Titans quarterback Will Levis arrived on Sunday, in a big way. His first regular-season stint went incredibly well, with four touchdown passes and a win over the Falcons.
It came at a time when Levis had previously been languishing at No. 3 on the depth chart, behind starter Ryan Tannehill and backup Malik Willis. After Tannehill suffered a high-ankle sprain in London during a Week 7 loss to the Ravens, both Willis and Levis had a chance to prove themselves worthy of the bulk of the playing time.
For Levis, not having a game in Week 8 provided a major boost.
“It was serendipitous that we had the bye week,” Levis told PFT by phone after the Tennessee victory. “I had a lot of time, first and foremost to kind of get my mind right coming back from London that next day kind of getting the at least news that starting could be a possibility. So having two weeks to prepare was awesome.”
It clicked for Levis once the practices commenced in advance of the eventual win over Atlanta.
“It just kind of happened this week when I finally got the reps with the ones and I felt like I operated at a level that I knew was a level at which I knew we could win the game,” Levis said. “The couple of practices in the week leading up to the bye week where I definitely didn’t, I guess, play at the level that I wanted to. Got those things corrected and then had a great week of practice this past week, I felt like.”
It showed on Sunday. And he didn’t have much time to enjoy it. The game against the Falcons ended at roughly 3:15 local time. Coach Mike Vrabel gave the team a limited window to celebrate. By 4:00 p.m., it was time to focus on the Steelers.
Levis was very aware of the deadline. Our conversation happened as the clock moved toward the top of the hour.
“I think I got seven more minutes here to celebrate before we move on to Pittsburgh,” he said.
On Thursday night, he’ll get a chance to lead the team to a victory that would be celebrated a little bit longer.