Will Levis mistakes amplified by jaw-dropping Titans offensive line metrics in loss to Jets
Will Levis must be better if the Titans are going to develop and improve as a team. He simply must. However, we cannot allow his pass protectors off the hook for the situations they are putting him in. Will Levis is being set up to fail by his offensive line so far. Plain and simple. […]
Will Levis must be better if the Titans are going to develop and improve as a team. He simply must.
However, we cannot allow his pass protectors off the hook for the situations they are putting him in. Will Levis is being set up to fail by his offensive line so far. Plain and simple.
And the metrics not only prove this; they're pretty shocking.
Week 1 at Chicago Bears
Let's start by recapping what happened against Chicago in Week 1. The Titans pass blockers had a pathetic 29% pass block win rate in their first outing, which was by-far the worst in the league on opening weekend.
Levis was pressured 18 times in that game, tied for the 2nd-most in the league. Put another way, he was pressured on nearly half (47.4%) of his dropbacks.
As I said at the time, debating how much of that was on him and how much was on his OL is a fair discussion. Both were culpable. But the bottom line is clear: Levis will not succeed this year if these numbers don't improve.
Week 2 vs. New York Jets
Then in the Week 2 home opener, the Titans somehow outdid themselves.
Per Next Gen Stats the Jets pass rush generated pressure on 60% of dropbacks, the highest by a defense since Week 13, 2023. It's the highest rate allowed by the Titans since Week 5, 2022.
They had 11 players generate at least one pressure, including four with 4 or more. Jermaine Johnson II and Will McDonald IV led the team with 5 pressures apiece.
RT Nicholas Petit-Frere allowed 13 pressures, tied for the 5th-most in a game since 2018. That's… horrible. We're talking Andre Dillard or Dennis Daley levels of poor protection.
Now, I wrote an entire article about the patience required for offensive line overhauls. I encourage you to read it, because it's true: patience is unavoidable. We've seen this countless times in the NFL.
The most recent example of note is how the Colts turned their OL around from 2022 to 2023, going from downright unplayable to one of the better groups in the league. They let their young talent develop, and eventually it all came together. The same level of patience is, clearly, required here in Tennessee.
But that doesn't change the fact that just how bad they've been in the passing game so far has been a bit surprising, and it's a massive contributing factor in Will Levis' level of play.
Does it excuse Levis' couple of braindead decisions? Absolutely not. Is he ultimately going to have to work with the pass protection he's given? Yep! It might not be fair, but that's life.
But there is no denying how poor an environment for young QB development this pass blocking situation is on paper. It's a recipe for failure, and it's on the linemen and Bill Callahan to give their guy better.
