By DREW BEATTY, film analyst
After losing their sixth game by a one-score margin through eight games, the Tennessee Titans found themselves staring into the all-too-familiar mirror of moral victory Monday. However, following a 43-36 barn burner loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in which they had their most fruitful offensive performance since Week 5 of 2021, Tennessee has plenty of positives to take into its bye week.
Even in a game without their leading receiver, first-round rookie Carnell Tate, quarterback Cam Ward stamped a career-high 303 passing yards alongside two touchdowns and no interceptions on the Bengals. After an extremely rough start to his sophomore season, Ward has now put up consecutive, season-best performances in back-to-back weeks (albeit one significantly more noteworthy than the other).
Impressive as they’ve been, both performances have been against man coverage-heavy units, so Ward will need to sustain this level of play against zone-based defenses as well, but he’s beginning to show clear growth as his second season in the NFL rolls on.
