Tag: Will Levis

Titans’ Brian Callahan commits to Will Levis ‘if healthy’

Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan made it clear the team will ride with Will Levis when he returns from his shoulder injury.

The Tennessee Titans continued their Monday night dominance against the Miami Dolphins with a 31-12 victory. With the game much closer than the final score, the Titans got a huge boost from backup quarterback Mason Rudolph, who came in for injured Will Levis in the first half and led the team to the win.

Levis injured his shoulder diving for a potential first down and was unable to return. Unfortunately, for Levis, he was far from perfect when he did play, throwing another inexcusable interception, killing a promising drive.

While it wasn’t a pretty game, Rudolph was a steadying presence and his veteran leadership was apparent from his first snap. His pedestrian numbers — 9-of-17 for 85 yards — are not jumping off the page, but he was efficient and in control throughout and did not make the critical mistake that doomed the team in the first three weeks of the season.

With many fans calling for a change at quarterback, head coach Brian Callahan stands firmly behind his injured starter.

“He’s our starter, and when he’s healthy, we’re ready to roll with him,” Callahan said when asked about Levis.

Fans may not like to hear that but Callahan has been consistent with that message throughout the season, although Rudolph’s performance does start to plant a seed of uncertainty in the situation.

With the team entering their bye week, Levis will have extra time to get ready for their Week 6 match-up with the Indianapolis Colts and if healthy, he will remain the starter.

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Titans-Dolphins Week 4: Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

The Tennessee Titans won their Week 4 game against the Miami Dolphins. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.

The Tennessee Titans lost quarterback Will Levis on Monday night against the Miami Dolphins but ultimately won the game — their first of the season.

It was a strong defensive showing mixed with five field goals courtesy of veteran kicker Nick Folk and steady play from backup Mason Rudolph.

The Titans will take that win into their bye week, which comes entirely too early.

Now let’s take a closer look at the snap counts that contributed to the Titans’ Week 4 victory.

Offensive snaps: 65
Defensive snaps: 60
Special teams snaps: 31

Levis managed just 11 snaps before suffering a shoulder injury that will require an MRI on Monday. Rudolph took the remaining 54 snaps.

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was limited to just 21 snaps, which seems like an oddly low share among the group. Perhaps he’ll be on his way to Kansas City in the near future.

Meanwhile, on defense, the snap share was heavily weighted toward the starters. 11 players took 60-plus percent of the snaps with eight taking 80 percent or more and four taking all 100 percent.

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Titans’ Will Levis injures shoulder, questionable to return

The Tennessee Titans QB Will Levis is questionable to return against Dolphins with a shoulder injury.

The Tennessee Titans are taking on the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football and have already suffered a potential game-changing injury. 

Titans quarterback Will Levis left the game in the first quarter with an apparent shoulder injury that occurred while diving for a potential first down. He attempted a few throws on the sideline before entering the medical tent and has been listed as questionable to return. Prior to the injury, Levis went 3-for-4 for 25 yards and an interception.

Veteran Mason Rudolph came in to replace Levis and led the team on a field goal drive to put the Titans up 3-0 early in the second quarter. 

The Titans only carry two quarterbacks on their roster, if Levis can’t go wide receiver Tyler Boyd is the emergency third quarterback.

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Watch: Emmanuel Ogbah catches an interception with his knees

When an easy interception went through Emmanuel Ogbah’s hands, he still found a way to make the play.

Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah recorded the second interception of his career early Monday night, and he had more success hauling in the ball with his legs rather than his hands.

When Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis fired a ball straight to Ogbah, it went right through the pass rusher’s hands. But he managed to squeeze his knees together in time to hang on to an unlikely pick.

 

The Dolphins fooled Levis on the play with a disguised blitz that sent Jalen Ramsey tearing off the right side of the offensive line and dropped Ogbah into coverage.

While Ogbah isn’t known for his coverage skills, a turnover is nothing new for the Titans offense. Levis, a second-year quarterback threw five interceptions in the first three weeks and fumbled three times. Miami’s eight turnovers entering Week 4 led the NFL.

The first interception of Ogbah’s career came just last season when a pass from the Denver Broncos’ Russell Wilson was tipped by Da’Shawn Hand at the line of scrimmage.

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Anthony Weaver: We’ll do ‘everything we can to rattle’ Will Levis

Anthony Weaver says Will Levis is battling “that turnover demon” and the Dolphins are looking to take advantage.

The Will Levis era is off to a rocky start in Nashville. The Tennessee Titans’ second-year quarterback is tied for the league lead in fumbles with three and is second in interceptions with five.

So the game plan for the Miami Dolphins defense on Monday night is pretty simple: make Levis make mistakes.

“Will Levis has all the ability in the world. Right now, you can see he’s kind of fighting that turnover demon a little bit,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver told reporters Friday. “He’s capable. So we’re certainly not taking him for granted, and we’re certainly not taking that receiving corps for granted.

“We are cognizant of them, we have plans on how to potentially limit their productivity and then we’re going to try to do everything we can to rattle this quarterback.”

https://twitter.com/adamlevitan/status/1838255991726702625

Yet, despite the struggles for Levis early in his NFL career, if there was a shining moment that provides the Titans with optimism, it was his 2023 performance against the Dolphins.

In a Monday Night Football game in December, Levis led Tennessee back from a 27-13 deficit by orchestrating two touchdown drives in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter. In the second half of that game, Levis had 200 passing yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.

“We got to exorcise those demons to an extent, but every year is different,” Weaver said. “There is a bunch of us that weren’t a part of [that loss] at all, but the guys that were here, we know that we want to go make it right this week. They have a new team, new staff, new coordinators, new players – same thing here, but those two logos, we know what this means.”

Through three weeks, the Dolphins have recorded six sacks, 22nd most in the NFL, and they’ve forced three turnovers, 14th most.

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Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner breaks down Levis’ critical pick six

Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner broke down the elements on the Will Levis interception that changed the game on Sunday.

The Tennessee Titans fell to 0-3 on Sunday with their 30-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers. In this game, the Titans were outplayed in every facet and didn’t appear ready to play. 

The offense was bad. They lacked any semblance of a rushing attack, their passing game was erratic, and the offensive line was porous. Their promising defense wasn’t much better, and the special teams again had an adventurous day. 

In the aftermath, QB Will Levis and the offensive line have been at the center of many debates. While Levis has not been great, everything wrong with the Titans’ offense is not his fault. Between the offensive line and the play calling, there are many areas that the team must clean up. 

One of his biggest mistakes was the focus of Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner in a segment of his #StudyBall series. 

As Warner pointed out, this interception was not all about Levis, and many factors were at play. This does not absolve Levis, but it demonstrates the problems that have plagued the Titans offense early in the season. Between decision-making, pressure, play-calling, and design, the offense has been dismal and lacks an identity. 

At this point, the Titans have nowhere to go except up, and they can start this week against the Miami Dolphins on Monday night.

After an impressive preseason, Titans’ offense is floundering

The Tennessee Titans’ offense has struggled in 2024 and statistically sit at or near the bottom of most NFL metrics.

After a preseason full of optimism with a new coaching staff and a retooled roster, the Tennessee Titans crashed early in the 2024 season. There are many reasons why the Titans sit at 0-3 but offensive inefficiency and turnovers sit at the heart of the issue.

Of course, Will Levis has looked erratic and shown a propensity for poor decision-making. But the offensive line has not done the team any favors and the analytics back that up.

When looking at those numbers, the offense ranks near or at the bottom of every major category. Even with a defense that has been playing at a high level, the Titans have not shown the ability to play complimentary football.

And, if that wasn’t bad enough, the Titans are a league-worst -7 in turnover differential and have allowed two blocked punts that do not show up in that statistic.

While the defense has been stout, it has not produced turnovers, and without those, there is no way to help overcome the self-inflicted problems caused by the offense and special teams.

The Titans will again try to get back on track Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium when they take on the Miami Dolphins (1-2).

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Titans’ Brian Callahan sticking with Will Levis for now

Will Levis will remain the Titans quarterback for now

Will Levis could not have drawn up a worse start to his sophomore campaign. The Tennessee Titans quarterback was roughed up again in Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers as the team dropped to an 0-3 record.

The former No. 33 overall pick in 2023 completed 26-of-34 for 260 yards and two touchdowns. However, Levis threw two interceptions, including another pick-six and was sacked eight times.

While Sunday’s loss was not entirely on him, Levis has shown little through the first three games that would convince first-year head coach Brian Callahan that he is the long-term answer under center.

While the completion percentage is up from last year, Levis has already thrown more interceptions and been sacked half as many times this season than in nine games as a rookie.

Despite the struggles, Callahan will stick with Levis for now.

“We got to play better around him,” the Titans head coach said via Paul Kuharsky. “I’m not going to overreact to an interception, those things happen. Guys throw picks. We just can’t give it to the other team. We keep giving up points the other way. It’s killer; it’s hard to overcome. We’ve not played a complete game in any phase at any point yet. We’re capable of way better than what we’ve put on the field the last three weeks. No one’s coming to save us, so we gotta figure it out.”

We knew this year would be predicated on the development of Will Levis. So far, the Titans have not seen the progression they would like from the second-year quarterback, who has made killer mistakes in all three games.

If Levis continues to play this way, you have to wonder if Callahan will give backup quarterback Mason Rudolph a look to try to win a game or two, which would mean the end of Levis’ time in Nashville.

Still, if the offensive line does not show much improvement, it likely will not matter who is under center.

Titans-Packers Week 3: Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

The Tennessee Titans lost their Week 3 game against the Green Bay Packers. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.

The Tennessee Titans were dealt a major blow on Sunday afternoon, falling to 0-3 on the season following a 30-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. The added insult came courtesy of the discarded Malik Willis, who led the Packers to a dominating revenge victory at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

A new low?

Now let’s take a closer look at the snap counts that contributed to the Titans’ Week 3 defeat.

Offensive snaps: 54
Defensive snaps: 63
Special teams snaps: 27

Quarterback Will Levis once again took 100 percent of the snaps, which is to be expected. The concern is, should he? At some point, the Titans have to put a stop to the avoidable turnovers and sitting him down may be the wakeup call Levis needs.

Speaking of a benching, offensive lineman Nicholas Petit-Frere finally got his on Sunday.

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Titans RT Nicholas Petit-Frere discusses performance, benching

The Tennessee Titans fell 30-14 to the Green Bay Packers. After the game, tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere spoke about his performance.

The Tennessee Titans were embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, 30-14. Not only did their former quarterback, Malik Willis, put on a show, but their offense once again struggled. While Will Levis will take some heat after throwing another critical interception, the offensive line’s performance should be in the crosshairs of disapproval.

The Tennessee Titans’ offensive line has struggled since 2024. Not only have they been inconsistent in the run game, but quarterback Will Levis has been under pressure on a large portion of his throws, and Sunday, that pressure was even worse.

It didn’t matter what the combination was; the play fell short. It was so bad that starting right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere was benched in the second half after a brutal performance that included allowing Kingsley Enagbare to record the fastest sack of the day for Week 3.

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After the game, Petit-Frere spoke about his performance and was at a loss about his play.

“This is probably the worst stretch of ball I’ve had, probably (like) in my career,” he said after the game.

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“I got to find out what I can do better. Whether that’s mental or physical,” he continued.

Heading into the season, the rebuilt line was a question mark, but there was optimism after the offseason additions. Not only did they add to the roster in both draft and free agency, but they also added one of the top offensive line coaches in the game.

After three weeks, it is clear that this unit is holding the offense back.  No matter the issue with Petit-Frere, it is apparent that he and the rest of the offensive line must play better. The Titans’ season depends on it.

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