Packers at Titans: Three Reasons for Optimism

The Green Bay Packers (1-1) will battle the Tennessee Titans (0-2) on Sunday in Nashville. Here are three reasons why the Packers will win, regardless of the status of Jordan Love.

Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney (29) celebrates with Isaiah McDuffie and Javon Bullard after intercepting a pass against Indianapolis Colts. / Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With or without Jordan Love, the Green Bay Packers will attempt to climb over .500 when they play the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville.

Can the Packers make it back-to-back wins with uncertainty at quarterback? Yes, and here are three reasons why.

1. Advantage at Quarterback

Regardless of the status of Love, the Packers might have the advantage at quarterback.

Second-year Titans quarterback Will Levis, who once upon a time couldn’t beat out Sean Clifford at Penn State, has thrown three interceptions and fumbled twice in two games. Two of the turnovers earned a public tongue-lashing from Tiitans coach Brian Callahan.

“Just knowing the times when you have to be uber careful with the ball,” Levis told reporters this week. “Whether that's when you're in scoring position, a third down where the throw that you're trying to make isn't even going to get you the first down, and just having that hit my brain a little more quickly.”

Of 32 qualifying quarterbacks entering this weekend’s games, Levis is 28th in interception percentage, 21st in completion percentage, 27th in yards per attempt and 26th in passer rating.

Of course, the Packers aren’t taking him lightly.

“When we look at him, he’s also made some really good plays and really good throws,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “If you watch some of the throws he had against the Jets and some of them in the first game against Chicago, he’s had some really nice throws and really nice runs. He hasn’t played a whole lot of football.

“At whatever position, there’s a lot of mistakes being made on the field early in the season, whether you’re on offense, defense and special teams. We’ve got to go out, we’ve got to worry about our mistakes and we’ve got to worry about getting better every week. We know we’ll have our hands full with their offense, and he’s a big part of it.”

While only the Colts’ Anthony Richardson and Broncos rookie Bo Nix have thrown more interceptions (four) than Levis, the Packers lead the NFL with five interceptions on defense.

“It’s very encouraging,” said safety Xavier McKinney, who has two interceptions. “Anytime you can get takeovers, it’s always fun. It gives us confidence as a defense. We get a better feel of playing with our instincts and playing fast. I think that’s what it’s been doing.

“Obviously, the more that we get, we’re building that confidence more and more every time we step out there on the field. We’re executing. We keep doing that, we can do some really good things.”

2. Pass Rush vs. Feeble Pass Protection

Green Bay’s pass rush has been bad – on paper, anyway. After rushing conservatively and strategically the last two weeks against the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Colts’ Anthony Richardson, the Packers will have more of a green light to attack Levis.

The Titans are 25th in sack percentage allowed, with Levis going down on 11.7 percent of his dropbacks. According to Pro Football Focus, the Titans’ line ranks 31st in pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap. The Titans exited Week 2 with a league-worst 33 pressures allowed.

In PFF’s individual efficiency metric with 40 pass-blocking snaps as a threshold, left tackle JC Latham ranks 42nd and right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere ranks last out of 61 tackles, Peter Skoronski ranks 56th and Dillon Radunz ranks 60th out of 63 guards, and Luke Wattenberg ranks 16th out of 33 centers.

“I got critiqued,” Petit-Frere said this week after being beaten like a drum against the Jets. “This is not the standard, this is not the level we play at, this is not what NFL tackles do.”

The Packers can’t just rush blindly, though. Levis isn’t an iron deer on the lawn, as former Vikings coach Brad Childress liked to say. He’s run eight times for 74 yards and picked up five first downs through two games.

The pass rush must be on point. The Titans have a strong three-receiver set of Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins and Tyler Boyd.

“I think you’ve got to be careful with Will Levis, too,” coach Matt LaFleur warned. “I mentioned to somebody the other day how Levis had a couple of big-time scrambles against the Jets and he is fully capable of moving the chains with his legs.

“I think that’s just becoming commonplace with a lot of these quarterbacks. They’re more athletic and they’re able to get out of the pocket and they can take off and run. So, you better be disciplined with your rush lanes. You’ve got to be coordinated.”

3. Special Teams

It hasn’t been often over the years when the Packers’ perennially terrible special teams have had an advantage going into a game.

But they should have the edge against the Titans.

Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse has had a punt in each of the first two games.

“The No. 1 job in punts is to protect first. You protect first, then go out and hunt. We just got to do our job,” Titans special teams coordinator Colt Anderson told reporters.

“He’s had a punt blocked in three of his last three games. That's unacceptable. One of those blocks really damaged his knee. And so we need to give him the confidence to execute his job that we know he's capable of doing. And right now, we're not. We've got to get better.”

Stonehouse is second in the NFL in average but the Titans are 27th in punt coverage, with returns allowed of 20 and 19 yards.

Titans kicker Nick Folk, who is practically automatic on field goals, has had more kickoffs returned than he has touchbacks, with the Titans ranking 29th in kickoff coverage. That could give All-Pro Keisean Nixon his first real opportunities of the season.

“They are NFL players, a lot of pride and I’m sure they’re addressing whatever issues they have,” Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said. “I’m really concerned about what we have to do and what our issues are and what our plan will be going into that game.”

Packers punter Daniel Whelan is off to a tremendous start. Of his five punts, four pinned the opponent inside the 20 and zero have been returned. 

Kicker Brayden Narveson, however, has missed a field goal in each game and popped on the injury report on Saturday with a sore kicking foot. He was not given an injury designation, so he’ll be good to go for the game, but it’s at least worth noting.

“We are just going to kind of concentrate on raking the leaves in our yard and see if we can put a good performance out there on the field,” Bisaccia said.

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Transaction at quarterback for the #Packers, with Sean Clifford up again.https://t.co/xZqveC50tJ

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 21, 2024

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