NASHVILLE -- Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis was pressured a total of 15 times against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Thursday night's 20-16 loss. That's the most pressures on a Titans quarterback this season.
With a banged up offensive line in front of him, the rookie hung in the pocket and went 6-of-10 for 75 yards when pressured. But therein lies the problem.
Injuries to the Titans' offensive line are piling up and they may not have enough healthy personnel to replace offensive tackle Andre Dillard, who is both overmatched and detrimental to the offense.
Dillard is unironically proving that the Titans could do worse than Dennis Daley. That didn't seem possible after what Daley did for the Titans at left tackle in 2022, but it's the hard truth.
According to NFL NextGenStats, Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith generated 11 pressures against the Titans on Thursday night. Nine of those 11 pressures came in matchups with who? You guessed it, Andre Dillard.
Making a statement like "Dillard might be worse than Daley" could absolutely come across as recency bias. Dillard is the guy actively hurting the Titans, so obviously it's going to feel like he's been just as bad. So let's go one step further.
Instead of simply referring to their shared shared struggles for comparison, let's actually look at the pass protection numbers for both players.
In 2022, Dennis Daley played 942 offensive snaps for the Titans. He allowed 12 sacks, nine QB hits, and 31 hurries for a total of 52 pressures in pass protection. It doesn't get much worse than that, right? Right?!
So far in 2023, Andre Dillard has played 434 offensive snaps. He has allowed eight sacks, nine QB hits, and 17 hurries for a total of 34 pressures. that remarkably makes Dillard on pace to allow 17 sacks, 19 hits, and 36 hurries for a total of 72 pressures in the same number of snaps as Daley had (All numbers via PFF).
There's just a not a justification for Dillard to see the field anymore. But the Titans may not have another option. Nicholas Petit-Frere went down with a shoulder injury on Thursday night that could force him to miss some time. That leaves a big hole at left tackle with limited options.
I don't see the Titans moving Peter Skoronski to tackle mid-season. So that leaves 2023 sixth round pick Jaelyn Duncan or Dillon Radunz as potential solutions. At this point, there's no reason to not try one of those guys out there. You have to protect your rookie quarterback.
It feels like it can't get any worse than Dillard right now. But then again, we said the same thing about Daley last season...and here we are.
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