NASHVILLE — Despite the lopsided final score, Friday night’s 23-7 win over the New England Patriots was a roller coaster for Tennessee Titans quarterback Malik Willis.

The highs were high and the lows were low for Willis on Friday. He finished the night 15 for 20 with 211 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and 17 rushing yards.

But at the end of the first quarter, Willis was 1/5 with 22 yards and an INT. That means he finished the day 14 for 15 for 189 air yards and two touchdowns with an INT as his only incompletion.

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Now of course you want to limit the mistakes and take better care of the football, but Willis showed me something on Friday night that I hadn’t seen from him before in his NFL career. The roller coaster night showed Willis’ ability to compete and bounce back from mistakes. That's a huge sign of development. 

After an inefficient and slow start, Willis bounced back to lead a 368 yard effort from the offense. Both times Willis turned the ball over, he led a touchdown drive on the ensuing possession. Within one of those drives, Willis went from fumbling a snap and Julius Chestnut fumbling the football to connecting with Chestnut on back-to-back passes for big gains and scoring a touchdown.

Quarter-to-quarter, series-to-series, even play-to-play it felt like Willis learned from his mistakes on the fly. That’s not something 2022 Malik Willis would have done. 

But this is a new year and a new Malik, and the 2023 version of Willis is not just learning from his errors, but being more efficient with that process. Willis said after the game on Friday that his biggest improvement this offseason came in identifying and correcting mistakes faster.

"I think the most important thing has been really figuring out those mistakes and trying to correct them, and not taking weeks and months to correct something," said Willis after the game on Friday. "Maybe taking a few moments and understanding what’s trying to get put towards me and how can I fix it."

"A short-term memory, for sure. Each play really, because you can’t worry about the last play and execute the play that you’re in right now," said Willis.

Willis acknowledged that having a short memory was something he has needed to work on since joining the Titans. He told me Friday night that he simply needed time to understand what the NFL is all about.

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel was proud of the way Willis competed and battled back from his errors. I asked Vrabel if that was a sign of the development he was hoping to see this from his young quarterback this fall.

"I think. You're going to throw some interceptions in this league. But I felt there was a competitiveness. And guys were working hard for him, especially there in the second half. We have to start faster. That's obvious," said Vrabel.

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The question moving forward will be if Willis can limit his errors and capitalize more on his positive flashes. Part of that process, as Vrabel pointed out, is not chasing and realizing when a route or progression isn't open.

At the end of the first quarter in Minnesota, Willis underthrew a pass for Nick Westborook-Ikhine that fell incomplete instead of a going for a big gain. When Vrabel and the Titans' coaching staff attempted to recreate the opportunity for Willis in practice, the second-year QB threw the ball into coverage trying to get redemption for the missed throw he made the previous week.

That's an example of the chasing that Vrabel pointed out that needs to be fixed. "We told him, 'Hey, just because we're trying to come back and correct it and make sure we can move on—if it's not there, it's not there,'" said Vrabel on Friday.

Development is not linear, and there's no denying that Malik Willis has been on a bit of a roller coaster this preseason as he dives into year two of his NFL career. 

There are still a lot of obstacles to overcome, but with the highs and lows come learning experiences. Those will prove to be valuable for Willis over time.

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