Week ten brought back the QB Titans fans love to love… or, maybe, love to hate: Will Lev—excuse me, Billy Jeans! Like him or not, the team needs him steering the ship—if for nothing else than to figure out if he's our future or just another QB we boot out the door too soon. We don’t need another "almost" QB story: Baker, Geno, Darnold... Levis?? Let’s hope not! The Mayo Man brought his A-game this week, but let’s break it all down in this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad, and The WTFugly—or, for the cool kids, #GBWTF.
THE GOOD
THE RETURN OF WILL LEVIS
Just saying "Will Levis" in some Titans circles is like a sorcerer's spell to summon a riot. Hell, if you even say the name "Will" some fans will spontaneously combust on site. It's almost like if you say his name three times, Beetlejuice himself will appear to remind you that the Titans need to be tanking for a future franchise QB. Look, whatever Billy Jeans does, that’s on Billy. He’s out there dropping zero-turnover games, throwing two touchdowns, and finishing with the highest passer rating in the NFL this week—that’s pretty solid for a young QB, right? He’s not the one who stole our strip-sack fumble and ran off with the momentum touchdown. Levis is showing glimpses of the kind of player you can build around, even if 75% of the fanbase is already shopping for Shadear Sanders Titans jerseys.
TRENCH KING MAFIA
Alright, I’ll admit it—I went hard in the paint for Brock Bowers. And yeah, I’ll probably be whining about that till the day he retires… which will naturally be just before we sign him for one last tour in a Titans jersey. Cue flashbacks to Julio Jones, Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, and Adrian Peterson. But hey, while I pine for my balding Disney prince in Vegas, I’ve got to give JC Latham his flowers.
The guy is looking more and more like a franchise cornerstone every week. Sure, it’s been a rollercoaster, because watching Titans football is basically an amusement park ride for your blood pressure. But this week? One pressure, zero sacks, and a partridge in a pear tree! Not to mention our Trench King pulled in the second highest pass-blocking grade from PFF this week, which is definitely nothing to sneeze at.
So maybe he’s not Brock Bowers, but JC’s out there proving he’s more than worthy of that first-round pick.
RIDLEY ME THIS
Calvin Ridley came in hot on Sunday, racking up 84 yards, two touchdowns, and averaging a cool 16.8 yards per catch. Now, halfway through the season, he’s pacing for close to 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. Sure, maybe not quite the stats we dreamed of when we backed the Brinks truck up to his door, coaxing him away from the ankle monitors and bath salts in Jacksonville, but hey—a 1,000-yard receiver in two-tone blue isn’t exactly common.
And since we traded D-Hop, Agent Zero has been on a tear: 300 yards and two touchdowns on 20 catches. Like it or love it, those are numbers we haven’t seen since Jon Robinson sent AJ Brown packing to Philly for a first-round, injury-plagued asthma attack.
BIG JEFF IS A BIG PROBLEM
Jeffery Simmons has been playing like a man on a mission lately. It’s almost like someone told him, “Hey, Big Jeff, if you play the best football of your career, we might just trade you to a contender.” SIKE! You're stuck with us for the long haul, Big Jeff—whether you like it or not. Nashville needs you! Sure, some casual Titans fans demand impossible stats and highlight-reel plays from our franchise faces, and the way some of y’all disrespect Big Jeff is downright comical. But recently, he’s put together a stretch that you could argue is the best of his career.
Take that strip sack/fumble/return by War Damn McCreary—excuse me, that’s just the Auburn in me talking. (Forgive me; I’m just trying to remember a time when Auburn football was actually fun to watch.) Anyway, Roger McCreary! Now, back to Baby Thanos, AKA Big Jeff. That play was the ultimate momentum shift—until, of course, the refs who moonlight as Patrick Mahomes’ personal security force showed up to snap half our points away like, well, Thanos himself.
THE BAD
SEVEN SORRY SACKS OF SH*T
No, that headline isn’t a missing verse from The Twelve Days of Christmas—it’s the number of sacks the Titans gave up in smoggy (or should I say smuggy) Los Angeles this past Sunday. Look, I know, Will Levis may have held onto the ball for a bit longer than he should have… OK, fine, he definitely did. But that’s beside the point! The point is that the Titans gave up more sacks in one game than in the last three combined.
To all those Chiefs, Bills, Lions, and Ratbirds fans out there: you have no idea what it’s like to be a Titans fan. If we’d managed to stop just one—maybe two—of those sacks, maybe we’d be celebrating with more than 17 &@#ing points for a change.
PENALITIES ARE KILLING US, SMALLS
Look, I’ve never played pro football—obviously. In fact, I only played football for one glorious season in eighth grade, where I held down the illustrious positions of guard and kick returner. Fun fact: I’m actually pretty fast. Coach said I “ran like a deer in headlights,” which, ironically, is exactly how I played. I was a crucial piece on a team that guided us to an impressive winless season and a last-place finish in our division—kind of like our current Tennessee Titans, come to think of it.
Where am I going with this? I have no idea. But here’s one thing I do know: even my eighth-grade self would never rack up half the penalties these grown men are committing. Nine penalties for 68 yards. Yep, you read that right—NINE. That’s more yards lost to penalties than any of our leading rushers managed to gain. Call me crazy, but that’s not exactly a winning formula.
LACK OF RUSHING ATTACKS
So, on Sunday we tallied 132 yards on the ground—with zero touchdowns. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But T.I., 132 rushing yards is solid! Why are you so mad?” I’ll tell you why. Because those yards were split between our two running backs and our QB. Our top rusher was Tyjae Spears, clocking in with 47 yards on seven carries at a ridiculous 6.7 yards per carry. Then there’s Tony Pollard Greens with 44 yards at 4.9 YPC. And rounding out our ground game, none other than Will Levis with 41 yards at an eye-popping 8.2 YPC.
Every time one of these guys touched the ball, it was practically an automatic first down. So why on earth did we only run it 21 times if it was that effective? I’ll tell you why: because we have a rookie head coach who has no business calling plays. I’m not quite on the “Fire Callahan” Bandwagon, but I’ll be the one driving the bus to the “Hire a *@#%ing OC ASAP” rally in late January.
RED ZONE? MORE LIKE DEAD ZONE
Sure, it’s true—we have one of, if not the best defenses in the entire NFL. We’re allowing a league-low 273 total yards of offense per game, which is downright badass. To take it a step further, we’re holding opponents to just 157 passing yards per game, which again is the best in the league. So, what’s the issue, you ask? Well, Virginia, I’ll tell you: we’re still giving up a fourth-worst 27 points a game. How is that even possible?
Why can’t we defend the red zone? Why is it so hard? Why do I keep asking myself these questions in the mirror, expecting Brian Callahan to appear like the Bell Witch and make it all make sense? Every week, this defense puts the entire team on its back, but until they fix that leak in the red zone, even the Kool-Aid Man is going to keep busting through and scoring touchdowns on us inside the 20. We would have three or four more wins if we would just buckle down in the Red Zone.
THE WTFUGLY??!!
What's so special about special teams anyway?
NOT SO SPECIAL TEAMS. NOT SO SPECIAL PLAYERS.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: The Titans finally march down the field, scoring some points—those things that actually help you win games—only to turn around and give up a 35, 45, 55, or hell, a 200-yard kick return the very next play. I’m not sure what on God’s two-tone blue earth Colt Anderson is doing on Sundays, but it sure as hell isn’t coaching up the special teams. Look, just because your name is Colt doesn’t mean you have to sabotage our division hopes week in and week out.
Every time the opposing team fields one of our kicks, I feel like I’m watching someone play Madden—except it's a Madden player who’s got Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson back there ready to be unleashed. The Titans are now giving up a ridiculous 38.2 yards per kick return, which, you guessed it, is the worst in the entire league. If you stacked us up against most college teams—or even high school teams—I’d bet we’d still rank in the bottom of the barrel.
I don’t expect this team to be perfect, but if we could just put together four quarters of mistake-free football, we might only have one loss on our record. And yeah, I know that’s a pretty hefty “might,” but at this point, it’s beyond frustrating that Colt Anderson still has a job.
Titans fans may or may not have left the building.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TI is the brains behind both the "Titans Idiot Nation" and "Sports Idiot Nation" as well as an avid sports fanatic and pop culture enthusiast who is unhealthily obsessed with football, especially the NFL. When he's not yelling at his TV, he enjoys running, spending time with his family, and of course, yelling at his TV some more while tolerating the Tennessee Titans.
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