JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser each week during the 2024 regular season will speak with a writer or media member covering the Jaguars' opponent.
Up this week:
Titans senior writer/editor Jim Wyatt about Sunday's 2024 Week 14 game between the Jaguars and Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. Tenn.
Q: The Titans (3-9), after upsetting the AFC South-leading Houston Texans, 32-27, in Week 12, lost a road game to the Washington Commanders, 42-19, this past Sunday. What's the state of the Titans entering Sunday's game against the Jaguars?
A: It's hard to spread too much positivity at 3-9 coming off a 42-19 loss to Washington. If we had had this conversation a week ago, the mood around the team would be a little bit different. They had just beaten the Texans and felt like they were building some momentum. With one game, you kind of give it all back. Not everything is terrible when you lose and not everything is great when you win. Now, the Titans are in a position where they have five games left and the hope is you can build some momentum down the stretch, and that starts on Sunday against Jacksonville.
Q: Discuss the Titans' situation at quarterback. Will Levis has kind of been in and out. What's the status of the position moving forward?
A: "The in-and-out part with Levis has been him being in and out of lineup with injuries. He started last year, showed some promise, then he got hurt and wasn't able to finish the season. He started this year, had some struggles, was hurt, and now he's back in there again. He has shown progress since he came back from the right shoulder injury [sustained in Week 4 against the Miami Dolphins]. In his last four starts, he has given fans reason to be a little bit more optimistic compared to what they were at the first part of the season. For him, he has to finish the season strong and give this team and franchise – the whole organization – a reason to feel like he can be the guy moving forward. Right now, that question is still up in the air.
Q: Offensively, what are the Titans when they're good and what do they want to be?
A: They want to be a team that gets out of the teens from a scoring standpoint and that just hasn't happened on a consistent basis. In nine of 12 games, they have scored between 10 and 19 points. You're not going to win many games like that. Part of it is not being good enough in the red zone. Part of it is too many turnovers. Part of it is too many penalties. The biggest part of it is just not being a very consistent team from an offensive standpoint. There have been moments where it appeared they were starting to get some traction, but there have been too many other moments where they're just taking steps back and not able to build on anything good that they've done.
Q: The Titans are ranked No. 2 in the NFL in yards allowed. How good is this defense?
A:When the offense doesn't score a lot of points, I think the defense eventually wears down mentally, feeling like they have to play close to perfect games to win. The defense in most weeks has given this team a chance to win. But people look at the Titans, see a second-ranked defense and think they've been playing lights out all season. Not trying to be overly critical, but this team hasn't played like a No. 2-ranked defense. They're giving up too many points. They're not creating enough turnovers. And they're just not getting stops at critical times. The defense has given them a chance a lot of weeks, but a lot of weeks, it also has been part of the problem.
Q: Was this season a case of being a classic rebuild season? Were they just further away than a lot of people thought?
A: It has played out that way, but I don't think it was supposed to be that way. If this team had won some games earlier, maybe there would be a different conversation right now. I thought entering the season that going into December, this team would be playing for a chance to get into the playoffs. They blew a game against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 when they had a 17-0 lead[in a 24-17 loss]. They kind of blew a game against the New York Jets in Week 2 in Nashville [in a 24-17 Titans loss]. Then they lost a game early against the Indianapolis Colts [in a 20-17 loss] they could have won. If you find a way to win those games, the Titans are still scratching here heading into December, but you lose those games and the season goes from looking like you could be a contender to get in the playoffs to being a team where fans are talking about the draft going into December. That's not where anybody wants to be.
Q: What does this team need to do in the last five weeks?
A: They have to win more games, they have to try to win back-to-back games. This team has lost nine times in a row coming off of a win. The Titans haven't won back-to-back games since October 2022. You have to build some momentum, or at least give fans reason to be optimistic. The quarterback needs to finish strong. This team needs to show some fight, that they're going to fight for a new head coach (Brian Callahan) and show they have learned and grown and corrected some mistakes that have plagued them plagued them all year. If they can do that, then maybe they can end the season in a respectable manner. If not, they're going to end with a top three pick.