The Tennessee Titans won a thrilling game over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8, 28-23, to go to a perfect 3-0 inside Nissan Stadium and 3-4 overall this season.
Tennessee is technically 3-1 at home on the year, although it should be noted that its one home loss came over 4,000 miles away, with the Titans serving as the de facto home team in London.
In each of the Titans’ three games at Nissan Stadium, Tennessee has dropped at least 27 points in each contest. However, Week 8 may have been the most electric performance of them all due to a phenomenal showing by the team’s rookie quarterback, Will Levis.
The Titans had strong showings in all three phases of the game to some extent. Tennessee’s offense consistently moved the ball downfield, the defense was lights out in the first half, and Ryan Stonehouse and his powerful leg was a real weapon early and often.
This type of victory has undoubtedly led to some overreactions, but there are also some undeniable truths. Let’s not waste any more time and dive into two truths and two overreactions following Sunday’s impressive victory.
Truth: Will Levis needs to be the starter regardless of Ryan Tannehill’s availability
This one feels relatively obvious at this point.
In his first-ever start, Levis completed 65.5 percent of his passes (19-of-29) for 238 yards and four touchdowns, three of which went to DeAndre Hopkins, with the other going to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
Will Levis threw 3 touchdown passes traveling over 50 yards of air distance, the most in a game in the NGS era (since 2016). The Titans had 0 deep TD passes in Weeks 1-7.#ATLvsTEN #Titans
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 29, 2023
He also led the Titans to their highest scoring output since Week 18 of the 2021 season, scoring a total of 28 points on a Falcons defense that entered the day ranking in the top 10 in scoring defense, total yards, passing yards and rushing yards.
There’s no telling how the rest of the season will go, but one thing is for sure: No. 8 needs to be the guy under center going forward.
Overreaction: Titans are destined for a 2019-esque run
While the Titans have clearly given themselves a reason to believe again, nobody should be assuming that this team is going to turn its season around, let alone go on another deep playoff run like Tennessee did in 2019.
With that said, there are a lot of similarities to that 2019 campaign, so I can’t blame anyone for overreacting this way. During that run, the Titans started the year 2-4 before making a quarterback change that ultimately sparked a second-half turnaround.
Maybe something similar ends up happening here, but we’ll just have to patiently wait and see how the rest of the season goes with Levis under center.
We have to remember it’s still just one game, albeit a very impressive one. Only time will tell how the rest of the season will play out, but as of right now, we should still be keeping reasonable expectations without getting ahead of ourselves.
The next step is for Levis to start stacking these types of performances together, especially on the road, where Tennessee has yet to win a single game thus far.
Truth: Jeffery Simmons looked like himself again
All of the attention is rightly going to the Titans’ rookie quarterback, but Jeffery Simmons had just as good a day as anybody on that football field.
The Mississippi State product recorded six tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, and one forced fumble and was absolutely dominant in the first half.
Guess who? @GrindSimmons94
📺: Watch #ATLvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/7UGlkBW4FV
— Titans (Oilers Version) (@Titans) October 29, 2023
This is the version of Simmons we were seeing early in the year up until he suffered a shoulder injury early in the Week 5 contest against the Colts.
Since then, Simmons had been rather quiet, only accounting for a total of five combined tackles with no sacks, quarterback hits, or tackles for loss over the last two games.
Tennessee’s defense is a different unit when he’s rolling the way he was for the majority of the ball game. Atlanta only found success when they decided to switch quarterbacks to someone who the Titans’ defense likely didn’t spend any time studying throughout the week.
Regardless, as long as No. 98 is wreaking havoc in the middle of the defense again, it’s going to give the rest of the unit a better chance to succeed.
Truth: Titans should stand pat at the deadline
All week long we’ve had to endure tons of trade rumors revolving around the Titans’ veteran players like Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins.
Those rumors were amplified after the team decided to trade veteran safety Kevin Byard to the Eagles in exchange for safety Terrell Edmunds, along with fifth- and sixth-round picks in the 2024 NFL draft.
However, after Sunday’s electric showcase from the Titans’ offense, it’s probably a safe bet that this team won’t be selling its best weapons.
The offensive attack was balanced for four quarters with Levis at the helm, Henry in the backfield, and DeAndre Hopkins out wide.
There’s no telling if this team will go on any kind of run, but the Titans have to at least give themselves a chance to try and do so with this trio. Not to mention, Henry and Hopkins will greatly help in Levis’ continued development the rest of the season, and quite possibly beyond.
More from Week 8
