Prior to practice on Monday, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly spoke with the media and touched on a number of topics, including quarterbacks Malik Willis and Will Levis, and the eight sacks allowed throughout the preseason Week 1 contest.
While pass protection was clearly shoddy all game long when the backups were in there, Kelly said about half of the eight sacks were on Willis and Levis, who he said held on to the ball too long for some of them.
As far as Willis’ performance was concerned, Kelly thought the second-year signal-caller “took a good step for us” in preseason Week 1, noting that the Liberty product played faster and displayed better decision-making.
“He played faster on Saturday, which was good,” Kelly said of Willis, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport. “That was the big thing that we talked to him about, is we wanted him to make sure that he played to his timing speed.
“He played fast, his decision-making was better, he appeared to play on time more so than what we’ve seen in his previous game exposure. So, I thought Malik took a good step for us here on Saturday.”
#Titans OC Tim Kelly on the back-up o-line line on Saturday: All of them did good and bad things. We need to improve in protection, but some of the issues with sacks vs Bears were on the QB holding the ball too long, probably half of the eight
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 14, 2023
When it comes to Levis, Kelly saw some good things but pointed out how the rookie needs to do a better job of knowing when to bail on a play.
“Obviously, now having a live pass-rush, knowing when we need to step up, when the journey’s over, when we may have to ditch one,” Kelly said of Levis.
“But you look at his ability to be able to get the ball out when he was playing on time, he had some really good throws for us. And, again, it’s a good learning situation for him to be able to come back in here today, be able to watch it and now get a true understanding as to why why we’re doing things a certain way. I’m looking forward to seeing his growth from Game 1 to Game 2.”
