For those expecting Cam Ward to come out blazing in his first NFL start, well, those things aren’t the norm – despite what CJ Stroud, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix have done the last couple of years.
Ward certainly didn’t dazzle in his NFL debut the way Marcus Mariota and Will Levis did with four touchdown passes each in their first starts. Maybe that’s a good thing in the long run. But Ward’s debut wasn’t all bad either.
The numbers don’t look great: 12 of 28 for 112 yards and six sacks with one lost fumble. But honestly, he didn’t have a lot of help from his receivers or his offensive line, especially in the second half when protection routinely broke down. Drops, penalties, sacks all played a role in things looking as rough as they did.
Even so, there were some encouraging moments. Ward stood poised in the pocket and delivered the ball decisively when given time to do so. One play that was an incompletion for Elic Ayomanor came with a blitzer right in Ward’s face. He dropped down sidearm and delivered a pass that seemed to catch the receiver a bit by surprise.
It is those kinds of things, plus his calmness that provides hope for better things to come.
“The moment is not too big for him,” head coach Brian Callahan says. “He was poised, he was calm, he saw things well. There’s a lot of positives from his demeanor and how he handled himself on the sideline in between series and on the field. I think he’ll improve at a rapid rate.”
Now Ward must begin to make incremental improvements and have his supporting cast, including players and coaches, step up around him to assist and make his development easier.
In spite of how bad it looked at times for a struggling offense, Ward remains confident that improvement for him and his teammates will come.
“It also comes down to everybody on offense doing their job, every one of the 11,” Ward says. “We just have to continue to grow together. It’s the first game, we’re not really tripping too much on it. We’ve got stuff to clean up, including myself, so we’re ready for next week.”