JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Quarterback Cam Ward will have more tests on his injured right shoulder when the Tennessee Titans return home following their season finale.
Interim coach Mike McCoy said he would provide "a better answer down the road” as to the extent of Ward's injury.
The No. 1 overall pick landed on his throwing shoulder during a 7-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of Sunday's 41-7 loss at Jacksonville. Linebacker Foye Oluokun hit
Ward at the goal line. He was slow getting up and then got checked out inside the team's medical tent before leaving the field to get X-rays.
He returned to the sideline in the second half wearing a sling on his right arm and shoulder.
“It stings that he gets hurt in general," McCoy said. "The way he’s played all year long, the way he’s learned and grown as a player, getting better. You don’t ever want to see anybody get injured. It’s unfortunate.
"The way we went down there and moved the ball against a really good defense first series and scoring points. It’s just unfortunate the way he went down.”
The team initially said Ward was questionable to return before ruling him out a few minutes later.
He completed all three of his passes for 52 yards and ran twice for 11 yards. He finished the season with 3,169 yards passing, with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He ran for 159 yards and two scores.
Ward had taken every snap in the team's first 16 games and had thrown two touchdown passes in four straight games.
Journeyman backup Brandon Allen, a sixth-round draft pick by Jacksonville in 2016, replaced Ward on the next possession. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 72 yards, with an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
Ward has plenty of time to get healthy. He's obviously the key to the franchise's future, which will begin with Tennessee hiring a full-time head coach to replace fired Brian Callahan.
The Titans have started the same QB for every game in a season just seven times since the franchise arrived in Tennessee in 1997. Only Chicago and Cleveland have had fewer seasons with three each in that span in the NFL.
“It’s something that I don’t take lightly because every time you step on the field you never know when it could be your last down,” Ward said earlier this week. "So I’m blessed ... it’s God and my O-line that’s keeping me healthy the entire way and I know they’re going to keep on doing it.”
Steve McNair started every game for the then-Tennessee Oilers in 1997 and 1998 and again in 2002 for the renamed Titans. Matt Hasselbeck started all 16 games in 2011, and Ryan Tannehill started every game in both 2020 and in 2021 when the NFL expanded to a 17-game regular season.
Ward is the franchise’s first rookie quarterback to throw for at least 3,000 yards in a season.
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