By: Jack Gold
Standing at 0-2, the Tennessee Titans are just several key plays away from their record being flipped. That’s the NFL. Small mistakes can have big consequences, and the Titans have been on the wrong end of things so far this season. Now, the 1-1 Green Bay Packers and a familiar face come to town in an important week three matchup.
Last Time Out
Tennessee
Self-inflicted wounds cost the Titans again last week in their 24-17 loss to the Jets.
After an opening three-and-out and strong first defensive drive, the Titan offense got going during a nine-play 68-yard drive on their second possession capped off by a 10-yard end around to Calvin Ridley for a touchdown.
The defense continued its strong play, forcing a quick punt, and the offense churned out another impressive drive, this one over 10 plays and 72 yards, but with a worse ending. In a déjà vu moment for Titans fans, an unnecessary flip pass to avoid taking a sack on third down from Will Levis turned into a turnover and directly cost the team points.
Luckily, this time the defense was able to have a say in things and forced another quick punt, but on the first play of the next offensive drive, a deep shot to Treylon Burks was intercepted after the Jets’ defensive back ripped the ball away from Burks – a ball that probably should have been caught and definitely shouldn’t have been intercepted.
The Jets then dinked and dunked their way down the field for their first touchdown of the game and the Titans responded with a field goal to go into the half leading 10-7.
After the Jets received the ball to begin the second half, the Titans’ defense looked like they forced another three-and-out, but an obvious roughing the passer penalty on Jeffery Simmons on third-and-15 gave the Jets new life and Aaron Rodgers and Breece Hall connected on passes of 30 and 26 yards leading to a touchdown and the Jets first lead of the game, 14-10.
The game stalled temporarily, but after another failed Titan drive in the mid-third quarter, disaster struck again on special teams as a blown blocking assignment led to their second blocked punt allowed this year, which immediately put the Jets in field goal range to make the game 17-10. Luckily, the offense responded as Levis and Ridley connected on an incredible 40-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17 – Ridley’s second TD of the day.
In the fourth quarter, Aaron Rodgers did what hall-of-fame quarterbacks do and led a clutch touchdown drive to put the Jets up a touchdown with just over four minutes to go. With their backs against the wall, the Titan offense put together a 13-play, 56-yard drive that stalled out in the redzone and the Titans lost, 24-17.
Green Bay
Playing without star quarterback Jordan Love, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Indianapolis Colts 16-10.
Leading the way in Love’s place was the Titans’ 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis who they traded to the Packers just weeks ago. Thrust into a tough situation after Love’s injury in week one Willis played admirably. The vanilla gameplan worked to perfection for the Packers as they ran the ball 53 times for 261 yards and Willis went 12/14 for 122 yards and a touchdown through the air.
The most notable drive of the day was their second of the game in which they went 82 yards over 11 plays with the first 10 on the ground before Willis connected with Dontavion Wicks for their only touchdown.
It was truly complementary football as the offense controlled the time of possession 40:11 to 19:49 and the defense showed out when on the field as they forced three interceptions from Colts QB Anthony Richardson and held them to just three points until they scored their only touchdown with under two minutes to go in the game.
The Matchup
Will Levis will once again have to throw against one of the premier corners in the league this week. After facing off against Jaylon Johnson and Sauce Gardener in weeks one and two, Jaire Alexander will be the next top DB to test Levis. Despite the tough competition last week, Calvin Ridley was impressive last week with four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, which may allow the potential effect of Alexander to be viewed as less of a problem than it is with most matchups.
At the line of scrimmage, the Titan o-line will have their hands full with DT Kenny Clark and DEs Rashan Gary and Preston Smith. Just a week after giving up an NFL high nine pressures, right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere will have to play much better if the Titans are going to get anything going offensively, and while better performance will be expected of him, the likelihood is that he will also get some tight end and running back help when blocking in pass protection to help neutralize the Packers pass rush.
For the Titans’ defense, a game plan against Malik Willis could lead to dominance, but a surprise return of Jordan Love who has practiced this week could make things interesting. Against Willis, the Titans should dominate and it would be a good bet that they can force their first turnover of the season. Running the ball 53 times like the Packers did last week is unheard of and a product of starting Willis. While they were able to sneak out with a win last week, the Titans front should be a much different challenge with Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat. Willis will be forced to throw the ball more this week, and if history proves correct, that typically doesn’t turn out well for an offense.
A lot will be on the shoulders of Matt Lafleur to create easy looks for Willis to move the offense, while Titans DC Dennard Wilson will do everything he can to force him into mistakes.
If the Love practice reports aren’t just gamesmanship and he miraculously returns just one week removed from what looked like a serious injury, the Packers’ offense would become much more dynamic and a larger challenge for the Titans. Even with limited mobility, Love would make a huge difference in their passing game and their plethora of promising young receivers including Jayden Reed, Christian Watson and Dontavion Wicks would benefit greatly.
Things to Watch
Will Levis
Will Levis’ first year as a full-time starter has been shaky. He deserves blame for the week one loss and made another brutal turnover in week two that didn’t help things. He did, however, show improvement in many areas – enough that Brian Callahan noted that he was pleased with his progression from week one to two despite the fumble. The flashes of unteachable talent were there again on Sunday, but the coachable mistakes showed up too.
Will he fix the decision making problems? That still is up in the air, and his success as an NFL quarterback almost solely relies on that.
Deandre Hopkins’ Involvement
DHop has been very quiet to start the year. He only has two catches for 17 yards in the first two weeks. The MCL injury he suffered that kept him out of the majority of training camp can be to blame, but Brian Callahan took some reponsibility too for not getting him involved enough with the playcalling.
He hasn’t looked like himself so far this year, but he also hasn’t been involved nearly enough. For this team to reach the goals they have, they need DHop to be closer to the 1,000-yard version from last year and not the current one.
Malik Willis or Jordan Love
Probably the biggest storyline of the game is the quarterback position for the Packers. In week one Jordan Love went down awkwardly in what looked like a potential season ending injury. The injury thankfully was not as serious as it could have been, but he was still expected to miss a decent amount of time. It was a surprise when he wasn’t put on injured reserve which would have kept him out for four games, and now, he has been seen practicing this week.
While Malik Willis played admirably on Sunday, the difference between him and Jordan Love is night and day. If Love were to be able to play, even at less than 100%, the Packers offense would immediately be better as just the threat of what he can do through the air would change the defensive gameplan.
It would be shocking if Love returned this week, so it seems like this is just gamesmanship from the Packers to make the Titans prepare for two QBs, but there is always the possibility that his recovery is legit.
Defending the Run
How the Titans can slow down the Green Bay rush attack will be key for them to continue their success on that end. The Titans are the best defense in the NFL in total yards per game at 206.5 ypg, but the Packers are the top rushing offense in the league at 212 ypg. Something has to give. Will it be Josh Jacobs and the Packers o-line, or T’Vondre Sweat and Jeff Simmons?
If it’s Malik Willis at QB, the odds are the Titans will come out on top in that battle, but the respect they would probably have to show Jordan Love would change things.
Forcing Turnovers
As the best statistical defense in the league, it’s hard to complain about the Titans’ defensive performance so far, but there has been a singular flaw to this point. They aren’t forcing turnovers. Aggressive playstyle was expected of first-year defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, and while he’s done a great job to this point, forced turnovers will have to come for this team to reach its peak.
This is a topic where the quarterback play probably doesn’t matter. Willis has been known to be susceptible to turnovers in his time in Tennessee, and Jordan Love with limited mobility could struggle as well with the Titans d-line playing as well as it has.
Game Information
Tennessee Titans vs Green Bay Packers
Time: September 22, 2024 @ 12:00 PM CDT
Location: Nissan Stadium (Nashville, TN)
TV Broadcast: FOX (WZTV Channel 17 Locally)
TV Broadcast Crew: Kevin Kugler, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin
Radio: Titans Radio (104-5 The Zone)
Radio Crew: Mike Keith, Dave McGinnis, Ramon Foster, Rhett Bryan, Amie Wells
Referee: Clay Martin
Line: Titans -2.5
Over/Under: 37
