Game Preview — Vikings vs. Titans
The Titans are back at home as they take on the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are coming off perhaps their worst game of the season in a win. They barely defeated the Mac Jones led Jacksonville Jaguars in a 12-7 nail bitter. After starting the season as a possible MVP candidate QB Sam Darnold has been really bad. Over the past couple games Darnold has thrown for 531 yards 3 TDs and 5 picks. The Titans will look to exploit Darnold’s passing woes for a chance to win the game.
The Titans will once again be without their best CB L’Jarius Sneed after missing his 5th straight game. The Titans CB strung up some controversy earlier in the week when he posted a (now deleted) cryptic message on X using the “hand to face emoji,” signaling that something is awry. As Both Sneed and Awuzie are once again MIA the league’s best receiver is likely to have a career game, again, against the Titans. Dennard Wilson earlier this week spoke about wanting to double Jefferson. However, he mentioned that ultimately that would leave Jordan Addison to exploit an even worse vulnerability in the secondary as the Titans are down bodies throughout. Justin Jefferson, if Sam Darnold can be decent, is likely to go off today as the Titans are reeling from secondary issues. It begs to be seen how and who Wilson has play with Jefferson or if it even matters at all as the most vested “vets” in this Titans secondary are Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (rookie) and Darrell Baker Jr. (in season signing). It should be a very difficult day so long as Darnold can find a way to put the ball within Jefferson’s zip code. Even such — without Jefferson there’s still Jordan Addison who’s a really good receiver in his own right. This is a mismatch problem the Titans will have to gameplan for if they want any chance of winning this game.
Dennard Wilson said he wants to double Justin Jefferson but admitted the #Titans have to pick their spots because Jordan Addison is a good player, so is TN Hockenson and Aaron Jones catching the ball out of the backfield. Wilson also said Jarvis Brownlee Jr is ready for the… pic.twitter.com/7ctd3sf6pa
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) November 14, 2024
Last week Levis didn’t play horribly or turn the ball over (luckily). Levis will be forced to play against one of the best secondaries in the NFL at taking the ball away. The Vikings led the league with 15 interceptions through the first 10 weeks. Byron Murphy and Camron Bynum lead the secondary for the Vikings with 7 interceptions between the two of them. As many know Levis has a penchant for playing loose with the football. Especially when the pressure is taking its toll. Speaking of pressure…Nicholas Petit-Frere is back in the starting lineup at right tackle. After he was benched for the past few games he now gets. a chance to reclaim his starting RT spot. The Titans have continued to struggle at RT no matter who has trotted out there to protect Will Levis. Former Houston Texas Johnathan Greenard leads the Vikings with 7 sacks so far on the season, Andrew Van Ginkel has tallied 6 sacks, and Pat Jones II with 5 sacks. After last weeks debacle I expect the Vikings to get to Levis plenty and often. Even if the protection does hold up it might not be enough as Levis continues to hold the ball too long which led — as could be seen last week — into too many sacks on the young QB. The best formula for the Titans to win is for the ball to ultimately not be in Will Levis’s hands. Tony Pollard got nicked up last week as he was taken out around the 3rd quarter and Tyjae Spears saw most of the snaps at RB. Pollard will need to find success against a stiff Minnesota run defense that ranks 3rd in the NFL according to PFF. The Vikings’ opponents are averaging 3.8 ypc and have the least amount of rush yards gained on the season with only 711 yards. This could be a perfect storm brewing for the Vikings defense.
Prediction:
The Titans will struggle to guard Justin Jefferson. Sam Darnold won’t be superman and he’ll have his moments that the Titans defense can say they did their part. Will Levis will either by his own fault or his offensive line get forced into too much pressure or take sacks which may cause a turnover. The Vikings defense will be menacing and stifle the Titans throughout the game. The Vikings will defeat the Titans 17-7 and the Titans will still be in the running for the top pick in the draft.
