DENVER — Calvin Ward couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up abruptly from his seat at Empower Field at Mile High, walked over to the stadium aisle and leaned on the railing in frustration, his head facing the ground.
Calvin Ridley had just dropped a perfect pass from his son, Titans quarterback Cam Ward, on a second-and-10 on what became Tennessee’s final drive in the team’s regular-season opener against the Broncos on Sunday. On the next play, tight end Chig Okonkwo also couldn’t make the catch; Ward’s third-down throw appeared to be a bit ahead of Okonkwo, but the ball hit his hands.
Calvin Ward, walking back over to his seat, put his hands on his head.
“That was catchable, right?” he asked out loud, speaking to no one in particular.
Then came the desperate final play: fourth-and-10 with 47 seconds left, Titans trailing 20-12 with no timeouts. Unblocked, Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian sacked Ward on a blitz, forcing a fumble that Denver recovered.
Ball game.
“If they caught the ball,” exclaimed Patrice Ward, Cam’s mother, “we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
This is Calvin and Patrice Ward in a nutshell, watching their son play football. Their facial expressions belie the emotions beneath the surface. They’re locked into the game, every game. They’re competitive and intense, similar to Cam. Friends and family know not to come chatting when they’re watching their son because, as Calvin says, “We not listening.”
Calvin and Patrice Ward let me shadow them on Sunday as they watched their son, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft, make his NFL debut. He went 12-of-28 for 112 yards and took six sacks in Tennessee’s loss to the Broncos. Despite the frustrating defeat, Cam’s parents left Denver encouraged about his future, feeling that he belongs. And as parents, they couldn’t be more proud of him — to get to this point after once being a zero-star recruit coming out of high school.
“He’s going out there and showing that he’s an NFL player,” Patrice said. “He can hang with anybody.”
Cam Ward didn’t throw any touchdowns in his NFL debut, but he also didn’t throw any interceptions, and he led the Titans on three scoring drives. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
‘I was driving like 95 miles per hour’
Calvin and Patrice have never missed one of their son’s games — from his Pee Wee football days in West Columbia, Texas, through his five-year college career that included stops at Incarnate Word, Washington State and Miami.
It always meant a lot to Calvin when his family came to his high school football games. He’d look for familiar faces in the stands. He told himself that when he had kids, he’d do everything possible to make sure he was always present.
“It wasn’t just Cameron, it was with my other kids, too,” Calvin said of his four children. “We were there.”
After shining at Incarnate Word, Washington State was Cam’s school of choice. His UIW coach, Eric Morris, had been named the Cougars’ offensive coordinator. But Cam didn’t want to go to Pullman, Wash., more than 2,200 miles from home, if it meant his parents couldn’t come to the games. He was OK settling for a school closer to home. But the message back to him was simple: Go where you want to go, and we’ll figure it out.
That came with logistical challenges, particularly at Washington State. Home games meant a layover en route to Spokane, Wash., and then Calvin and Patrice would have to drive an hour and 15 minutes to get to Pullman — “if the weather was good,” Patrice explained. It could take up to two hours. They’d typically arrive at their hotel around 2 or 3 a.m. Friday morning, the day before the game.
Catching Cam’s games at Washington State meant long trips from Texas and early morning arrivals, but his parents never missed a kickoff. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Wear and tear was a very real factor when traveling every weekend during the season, too. Calvin works at a nuclear plant outside West Columbia, and Patrice coached girls’ basketball at Columbia High School for more than two decades.
“His first year at Washington State, we traveled to Oregon for the Oregon State game. … They had a bye week that following week,” Calvin said. “If they hadn’t had that bye week, I don’t know if we could’ve [made the next game]. We had been simply worn out.”
However Calvin and Patrice all the time pushed via the challenges. There was by no means a degree the place they thought they couldn’t make certainly one of Cam’s 57 school video games.
Patrice has had some shut calls, although. One got here whereas she was nonetheless teaching. On the morning of certainly one of Cam’s dwelling video games at Incarnate Phrase in San Antonio, she had a basketball event in West Columbia, greater than three hours away by automobile. Patrice dashed over to UIW as quickly because the event wrapped.
She received there by halftime.
“I used to be driving like 95 miles per hour,” Patrice laughed.
‘Cameron goes to determine it out’
Throughout the Titans-Broncos pregame, Calvin and Patrice took a photograph with their son and nephew, Titans security Quandre Diggs. Offensive coordinator Nick Holz and operating backs coach Randy Jordan had been among the many Tennessee staffers to say good day. Darrell Colbert, Ward’s personal quarterbacks coach, hung out with the household as effectively.
Between these interactions, Calvin watched the Titans heat up. In the meantime, Cam’s sisters, Aaliyah and Chantel, in addition to his longtime girlfriend, Nailah, soaked in each second on the sideline.
Calvin (No. 1) and Patrice (on Calvin’s left) with the Cam Ward entourage earlier than his NFL debut in Denver. (Picture by Ben Arthur)
About half-hour earlier than kickoff, a safety guard knowledgeable them it was time to go to their seats.
I requested Calvin and Patrice what they had been feeling as their son was about to make his NFL debut.
Calvin admitted feeling “pleasure for him” however rapidly shifted his focus to his son’s activity at hand.
“Cameron goes to determine it out,” he stated.
Calvin and Patrice met with Cam that morning and the night time earlier than, simply as they all the time did earlier than his school video games. Usually, Cam would deliver his workforce iPad — “We won’t go to a standard dinner and simply sit down and discuss as a household,” Patrice says — and Calvin would go over all of the performs with him. Patrice would ask him what his aim was for the sport.
Forward of Cam’s NFL debut, although, Calvin didn’t go over all of the performs along with his son. He simply requested him what the primary play was. When Patrice requested him what his aim was in opposition to the Broncos, Cam merely stated that he was “able to go.”
He performed prefer it, too.
It began on the Titans’ first drive. On third-and-11, he flashed among the magic that made his Miami tape particular. Ward stepped up within the pocket, shook a would-be sack along with his upper-body energy and flicked a go to operating again Tony Pollard within the flat for a 29-yard achieve.
Ward led three scoring drives within the first half.
“He’s taking part in with a number of poise proper now. He’s just about controlling the offense,” Calvin stated at halftime. “For a rookie, I’m glad how he’s managing every little thing — particularly this sort of surroundings, too.
“Simply must get some touchdowns.”
They did not come.
Ward had his errors — his back-to-back sacks early within the fourth quarter misplaced a mixed 27 yards, squandering a particular groups takeaway — however they had been an afterthought in a sport through which coach Brian Callahan’s sport administration and playcalling drew heavy scrutiny. The Titans additionally had vital drops, go safety lapses and performed undisciplined soccer (13 accepted penalties for 131 yards). They scored simply six factors off 4 takeaways.
The No. 1 decide’s promise was overshadowed by the shortcomings round him.
On the finish of the sport, a fan sitting in entrance of Calvin turned to him as he received as much as depart. The fan talked about how a lot potential Cam has, then added that he had questions in regards to the surrounding expertise.
I requested Calvin how he felt about his son’s NFL debut.
“I’m very inspired,” he instructed me. “I knew this was going to be a troublesome sport to win.”
Patrice chimed in.
“I see some good issues. We made a number of dangerous selections on the market [as a team],” she stated. “It is a good [Broncos] workforce. If we stored up this shut with them, meaning we’re getting there, too.
“From sport one within the NFL, it’s simply going to be a begin of this new journey for us,” Patrice added. “Simply going to go on this excessive. This yr won’t be the very best yr, however I do know after this yr, issues are going to maneuver up.”
It doesn’t matter what occurs, Patrice and Calvin shall be watching, intently, from the stands.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand labored for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Community, the place he was the Titans beat author for a yr and a half. He lined the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for 3 seasons (2018-20) previous to shifting to Tennessee. You possibly can observe Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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