The Tennessee Titans (0-3) and Miami Dolphins (1-2) both head into their Monday Night Football matchup desperate for a win. Will Levis and Co. look to avoid a disastrous 0-4 start, while the Tua-less Dolphins will try to stay alive until he can return to action to make a playoff push.

Last Time Out

Titans 14

Packers 30

TEN

Will Levis – 26/34, 260 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT, 1 FUM 

Deandre Hopkins – 6 rec, 73 yds, 1 TD

Ernest Jones – 12 tkl

GB

Malik Willis – 13/19, 202 yds, 1 TD, 6 car, 73 yds, 1 TD

DEF – 8 sacks, 3 TO forced

Dolphins 3

Seahawks 24

MIA

Skylar Thompson – 13/19, 107 yds

Tim Boyle – 7/13, 79 yds

Tyreek Hill – 3 rec, 40 yds

SEA

Geno Smith – 26/34, 289 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT

Zach Charbonnet – 18 car, 91 yds

DK Metcalf – 4 rec, 104 yds, 1 TD

The Matchup

Titans Offense vs Miami Defense

Will Levis and the Titan offense won’t have it easy with Miami’s defense – a top 10-15 unit in the league. 

Levis and the receiving core will have another big challenge with cornerback Jalen Ramsey and a strong Miami secondary fresh off a two interception performance against Geno Smith. The safety tandem of Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer is elite and Kendall Fuller is arguably the best #2 corner in the NFL. 

Deandre Hopkins’ resurgence last week is a cause for encouragement (and maybe the only encouraging sign last week). Still, he will need to continue to up his snap count and statistics to help negate the effect of the Dolphins’ secondary. 

On the other side, one week after looking exactly like what Ran Carthon paid $92 million for this offseason while being shadowed by Sauce Gardner, Calvin Ridley was a complete no-show when shadowed by Jaire Alexander last week. The poor o-line performance can be to blame for his inability to get the ball, but he isn’t free of blame. 

To further increase the concern about the inability to produce plays down the field, the Titans’ offensive line has no source of hope this week against a strong Miami defensive front. Right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere is coming off two brutal performances, and after being benched last week, backup Jaelyn Duncan looked even worse in a small number of snaps. Both NPF and Duncan may see the field Monday night and that isn’t an encouraging thing while lining up against Dolphins EDGEs Jaelan Phillips and Chop Robinson two former first-round picks. 

The Titans’ interior will have to be solid against Calais Campbell, one of the best interior defensive players of the past decade, who somehow is still producing at a high level in his 17th NFL season. Beside him is Zach Sieler another above-average DT they will have to contain. 

The Tennessee offense will need to establish the run with Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears early and often. The Titans’ defense could play a big part in their success as the lack of production and sustained drives from the Miami offense in recent weeks has forced the Dolphin defense to wear down quicker as the game goes on. 

Also of note is former Titan David Long Jr. who is questionable for the game with a hamstring injury. As Titans fans learned in his time in Nashville, Long is one of the better run defending LBs in football and could be a difference-maker if active. 

Titans Defense vs Miami Offense

Since head coach Mike McDaniel arrived in 2022, the Dolphins’ offense has been one of the best in the NFL in creating explosive plays. McDaniel’s creativity combined with the insane amount of speed from their skill positions – most notably Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle – was a match made in heaven. 

Tua Tagovailoa, while flawed in some ways, has been great for the Miami offense because of his accuracy and knack for anticipatory throws. After going down with his third serious concussion in the past three years, Tua was put on injured reserve and the Dolphins were left without a competent backup quarterback to run the offense. Former seventh-round Skylar Thompson started last week and looked inept. He took several hard hits and left the game, handing over the reins to third-stringer Tim Boyle who was one of the worst backups in the league last year in the time he took over for Zach Wilson for the Jets. In three games of action, Boyle went 0-3 with four interceptions and posted an 11.2 QBR… yes, 11.2.

That being said, Boyle looked better than Thompson as the offense functioned much better with him in, and has a chance to start. The most likely starter looks to be former Raven Tyler Huntley, who the team picked up last week after Tua’s injury. Huntley played admirably in 2021 in seven games in place of Lamar Jackson en route to the most questionable Pro Bowl selection of all time. He is a dual-threat quarterback who could provide the Dolphins with a similar performance to what Malik Willis did last week against the Titans. 

Whoever it is at QB will have a plethora of speedy options to rely on with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle at receiver and Devon Achane and Raheem Mostert at running back. McDaniel will likely game-plan a heavy dose of quick, one-read plays to get their elusive weapons the ball with space to run. That would seem like an offense that is easier to stop, but the Titans struggled to stop the Packer offense last week with that exact game plan in place.

L’Jarius Sneed will likely line up on Tyreek Hill – someone he had success against last year in Kansas City – and with no Chidobe Awuzie this week (groin) rookie Jarvis Brownlee will have to step up big time to cover Jaylen Waddle. Roger McCreary will see a ton of work in the slot as well with Miami’s creativity on offense.

Up front, the Titans’ defensive line has to do much more than they’ve done so far. The biggest on the to-do list is to create pressure on pass plays as they’ve been one of the worst in the league so far in pressure rate and have forced an astonishing ZERO turnovers through three games. They have created the second least pressure on the QB in the NFL with a team pressure rate of just 23.1% according to PFF.

Ernest Jones looked great last week with 12 tackles in his second game as a starter with the Titans and will need to continue his strong play in the run game to limit Devon Achane – one of the most dynamic RBs in football. Beside him, Kenneth Murray will need to do the same and improve his play in pass coverage with the Dolphins’ speed running across the middle often. 

At safety, Amani Hooker and Quandre Diggs will likely have a chance at their first interception of the year if the Dolphins choose to throw deep with any of their options at quarterback, and Jamal Adams will need to play much better after a relatively poor showing in his first game with significant snaps.

Things to Watch

Forcing Turnovers

The Titans are an NFL-worst minus eight in turnover differential – an impossible difference to win with. Sure, the offense has been awful at taking care of the ball, but it’s nearly as bad that the defense hasn’t been able to force a single turnover through three games – two of which included an inexperienced quarterback. The main finger-pointing can go to the defensive line which has been one of the worst at getting to the quarterback and making him uncomfortable. The secondary has mainly done its part, though you can always do more.

Dolphins Quarterback

Will it be Skylar Thompson, Tim Boyle or Tyler Huntley? None of the three are options you want to lead an offense, but Huntley seems to be the most desirable for the Dolphins on paper though he could be still catching up after joining the team just over a week ago. Regardless of who it is, the Titans should be positioned to force their first turnover of the year. 

Right Tackle Play

After some optimism in camp, Nicholas Petit-Frere has been bad through three games – the worst tackle in the league bad. He was benched last week after being directly responsible for Will Levis getting drilled and fumbling, but somehow Jaelyn Duncan was even worse when he replaced him in the fourth quarter, putting some awful reps on tape himself. There is nothing to be positive about at that spot at this point, and the Titans will likely have to scheme around the poor play with quick-game passing and TE and RB help blocking. NPF seems like the option with the most potential to play at an acceptable level, but the hope for that level is low and dwindles by the week. 

It would not be surprising if at this time next week, a move of Dillon Radunz from guard to tackle is discussed or a free agent is signed.

Will Levis – Avoiding Disaster Plays

Will Levis has not had the start to the season that Titans fans hoped for almost exclusively because he cannot stay out of his own way with back-breaking mistakes. If you remove the few horrible plays he’s had, he’s mostly played pretty solid through three weeks, but the problem is that those plays can’t be ignored as they have been the difference in games. If he can just stop giving away points, he can still redeem himself and become the quarterback of the future, but if he continues with the boneheaded mistakes every game, the chants for Mason Rudolph will begin soon and the organization will be looking at a new QB this offseason.

Deandre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley

Hopkins and Ridley have been extremely Jekyll and Hyde to start the year – DHop mostly due to injury and Ridley due to difficult matchups. Things don’t get any easier this week with Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller, but the two are both making money that says matchups should not matter for them. A lot of their success will ride on Will Levis making throws and the offensive line giving him time, but more consistency in their play should be the standard as well for this team to reach their goals.

L’Jarius Sneed vs Tyreek Hill

Tyreek Hill was the best receiver in football last year, but one defensive back consistently gave him fits – L’Jarius Sneed. It was a show every time the two went against each other last season. Clips of Sneed jamming Hill at the line of scrimmage and the two jawing at each other went viral, and it quickly became one of the best WR/CB rivalries of the season. 

Monday night that rivalry will continue. It will be interesting to see if Hill is shadowed by Sneed in the Titans’ defensive scheme. If he is, will McDaniel get creative to get Hill lined up on other Titans, or will he let the two go at it?

Game Information

Tennessee Titans vs Miami Dolphins

Time: September 30, 2024 @ 6:30 PM CDT

Location: Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)

TV Broadcast: ESPN

TV Broadcast Crew: Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick, Laura Rutledge

Radio: Titans Radio (104-5 The Zone)

Radio Crew: Mike Keith, Dave McGinnis, Ramon Foster, Rhett Bryan, Amie Wells

Referee: Clete Blakeman

Line: Dolphins -1

Over/Under: 36.5