NFL Week 9 Scouting Report: Titans visit Steelers for Thursday Night Football
Steel City Underground will provide fans in Steelers Nation a pre-game scouting report of each of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponents during each week of the 2023 NFL regular season, comprised of items from top storylines and insights.
The Tennessee Titans come off of a similar short week as the Pittsburgh Steelers to visit Acrisure Stadium during primetime on Thursday Night Football. In Week 8, the Titans narrowly edged the Atlanta Falcons, 28-23 while the Steelers fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars. We look at the storylines surrounding Tennessee ahead of Week 9 of the 2023 NFL regular season.
Everyone’s talkin’ ’bout Levis
If you’re not sure who Will Levis is, here’s a rundown. The former Penn State quarterback who transferred to Kentucky before being selected 33rd overall in the 2023 NFL Draft (2nd round) was behind Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis on the depth chart. Against the Falcons, Levis got his first career start and made history.
Levis completed 19-of-29 passes for 283 yards (130.5 rating) on Sunday, becoming just the third player to record four touchdown passes in his NFL debut and joined Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota in that elite club.
“He was ballin’, huh? He was playing out of his mind. It was good to see, because he works so hard. I could tell he was locked in, and we were excited to see it come together for him and the offense.” – RB Derek Henry
Every Will Levis pass attempt from his dazzling NFL debut for the #Titans pic.twitter.com/4jz47XHU7J
— Justin Graver (@titansfilmroom) October 30, 2023
Per Next Gen Stats, Levis threw three of the 10 longest touchdown passes (air distance) this season. He threw a 47-yarder to DeAndre Hopkins (56.1 air distance on the play, ranked fourth), a 33-yard strike to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (55.2 air distance on the play, ranked fifth), and a 61-yard bomb to Hopkins (51.7 air yards, ranked eighth).
Those three passes were the most 50-plus air distance touchdown throws in a single game since 2016, when BGS began. To compare, the Titans had zero deep touchdown passes through their first seven weeks of play this season.
That isn’t to say Levis’ game was perfect, though. The play action was working for the Titans as the Falcons tried to limit Henry’s big play ability in the run game. That allowed the Tennessee receivers wiggle room down the field against the Falcons’ defensive backs. He puts teams on notice, now, however that he has a big arm and will go for the deep strike.
A defensive swarm, then a let-up
The Titans found momentum, and it energized their defense to put pressure on Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder, a second-year quarterback who is a dual-threat passer with mobility. Ridder was sacked a total of six times; five sacks came in the first half of the game.
“I felt like every time somebody made a play, the whole team was feeding off of it. And that’s how it’s got to be, for real, for real. We know how good we are up front, and we just have to go out there and cut it loose.” – LB Harold Landry who logged two sacks
The defense didn’t seem to be able to adjust as well once Tyler Heinicke took Ridder’s place in the lineup. Without as dominant of a pass rush, Atlanta exploited Tennessee’s defensive secondary that has been suspect this season.
The run defense also had a sub par outing and gave up over 100 yards on the ground in three straight weeks of play.
Preparing For The Short Turnaround
The Titans understand that things could have gone very differently for Pittsburgh in Week 8, especially after quarterback Kenny Pickett was forced out of the game with a rib injury. They’ve got little time to prepare for a Thursday night battle as well.
“I think you can build off a win. Now we have to recover, we have to get back, and go on the road to Pittsburgh. We know how hard that is to win, at night, on a short week… But I am excited.” – Titans head coach Mike Vrabel
The Tennessee Titans get good grades for a game plan that allowed rookie QB Will Levis to settle in, and punter Ryan Stonehouse always gets an "A." Here are The Tennessean's grades for Sunday's win: https://t.co/LUYObyQQF3 pic.twitter.com/F9n9nSeKvX
— Tennessean (@Tennessean) October 30, 2023
Titans injury report (Tuesday, Oct. 31)
| Player | Pos. | Injury | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Hubbard | T | Concussion | DNP |
| Anthony Kendall | CB | Knee | DNP |
| Chris Moore | WR | NIR – Personal | DNP |
| Ryan Tannehill | QB | Ankle | DNP |
| Denico Autry | DL | NIR | LP |
| Derrick Henry | RB | Ankle | LP |
| DeAndre Hopkins | WR | Toe | LP |
| Roger McCreary | CB | Hamstring | LP |
| Jeffery Simmons | DT | Ankle | LP |
| Tyjae Spears | RB | Ankle | LP |
| Mike Brown | S | Ankle | FP |
| Sean Murphy-Bunting | CB | Thumb | FP |
| Josh Whyle | TE | Concussion | FP |
- In his press conference on Tuesday, Vrabel said Levis would get the start on Thursday night if Tannehill could not play. That’s something worth watching on Wednesday and game day.
- “DNP” means did not participate, “LP’ means limited in practice, “FP” means full practice. “NIR” means the player missed practice, but it was not injury related.
For the bulletin board
King Henry: STILL a Tennessee #Titans running back. pic.twitter.com/1fD09ICUoW
— AtoZ Sports Nashville (@AtoZSports) October 31, 2023
The Tennessee #Titans are shutting down all calls they’re getting for All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, source says.
As expected D-Hop will stay in Tennessee, barring a last-second big change.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) October 31, 2023
https://twitter.com/Titans/status/1719388145525957032?t=CFNCVHky3CJAICZDae1OtQ&s=19
Getting some celly tips from the man himself pic.twitter.com/FeWiKH2F2E
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) October 30, 2023
