Tennessee Titans fans voiced their displeasure during the Week 8 win over the Atlanta Falcons when quarterback Malik Willis was inserted into the game for the two snaps he played.
Willis’ entrance was met with a chorus of boos, as fans had no interest in seeing a quarterback rotation with rookie Will Levis. And, making matters worse, the second-year signal-caller lost a fumble on one of his two snaps.
Multiple Titans players came to his defense after the game, with Levis going as far as to say fans need to “come correct” with Willis the next time he’s on the field.
However, those boos were more than likely directed at the decision to utilize a second quarterback itself rather than at Willis himself.
Head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the situation on Monday, saying he’s fine with fans booing. He also stood behind the approach of alternating the young signal-callers, which he admitted after the game was the plan before Willis’ fumble.
“If there’s things that (fans) don’t like, they have a right (to boo),” Vrabel said, per Jim Wyatt. “If it was directed at me, great, I’ll take it, you know what I mean? If that’s what it was, you can put a poll out and let me know how it goes. I’m more than OK with the plan that we had. I am disappointed that we snapped the ball high and outside to the quarterback, and that we didn’t recover it. Still, I am going to be OK with that plan, because I know what was in there, and know what we can do. I am OK either way.”
Looking ahead to Week 9, Vrabel has already said Levis will start in place of Ryan Tannehill if he can’t go, and the expectation is the veteran will not be ready for Thursday night.
While it remains to be seen if Levis will be the starter the rest of the season, something Vrabel said was “a possibility,” he has at least jumped Willis on the depth chart and did enough in his impressive debut to kill the dreaded two-quarterback plan.
