EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Cam Ward looked to have finally figured it out after a slow start, engineering one touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and marching down the field on the way to scoring again and leading the Tennessee Titans to a comeback victory.
Instead, Ward threw his first interception of the season at an inopportune time, getting picked off by Jevon Holland in the end zone with 17 seconds left to seal a 12-7 loss at the New York
Giants on Sunday.
“Just be smarter with the football," coach Robert Saleh said. “We've two timeouts left. It's first-and-goal on the (7): We’re going to score. You don't need to force it in that situation. Unfortunately it happened.”
Ward had not thrown an interception on any of his first 87 attempts through three games, all losses. He was trying to connect with Elic Ayomanor on what would have been the go-ahead TD and kept Tennessee from falling to 0-3.
“I need to make a better throw,” Ward said. “I just should’ve thrown it higher. ... I think if I probably would've thrown it higher, it would've been a different result."
Holland, who has an interception in each of the Giants' first three games, said he noticed Ward's tendencies while watching video during the week.
“I knew that either he was going to run or he has to open his shoulders up,” Holland said. “Once I saw that he was kind of leveling off to square back up (and throw), I was like, ‘OK, I can probably settle and know that something is coming left or right — something is breaking to me.’"
The interception spoiled what looked like a significant improvement for Ward and Tennessee's offense, which did not get a first down until the final couple of minutes of the first half. At halftime, the Titans had just 54 yards, 41 from Ward on 7 of 13 passing.
“We definitely didn't start out well,” Saleh said.
Late in the third quarter, Ward had three consecutive incomplete passes from the New York 7-yard line, including badly missing rookie Carnell Tate, who was wide open in the end zone. Failing to connect with Gunnar Helm on fourth down meant coming away with zero points.
Ward found a groove in the fourth, including a 91-yard drive that he capped with a touchdown pass to former Giants receiver Wan'Dale Robinson. He was 11 of 12 during one stretch and finished 23 of 36 for 181 yards, though one mistake will define the game for the 2025 No. 1 pick.
“It took us some time to get our rhythm," Ward said. "In the second half we were better, but I made a bad throw on the last play.”
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