close
close
You are Here
Titans quarterback Will Levis should try to be himself, not Patrick Mahomes
vefms

Titans quarterback Will Levis should try to be himself, not Patrick Mahomes

There are improbable plays that only the most exceptional quarterbacks can make. Will Levis must accept that he is not one of those quarterbacks. And that’s OK.

Heading into Sunday’s home opener, the Tennessee Titans had a “it’s just a week” vibe. It was a generic, if common, reaction for an NFL team that was digesting a sour start to Week 1.

You rinse and learn, and clean up the mistakes.

But what if you don’t? What if week 2 has a strangely similar aftertaste?

The Titans’ 24-17 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday wasn’t just an identical final score to last weekend’s loss to the Chicago Bears. It was largely the same loss, with the Titans suffering from the same “inexcusable” mistakes, to borrow a word Brian Callahan is already using a lot as a first-year head coach.

Isolated incidents have become a trend. Instead of a blocked punt, the Titans now have a problem protecting their kicker. Instead of a costly and totally unnecessary turnover by the Titans quarterback, Will Levis now has a problem with colossal, dumb mistakes that are big enough to overshadow everything else he’s doing.

Frankly, it’s baffling that Levis (a smart guy by all accounts) could think all week about his idiotic interception in Chicago and then do the same thing again. This time he went backward for a fumble, and it was third-and-goal, with the Titans probably on the cusp of a 10-0 lead if Levis had taken a sack.

Even Callahan, who is as calm and collected a football coach as you can imagine, lost his temper with Levis on the sidelines. The coach’s words were crystal clear on television and he spoke for an entire fan base at the time:

What the fuck was Levis doing?

“He’s an adult,” Callahan later said, “and he knows better.”

This must be incredibly frustrating for Callahan, because it’s crazy, period.

Levis, for one, isn’t playing all that well. He threw for more yards (192) on Sunday than Aaron Rodgers (176). He also had a higher completion percentage. Levis, for the most part, made good decisions and took advantage of what was at hand, and nearly led the Titans to a game-tying touchdown in the final moments. He ran for 38 yards, including a 21-yarder and “he slid today, if anyone cared about that,” Callahan said.

But nobody cares about that. They’re too busy trying to figure out what the hell Levi’s is doing.

Me? I’ve come to the conclusion that it comes down to a competitive desire to make something out of nothing. Or as Titans receiver Calvin Ridley positively put it: “I don’t think he’s trying to do too much. I think he’s a winner. I think he wants to win.”

That’s great in moderation, sure. But taken to the extreme, it reveals an unhealthy overconfidence. Levis still doesn’t understand what Callahan and others who have been in the NFL learned long ago: There are certain improbable plays that only the most exceptional quarterbacks can make. That’s why everyone marvels when Patrick Mahomes makes them.

Except Levis isn’t Mahomes. When he tries to be Mahomes without success, he stops being an average NFL quarterback. Suddenly, he’s flirting with professional failure and getting a dressing down on the sideline from a coach who specializes in advising quarterbacks not to repeat dumb mistakes. With that, Callahan’s patience is wearing thin.

“I’ve told him a million times at this point, ‘You’re one of the 11. Just do your part. That’s all they’re really asking of you,’” the coach said. “… Something doesn’t make a lot of sense, because it keeps happening to us.”

Levis should know this.

And that should tell you something important:

He can’t help it.

No way, folks. This was the one week where they would have said, “There’s no way I’m doing that again.” And it did again. But more alarming than the mistake itself was the way Levis described it afterwards (honestly and transparently, in my opinion) as his default setting.

“It has to be something that feels more natural to me,” Levis said. “I’m going to do everything I can to rewire my brain and make sure that when I’m in those situations, I don’t make those decisions.”

This is not a habit, it is a condition. He is telling you that.

Levis might be able to control it enough to get by and make a good career, but keep in mind that the hero ball attempts will never completely go away for him. They will happen again.

It may be next week (for those of us eager to think otherwise, I hope not). It may be next month. It may be next season. At some point, Levis will feel compelled to reach for a cape again, and it will backfire.

It’s no Mahomes, but that’s okay.

Had he been content to be Will Levis the past two weeks, his Titans might not be 0-2.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and on Platform X (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin

Related Posts