A week after nearly turning the ball over twice and misfiring on a host of passes, Ward’s accuracy was better. Still, much of his production came on dump-offs to open targets, including a 33-yard swing pass to a wide open Tony Pollard that represented the bulk of the passing production for the first-team unit. The QB also nearly turned it over, getting the ball knocked out on a scramble, but luckily it rolled out of bounds. On the ensuing play, Ward made a nice move to avoid pressure again, and found Gunnar Helm on the sideline, but the TE couldn’t get his feet in bounds.
“Thought Cam, again, was good with the ball, good decision-making. We just couldn’t connect on a couple of deep throws,” coach Robert Saleh said. “But overall, it’s got to be better, guys; I’m not trying to sugarcoat it. It does got to be better, but at the same time, there’s always going to be things that we can take from.”
Ward didn’t seem as sped up as last week, but we also didn’t see him connect on any difficult throws. The ho-hum performance — against backups — came after reports indicated he played well during joint practices.
With just one preseason game left, there are still significant strides to be made by Ward in Brian Daboll’s offense. For the QB’s part, he said Sunday night that he feels on the right trajectory.
“Everything slowed down,” he said of the new offense. “We’re finally at the point where we’re not going to be installing too much stuff. One thing about coach (Daboll) is he can go to walkthrough, he can make up a play in his head, and we’ll run it right there and we will execute it right there. So it’s going to be nice to really show what we really are about when the time comes.
“But, I mean, it’s exciting because you get to get reps on plays that you don’t get in OTAs. So, you’re really getting a feel of — he’s getting a feel of what I really like and what I don’t like, and then when the time comes we’re going to do a lot of stuff that the players feel comfortable with.”