Titans Beat Falcons 28-23, Will Levis Throws 4 Touchdown Passes in NFL Debut

Needing a win in the worst way, the Tennessee Titans got a huge spark from Will Levis on Sunday. Making his first career start, the rookie out of Kentucky threw a record four touchdown passes in leading the Titans to a 28-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

NASHVILLE — It's been a tough couple of weeks for the Tennessee Titans. Since losing in London two Sundays ago, they've lost their starting quarterback (Ryan Tannehill) to injury and the voice of their defense (Kevin Byard) via an unpopular trade.

They needed a win in the worst way, especially since they haven't enjoyed one in four weeks. But back at home at Nissan Stadium, the Titans had a day for the ages on Sunday, beating the Atlanta Falcons 28-23 in the thrilling debut of quarterback Will Levis, who had four touchdown passes.

That doesn't happen very often. In fact, it hardly happens at all. According to the NFL's communications department, it's only happened twice before, by Fran Tarkenton and fellow Titan Marcus Mariota, who did it in his debut against Tampa Bay in 2014.

In today’s @Titans victory, Will Levis (@will_levis) became the 3rd player ever to record 4 touchdown passes in his @NFL debut.

He joins @ProFootballHOF Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota.

— NFL345 (@NFL345) October 29, 2023

That's a big deal, of course, but what mattered even more was that the Titans really needed a win after a 2-4 start. And that got a spark — a lightning-bolt kind of spark — from Levis, their second-round pick in last spring's draft.

"Not a bad debut,'' Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel said. "He hit some shots down the field and not only did Will get some good help, but I thought that the opportunities to move the ball down the field were there, and we hit them.''

Those opportunities have been there for the Titans through the first six weeks, but they haven't been able to finish them off. In six starters, Tannehill only had two touchdown passes and missed several potential scoring throws. Prolific free-agent signee DeAndre Hopkins was still scoreless as we reached the end of October.

That all changed Sunday. Levis and Hopkins connected for three scores, from 47, 16 and 61 yards out. The first score late in the first quarter gave the Titans a lead they would never relinquish, but they also needed every score to rack up their third straight win at Nissan Stadium. The second score, a crossing route over the middle, gave the Titans a 14-3 lead, and the final Hopkins TD from 61 yards out made it 21-9.

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine caught the fourth TD pass with 7:06 to go, putting the Titans ahead 28-16.

"You got to thank (offensive coordinator) Tim Kelly and the whole offensive staff for getting him ready,'' Hopkins said of Levis. "Obviously he's a very talented quarterback, very confident, and he plays the game like he's been there before. We haven't had much practice reps, but we knew he could do that today. We've seen it in practice.

"We talked about going out there and making those plays. He felt confident in me, trusted me, and I'm always going to do everything I can for my quarterback, especially a first-time starter.'' 

Levis finished 19-for-29 passing for 238 yards and seemed poised and in control all day long. It was Tennessee's first four-touchdown passing day since the final week of the 2021 season, a long 25 games ago. It was 27 games before that, so before Sunday it had happened just once in 52 games.

That's a long time. 

But Levis was that good, providing a lot of doubters wrong on Day 1. The moment didn't seem to big for him at all.

"I was feeling the butterflies during the last couple of weeks, but I felt pretty good today,'' Levis said. "This is football, and playing as long as I have, it was good to get back out there and play a full game.

"I was confident all game, and just taking it one play at a time. We're were clicking, all 11, and that felt good. There were a lot of guys that did their job today.''

The Titans' much-maligned offensive line did their job, too, giving Levis plenty of time to make all of those long throws. He had three other near misses as well that could have really broke the game open. He was sacked once early, and then took a sack intentionally in the closing minutes on a broken play.

The line held up well, even with right tackle forced to leave in the second quarter with a concussion. Nicholas Petit-Frere moved to right tackle from left tackle, and Andre Dillard came in to play left tackle. They did their jobs.

"There's always stuff to look back on, but I think we did a decent job,'' left guard Peter Skoronski said. "When we can give him that time, he's got the arm to get those long passes downfield. 

"You always want to see your fellow rookies do well and having seen all the work he's put in kind of in the shadows, this was great. I'm really happy for Will.''

The blocking in the run game was good, too. Derrick Henry had 101 yards on 22 carries and the Titans rushed for 149 as a team. In wasn't perfect, of course, but they did a lot of good things.

Tennessee is 3-4 now, and they play their next three games on the road, in Pittsburgh (Nov. 2), Tampa Bay (Nov. 12) and Jacksonville (Nov. 19). They got hot on Sunday, and now they want to stay hot.

"We trying to stack wins together right now, and that's what we're focused on,'' Hopkins said. "A win like today helps, especially with the short turnaround. Getting a win was important, especially with the way this division is right now. Jacksonville's playing well, so we need to stack some wins.''

The turnaround is quick, with the players joking that they only had until 4 p.m. to celebrate this win. They play the Steelers in primetime on Thursday, a 7:15 p.m. CT start. Hopkins said it was great to put all the negativity behind them and get a win.

Now they want more.

"We're NFL players and it's a business,'' he said. "You can only control what you can control. You go out and play, and we did that today. And now we need to do that again in a few days against a Steelers team that's pretty good.''

Related stories on Titans-Falcons

• PHOTO GALLERY:  Here are the best pictures from Sunday's win over the Atlanta Falcons. CLICK HERE 
• DRIVE CHART: Here's how every possession went for the Titans on Sunday in their 28-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons. CLICK HERE
• WATCH WILL LEVIS' THIRD TD PASS: The Tennessee Titans took a 21-9 lead on the Atlanta Falcons on Will Levis' third touchdown of the day as he connected with DeAndre Hopkins for a third time. CLICK HERE
• WATCH WILL LEVIS HIT HOPKINS AGAIN: The Tennessee Titans head into halftime with a 14-3 lead over the Atlanta Falcons and rookie quarterback Will Levis has played well. He hit DeAndre Hopkins in the red zone for the pair's second scoring play of the day. CLICK HERE
• WATCH MALIK WILLIS' FUMBLE: The Tennessee Titans have kicked off their Week 8 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons and on Malik Willis' very first snap of the game there was a fumble that led to three points for the Falcons. CLICK HERE
• WATCH WILL LEVIS' FIRST TOUCHDOWN PASS: The Tennessee Titans took the lead on a huge pass from rookie quarterback Will Levis to DeAndre Hopkins that went for a 47-yard touchdown. It was Levis' first career passing touchdown. CLICK HERE