Callahan said.
In the NFL, winning is all that matters. The Titans have fired two general managers and a coach since December 2022.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to put ourselves in position to win on top of it,” Callahan said. “That’s that at the end all be all. That’s our job.”
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