Mason Rudolph to start for Titans against Patriots, Will Levis shoulder injury sidelines starter for third consecutive week
The Tennessee Titans will once again be rolling with backup Mason Rudolph in Week 9 as they host the New England Patriots, despite a week of progress for Will Levis and his injured shoulder. This will be the third week in a row the Titans play Rudolph, after turning to him following an embarrassing turn […]
The Tennessee Titans will once again be rolling with backup Mason Rudolph in Week 9 as they host the New England Patriots, despite a week of progress for Will Levis and his injured shoulder.
This will be the third week in a row the Titans play Rudolph, after turning to him following an embarrassing turn of events against the Colts the last time they played in Nashville.
Indications going into the weekend were that Levis would need to blow the Titans away with a final test of his shoulder on Saturday, otherwise he'd be given another week on the sideline to rest up.
Testing his shoulder was the focus of the Titans' entire week of practice. It was their practice regimen the week before facing the Colts with Levis in Week 6 that set them on the wrong course in the first place. See, that week's emphasis was largely rest and making throws as a proof of concept. Will was able to make the throws they thought he'd need to make in the game, and he himself decided he felt good enough to go. So, he went.
Will spoke with the media this week in the locker room about his decision making ahead of that Colts game, as well as how much the coaches are leaning on him to be honest with them about how good he really feels as they try to work him back into the starting job.
As it turned out, they hadn't tested his shoulder nearly enough ahead of Week 6, and the fatigue of a full game shown through in some key moments. Since then, he's been on rest and recovery duty. This past Wednesday was the first time he had thrown in a week.
Levis and Rudolph split starting reps the past three days, and the coaching staff made a point to push Levis much harder. This meant testing his shoulder's endurance, as well as pushing the ball to every level of the field in practice, especially deep.
That testing yielded encouraging results, though he's still not quite ready. But make no mistake: this is not a soft-benching of any kind for Levis. This coaching staff wants him to play, and they want him to play the rest of this season. They've been steadfast in their desire to live and die by Levis in 2024, and they continue to pursue that patient development approach with the young passer.
But right now, they refuse to have a repeat of the Week 6 situation. Once he's back, they want him back for good. So erring on the side of caution has been the approach the past three weeks.
Despite being the QB under center in the two worst losses of the Titans season thus far, Rudolph hasn't been a disaster. In fact, it's hard to argue he's been the Titans primary problem at all. The news of another week of Rudolph didn't shift Vegas's perception of Patriots-Titans much, as the Titans remain 3 point home favorites.
Tennessee will try to get their second win of the season against an evenly-matched opponent Sunday, and then hopefully move forward next week with a healthy Levis back in the lineup.
The Titans have opportunity to buck the national narrative of the organization as second-rate
Emotional shortsightedness, aiming to be just good enough to accomplish nothing of import and set yourself up poorly for the future, is textbook dysfunction.
Why the Lions may not be done beating up on the Titans after blowing them out in Detroit in Week 8
Is the Lions Curse real?
