Mason Rudolph gives Titans opportunity to find out how much has really been Will Levis's fault against Bills
The Tennessee Titans are headed into Buffalo in Week 7 to face Josh Allen and Co. with Mason Rudolph at the helm. Multiple sources confirmed to A to Z Sports that after letting Levis play through his shoulder injury in Week 6, Tennessee has reversed course on managing his health and will have him sit […]
The Tennessee Titans are headed into Buffalo in Week 7 to face Josh Allen and Co. with Mason Rudolph at the helm.
Multiple sources confirmed to A to Z Sports that after letting Levis play through his shoulder injury in Week 6, Tennessee has reversed course on managing his health and will have him sit out for at least one game.
Paul Kuharsky initially broke the story.
This of course spurns many important questions, which the Titans will have to answer in the coming days. On the surface, it appears they completely mishandled bringing Levis back from a throwing shoulder injury that potentially hampered his ability in a crucial divisional loss.
I wrote about all of the organizational red flags this situation raises which you can read here, but let's now focus on what it actually means for the Titans vs. Bills game.
Mason Rudolph The Control
Remember in science class when you'd run experiments? You'd have a variable, which was the thing you changed, and a control, which you knew would remain constant and give you a firm baseline.
Mason Rudolph is a control quarterback. He is perfectly good. Not bad, not great. Not too limited physically, but he won't wow you with his traits either. And he's got a good head on his shoulders. The guy can play. There are tractor QBs, and there are trailer QBs: guys you win because of and guys you win with. Rudolph is firmly in the trailer category.
None of this is meant to be derogatory. Rudolph is a top-5 backup QB in the league if you ask me. He's extremely valuable to his team. And in Week 7, his play should allow the Titans a very convenient, perhaps deeply needed chance to run an offensive experiment: how much of our dysfunction has really been because of Will Levis?
We're Not In Miami Anymore
We've already seen a Rudolph game once this season. It was in relief of Levis when he hurt his shoulder in the first place on MNF. He played nearly the entire game, and the Titans won with their biggest point total in over 1000 days.
But as anybody who watched the game knows, the triumphant victory was hardly due to Rudolph. In fairness to him, it's because they didn't need him. The Dolphins are a hapless team who were playing a backup QB just 12 days off being signed to the team. They offered very little push on offense, and weren't much better on defense. Tennessee ran the ball 40 times for 142 yards, and Rudolph was only asked to attempt 17 passes. He completed 9 of them for 85 yards, only one of which came in the second half.
The Titans won't be able to play like that in Buffalo. The only similarity between the Dolphins and the Bills right now is that they both play in the AFC East. Rudolph is going to have to throw the ball, perhaps a lot. Unless Buffalo plays a bizarre game, this is likely to be a trailing game script for the Titans in which they'll need to put up real points to stay competitive. Certainly more than 17, which has been their favorite number to land on for some time now.
Here's an example of the kind of thing you'd think might look better with Rudolph. Titans' OC Nick Holz referenced the second play of the Colts-Titans game in his press conference this week as one that should've gotten WR Calvin Ridley involved early.
Everybody in the moment felt the Titans play call was a bad decision: Why did they throw two poor screens in a row and punt to begin the game? But it turns out this was a QB issue, not a play calling one. The correct read was down the field to Ridley, but Levis barely even considered it.
One could argue that Ridley is the biggest area of intrigue in this game now. His production has been a monumental disappointment so far after the monster contract the Titans gave him this summer. 9 catches for 141 yards through 5 games isn't close to a return on investment.
But this has clearly been so much more than a problem with Ridley himself. This isn't an instance of a receiver who looks like they've lost a step, nowhere close. Take a look at his separation and drop numbers:
So whose fault has it been? Is Levis stymieing Ridley's production? Is the coaching staff not doing enough to feature him? That's something this game with Rudolph should give us a good look at.
How the Titans offense as a whole looks with Rudolph in there simply being a game manager should be awfully telling as to how much of a problem Levis has been, and may very well shape the discussion going forward.
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