How Titans fare heading into Week 11

Nate Davis, USA TODAY:

No team in league history has allowed this many points (26.7 per game) despite ranking first in total defense.

Barry Werner, List Wire:

They played with the Chargers for a half and then it all went away. Not much to be excited about in 2024, though.

NFL Nation, ESPN:

There are few bright spots this season for the Titans, but Westbrook-Ikhine has emerged as one of their most reliable players after not being targeted in the first four games. Since then, Westbrook-Ikhine has caught 13 of 19 passes that have gone his way. The veteran wide receiver has played more snaps than any other Titans receiver over the past three games and his four touchdown catches this season lead the team. “Every time we throw it to him, it’s a first down or a touchdown,” Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz said. 

Ben Rolfe, Pro Football Network:

The Titans are a mediocre team all around, and it’s showing week in and week out.

Tennessee’s defense has played well in spots, and to be league-average while supporting a bad offense and playing the seventh-hardest schedule deserves some credit. Unfortunately, it’s not good enough to lift this team into any level of contention while playing with that offense.

The Titans’ only goal in the last eight weeks is to determine whether they should invest in Will Levis as their quarterback of the future. If he wins them games, great; if not, they get a better draft pick to select his replacement.

Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News:

The Titans gave a healthy Will Levis a worthy shot to rev up the offense, but he can do only so much when the once-helpful pass defense breaks down against a top quarterback.

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports:

Will Levis went 18 of 23 for 175 yards, two touchdowns and most importantly, no interceptions. The Titans are a bad football team but a strong finish by Levis would be good news for them.

Diante Lee, The Ringer:

There are so many ways in which Tennessee is just not good enough, and the Los Angeles Chargers were the perfect opponent to reveal those issues clearly. Tennessee has had one of the better rushing defenses in the NFL this season because of their size up front, but on Sunday the Chargers challenged the discipline of Tennessee’s linebackers repeatedly. The second level of Tennessee’s defense crumbled under the blocks of the Chargers’ pulling guards and tackles.

Offensively, there’s no doubt how talented some of Tennessee’s top playmakers CAN be, but the Chargers defense forced Will Levis to distribute touches evenly and win from the pocket – things he simply cannot do. The Titans have spent and invested across this roster, and it still feels like they’re on step one of a rebuild.

Eric Edholm, NFL.com:

Returning from a shoulder injury that cost him three weeks, Will Levis started Sunday’s game against the Chargers in a nice little rhythm, and the run game seemed to be finding its groove, too. But the Titans broke down twice in the red zone: The first time, they missed a field-goal try in the second quarter; the second, they settled for a field goal in the third quarter when a TD would have given them a one-point lead. Then, when the defense couldn’t hold in the second half, a close game slipped away. We’ve seen this pattern multiple times from Tennessee this season. All three units shared some blame in the breakdown. Levis had some moments, but the sacks just kept piling up. Rookie left tackle JC Latham was credited by Next Gen Stats with allowing two. The Titans tried rotating Leroy Watson and John Ojukwu at right tackle, and that experiment failed; Watson was flagged three times and allowed three pressures, per NGS, while Ojukwu allowed four pressures and two sacks. There are always glimmers of hope with this team, but they’re often blacked out by reality.