Game Preview — Green Bay vs. Tennessee

Written By Jack Loeb

The Tennessee Titans are on the brink of total collapse. After starting the season 0-2 after inexplicable loses to the Bears and Jets the Titans are on the precipice of complete failure of a season. If the Titans start 0-3 it would mark the 1st time since they moved to Tennessee in which they’ve lost the first 3 games of the season. Unfortunately, this is a sad reality for the Tennessee Titans to be facing. Coach Brian Callahan has undoubtedly one of the best rosters that Titans fans have ever seen on paper and yet the Titans are substantially underperforming. Despite having a top ranked defense the Titans -4 turnover ratio has been the largest cause of concern. Embedded in that number is that the Titans have yet to force a turnover. Not only that but the Titans have had 2 blocked punts over the past two games which directly led to the opposing team scoring a TD.

The current situation is untenable. Something has to change and it needs to occur quickly. Coach Callahan needs to be much better at game management and personnel. For reasons unbeknownst to many Coach Callahan is giving too much play time to underperforming former 1st round pick Treylon Burks. 1 catch and 2 yards — no that’s not the receiving line from a random John Doe off the street. That’s Treylon Burks receiving stats from two game…two games! He needs to be benched immediately and in his place insert NWI or Jha’Quan Jackson. At this point it hardly matters who, it only matters that it’s someone different. Even a hobbled and handicapped DeAndre Hopkins has more yards and receptions than Burks — 2 receptions 17 yards. Callahan should put NWI in as the WR2 this game if Hopkins is still struggling with his injury.

A change at WR isn’t the only change needed to possibly avoid 0-3. The Titans should look to make a change at the RT position and by extension RG. NPF is ranked as one of the worst OL in the NFL according to PFF. He has given up 8 pressures (most in the league) and 2 sacks (tied 5th worse). At this point it’s becoming more and more obvious that NPF is not the future RT for the Titans. Radunz should be given another shot at RT given the situation at hand and Brunskill should by extension be put at RG once again. The offense cannot function if the OL is going to continue to struggle protecting Levis. The Packers will be bringing the pressure this Sunday. Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and Preston Smith might have a field day tomorrow against the Titans. I don’t foresee a change this soon to the OL but given the early bye week we could see something manifest itself before the Titans take on the Colts after the break.

Will Levis will need to play like a franchise QB Sunday because he too is on the brink of losing the fan base and may end up losing the locker room similar to Bryce Young. Two weeks in a row Levis has made a terrible mistake trying to do too much. Those mistakes cannot happen tomorrow. Levis needs to remind this organization and fanbase why we had hope in him in the first place. There’s too much talent surrounding Levis for him to be falling on his face in stupidity. If the Titans lose Sunday to Malik Willis, the quarterback they said wasn’t even good enough to back up Levis, there could be catastrophic ramifications as pressure builds around Callahan and Levis to secure a win. At this point in the season this is a must win game. As crazy as that sounds week 3 is a must win game with the Titans staring down 0-3 after improving their team substantially over the offseason. Levis has no excuses to not win this game. Plenty of lesser quarterbacks, with lesser talent surrounding them, have found ways to win games — including Will Levis himself in several games last year. That hope from last year around Levis is starting to wane. I’m seriously afraid that he’s on the verge of losing his job and the Titans will be seeking a new QB come spring. I hope it works out with Levis, but I’m not as completely on board as I once was and I feel a lot of Titans fans feel the same way after watching the past two games.

The Packers are keeping mum when it comes to who will be starting at QB Sunday. I honestly believe it’s probably a 60-40 chance that Malik Willis starts. Willis did well last week going 12/14 122 and 1 TD with 6 rushes for 41 yards against the Colts. If Willis wouldn’t have played so well and/or the Packers lost to the Colts I could see a scenario where the Packers would push for Jordan Love to play Sunday. Mostly, I believe the Packers are trying to keep the Titans on their toes about who’s starting Sunday. If Jordan Love does start he should be severely hampered by his knee injury. Whereas, Malik Willis wouldn’t be and has demonstrated that he can do enough to win games. The Titans will need to get after whoever lines up behind center. Harold Landry has 3 sacks already on the year and the Titans will need him to continue to attack the passer. If Malik Willis is starting the biggest Packers threat won’t be who passes the football.

Josh Jacobs has been running like a man possessed lately. He already has 235 yards rushing on the year. That ranks 3rd in the NFL. The good news is Jacobs has two fumbles so far this season. If there was ever a time for the Titans to have a turnover party it would be against Malik Willis and Josh Jacobs. Jeffrey Simmons earlier this week has already stated, “Nobody runs the ball on the Tennessee Titans” when speaking on Josh Jacobs and the Packers run offense. Meanwhile it seemed that Braelon Allen and Breece Hall had a pretty good day against the Titans last week going for a combined 21 carries and 95 yards for 1 TD. For Simmons I sure hope he and the defense can back up the tough talk against this Packers team that has been nearly unstoppable running the ball. T’Vondre Sweat and Simmons are a great tandem already. Most of what they' do doesn’t show up on the box score. Sweat has been really solid thus far against the run but he’ll need to get better getting off blocks and moving with quickness more often. So far he flashes about 2-3 times a game which is good, but the Titans need to see more of that on a consistent basis.

Whether it’s Malik Willis or Jordan Love the game won’t be made easy for the Titans. The Packers have a really solid defense and a really solid run game. Which in the past is a Mike Vrabel recipe for success. The Titans will need to limit their mistakes and force the Packers into making at least one or two in order for the Titans to have a win on Sunday. I’m predicting a Titans 21-16 victory to prevent their first 0-3 start since coming to Tennessee.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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