It's time to admit the obvious about Will Levis and the Titans
The problem with the Titans today is entirely different than what it used to be.
At the beginning of the 2024 Tennessee Titans season, all anybody could talk about his how their quarterback play is the primary issue with this team.
Will Levis had a September to forget, singlehandedly losing the season opener and directly contributing to others. The fanbase turned on him quickly. His departure due to injury was welcomed by some, if for no other reason than to get a break from having to endure the frenetic QB play.
Now he's been back in the lineup for a month. And after the Titans embarrassing 42-19 loss to the Commanders in Week 13, its becoming impossible to ignore that Levis has completely flipped the script: What used to be a sound team with a QB problem has turned into a sound QB with a team problem.
You don't have to take my–known Will Levis apologist–word for it. Even Austin Stanley-known Will Levis detractor, doubter, and occasional hater–sees the reality of the situation:
Despite getting beatdown wire-to-wire on Sunday, Will Levis played well. And when the Titans went down 21-0 in the 1st quarter, everybody with any historical knowledge of the Will Levis Experience knew that 45 minutes severely-negative game script football with Will slinging the rock could get extra ugly in a hurry. It's the kind of situation that naturally invites hero ball and aggressive decision-making that borders on recklessness. And history tells us that, well, that's Will Levis's music.
But he didn't play that way in Week 13. Not at all. He was aggressive, no doubt. The Titans played with urgency the final 3 quarters of the game as they tried in vain to mount a comeback. And because of the massive four-touchdown deficit they quickly found themselves in, They hardly ran the ball at all, handing the ball off just four times after going down 28-0. Levis attempted 37 passes, a season-high. And the majority of those dropbacks came in obvious passing situations.
It wasn't a QB-friendly situation to be in. And yet he did an effective job trying to pass them back into things in the 2nd half. He was the reason the Titans scored any points in the 1st half, connecting with NWI for a deep TD on a two-minute drill. He was the reason the Titans got into scoring territory to open the 2nd half, and everybody at home thought "well, if they make this 28-14 here…" before the drive ended in a FG. He was the reason you had the same thought when they had a chance to make it 28-17 on the following drive after an interception gave them the ball back.
Obviously, the comeback was far too big a task for this team. But the point is that it wasn't for lack of a valiant effort from Levis, a player who just recently was widely regarded as a complete liability in any negative game script situation.
He finished the day 18/37 for 212yds and a 2/0 TD/INT ratio. It brings his post-injury totals (4 games) to 71/115 (61.7%) for 960yds and a 7-2 TD/INT ratio. That's a good stretch of football, easily his best to date.
When you look at his numbers from just before this game (chart to be updated on X @eastonfreeze later this week), they tell the same story in more detail:
And yet, the Titans have not been good enough to get the job done as a team during this past month of ball. They were against Houston in Week 12, but in the other three contests their deficiencies showed in big ways. None were more revealing than the Week 13 beatdown in Washington.
The Titans have a lot of questions as a team right now. What is the extent of this defense's fraudulence? What in the world was going on with that historically bad run defense? Why can't anybody seem to hold onto the football around here? Why is this team's special teams the way that it is? Why is the coaching staff continuing to play certain players that clearly need to be benched or rotated to replace? Why is this team penalized at historic rates? How much of the messy lack of discipline and detail from this team is on the coaching staff, and how much of it is
Titans pick terrible time for season-long strength to become a weakness vs Commanders
Nobody runs on the Tennessee Titans?
