At 2-8, the Tennessee Titans are a whole lot closer to securing the no. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft than they are sniffing a Wild Card berth.
Let's just call it what it is. The season is over, even with seven games remaining. And, a big reason why this season has been a failure, as a whole, has come due to the fact that quarterback Will Levis has not taken the necessary steps in becoming this team's legitimate franchise quarterback.
After missing some time with injury, Levis has returned to start the past two games, though. And, to be fair, he's been better than he was to start the year.
In being asked how he sees himself having improved, recently, Levis had some pretty comedic words to share with the media:
"I haven't thrown the ball underhand or chest-passed it, so that's an improvement," the quarterback said.
Well, he's not wrong. We have yet to see another blatant, game-shifting turnover handed to the other team on a silver platter.
All jokes aside, Will Levis has shown improvement in his return from injury
Levis' self-assessment was pretty funny. At the very least, fans have to appreciate Levis' bluntness and willingness to poke fun at himself. But, aside from the hilarity of his comments does come some truth.
He's been better.
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In his first five games of the season, Levis totaled seven interceptions and two lost fumbles thanks to his erratic play. He did not end a single one of those five games with a QBR above 37.0. Additionally, only one of those games saw him average over 7.0 yards per attempt.
In short, those first five starts were abysmal. Hopefully, that does indeed go down as the worst five-game stretch of his career (if we're counting the start against Miami where he only attempted four passes before getting injured).
Some of his decisions over the first five games of his season were some of the worst any Titans fan had ever seen. Costly turnovers that were easily avoidable seemed to happen over and over again, without fail.
Yet, since Levis' return over the past two contests, he's completing nearly 65 percent of his passes while totaling 460 yards, three passing touchdowns and just one interception. He's also added 12 carries for 59 yards on the ground.
The Titans' season might look like it's effectively over, but if Levis does continue to improve throughout the latter half of the year, then maybe Tennessee isn't in as bad of shape as some originally thought.
Now, Levis is going to have to really prove himself over the final few games of the season. Titans fans have been scarred by that first half of the campaign. The idea of the Titans being sold on Levis as their franchise quarterback is no where close to being a concrete one.
For Levis' sake (and the Titans as an organization) let's hope he continues to ascend and we don't have to hear any more backhanded self-compliments.