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There were times in Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis’ first NFL road game on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers when he looked like the same guy who ripped the Atlanta Falcons’ defense to shreds last Sunday in his overall NFL debut. Levis, who became the third quarterback in pro football history to throw four touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first start (Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota) fell to earth a bit, completing 22 of 39 passes for 262 yards, no touchdowns, a game-ending interception, and a passer rating of 66.4 — quite the drop from the 130.1 he put up against Atlanta.
Titans QB Will Levis had a historic NFL debut. What does it mean for his future?
Now, few people were expecting Levis to do against the Steelers what he did against the Falcons. In his NFL debut, Levis became the first NFL quarterback since at least 2016 to complete three touchdown passes of 50+ air yards. That’s not the kind of thing that happens repeatedly, no matter how good you are.
So, regression was inevitable after such an explosive first game. But as much as Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly dialed things up brilliantly for his young quarterback before… maybe it was the short week, but there were too many instances in which Kelly’s plan for Levis just didn’t make sense. That was evident on the broadcast, and it really came into view with the All-22 on Friday morning.
Before we get into that, and Tennessee’s especially weird two final drives, a few metrics:
Against the Falcons in that historic debut, Levis completed eight of 13 passes with play-action for 116 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 130.1. Against the Steelers, Levis had just seven attempts with play-action, completing four for 62 yards, including a 23-yard completion to Derrick Henry, and a 21-yard completion to Treylon Burks.
Levis completed nine of 12 passes with pre-snap motion against the Falcons for 101 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 139.2. Against the Steelers, Levis had just seven attempts with pre-snap motion, completing one for -8 yards.
None of the plays on Tennessee’s final two drive had either motion or play-action. The hurry-up nature of that drive would negate motion to a point, but as the Titans had someone else with Levis in the backfield on 10 of his final-drive throws, I’m at a loss there.
“Atypical” is an odd word to use for a quarterback who’s started two NFL games, but the stark strategic and schematic differences told a story. Let’s dive into what ultimately became a 20-16 Steelers win, pushing Tennessee to 3-5 at their halfway mark for the season.