Titans coaches may have finally fixed Will Levis's biggest flaw, but it could be causing an entirely new problem

Will Levis has had a rollercoaster year. It's largely not gone the way he or Titans fans have wanted it to go. Before missing the better part of a month and a half with a throwing shoulder injury, he was the NFL's poster boy for frenetic, chaotic plays. But in his return, a completely different flaw emerged.

"Move The Offense!"

"I saw growth in Will's (Levis) play in this game" said Head Coach Brian Callahan after the Chargers game. "I really did. There was improvement. Part of playing quarterback that for the most part can be pretty boring and that's probably 80 percent of playing quarterback is doing the normal, mundane, ordinary things consistently well. And then there's a time and a place where your talent has to take over and that's a big throw—the touchdown, for example. Two or three of those throws, you saw Will's talent, his ability to fit the ball on a tight window accurately, taking off and running, using his feet, using his legs. Those things were all really good to see. And I feel like that's an improvement from where we were to where we are now."

We saw a different Will Levis in Los Angeles Sunday. He wasn't the cavalier, reckless quarterback that saddled Tennessee's offense in September and October. He was... mostly boring. Which is what Brian Callahan wants from him. Just put the ball in play, as he once explained to me. That's the quarterback's job. Move the offense. Then a couple times a game, when required, make the great play.

This was, roughly, what we saw Levis do for the first time in Week 10. The Titans opening offensive drive was a microcosm of this. They methodically moved the ball downfield, and then Levis made one big play to end the drive with a deep Ridley touchdown pass.

One Problem Becomes Another

So what's the issue here? Levis took a step in the right direction. He protected the ball. He played in structure. He stopped doing the things that infuriated fans at the beginning of the season. It looked like the coaching staff had finally coached the bozo out of this guy!

Well, if you watched the 2nd half of Titans-Chargers, you understand that solving his recklessness seems to have caused him to swing too far in the other direction. Levis looked a hair timid at times, and was certainly holding onto the ball too long. His pocket management and awareness was downright infuriating on a handful of plays.

I asked Brian Callahan if this is actually a step in the right direction for the developing QB, or if it's simply a new problem replacing the old ones. He gave a lot of thoughtful answers that are worth reading in full:

"It's different. I mean, it's kind of a play-by-play thing because there's a couple of plays that he pulled the trigger on that were tight window throws that were really, really nice throws. And that's the throws you got to make sometimes to play in the NFL to play quarterback. That part was encouraging. I think that play isn't necessarily an indicator of the whole picture. But I do think he did a really nice job in the game of improving that aspect. He was smart with the ball and was aggressive when he needed to be. And that's one where you’d like him to be aggressive in that situation potentially to hit Josh (Whyle), but you're not going to hit every one of them either. And so that part is okay. But I did see progress and there's a lot of things I felt positive about coming out of that game with Will (Levis) and where he was at. And again, not turning the ball over, not putting it in harm's way, being smart, running, sliding—all those things were improvements."

So the coaches are relieved he's doing more of the things they want, but agree that he has to improve in the pocket. Levis's pressure-to-sack percentage (P2S%) is dramatically higher than Mason Rudolph's, which comes as no surprise to those who have watched Titans football this year.