Titans Film Room: Will Levis was Beautiful, Crazy Against Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans make a home in Nashville, Tennessee, the capital of country music globally. It is only fitting that we reference back to one of the most famous country songs of all time while we take a look at the performance of rookie quarterback Will Levis against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Beautiful, crazy. Will Levis can't help, but amaze me. The way that he dances (in the pocket), ain't afraid to take chances and he wears his heart on his sleeve.
Ok, I have had enough fun, but the metaphor works too well as we in fact did see a lot of beautiful but also a lot of crazy from Will Levis. While we saw some tantalizing throws, we also saw wild decisions and crazy throws that put the ball in jeopardy.
Let's first focus on the beautiful. The pocket movement we see from Levis consistently on tape is encouraging. Not only does Levis take small steps and slides to buy time and space, but he does so while still being able to deliver balls all over the field off-platform.
While the pocket movement gives him a chance, the passes have to be a focus. A bucket-drop to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, a seam throw to Kyle Philips, ripping out routes. The arm talented is out of this world. Levis also displayed playmaking skills on his screen pass to Derrick Henry along with being tough as nails and taking hits.
That was the beautiful, but again, a lot of crazy in there too. Levis took pressure early in the game and wildly threw the ball behind him. Luckily, the play was ruled a sack, but it could have easily been a disaster. It is second down, just take the sack. Live to see another down.
While the arm is incredible, Levis knows this as well and takes a ton of risk by lobbing it deep. You don't want to hurt the rookie's aggressiveness, but at the same time two plays show must-have downs with four yards to gain and Levis takes a deep shot instead of the open man underneath.
You want him to drive the ball downfield, but there has to be a situational awareness. Not to mention some of the seemingly pre-determined throws he makes that could have easily been picked off. About three of those in our 8 negative plays.
Levis was incredible to watch and optimism that he can be the quarterback of the future should still be high, but like any rookie, especially a quarterback, Levis is far from a finished product and has a way to go to play his best ball. That should be expected.
Until then, queue up the Luke Combs every Sunday as we should continue to see all the beautiful and crazy.
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