There is no quarterback controversy in Nashville, at least if you take Brian Callahan’s postgame comments at face value following the Titans’ first win of the season on Monday night.
Tennessee’s 31-12 win over the Dolphins was anchored by the steady play of Mason Rudolph, who replaced starting quarterback Will Levis after Levis sustained a shoulder injury midway through the first quarter. At halftime, Titans coach Brian Callahan told ESPN that Levis would play if he was healthy enough to do so. Callahan said basically the same thing after the game.
“If Will Levis is healthy, 100 percent he’s our quarterback,” Callahan said.
Rudolph went 9 of 17 for 85 yards in his Titans regular season debut. Those numbers don’t jump off a page, but they don’t adequately tell the story when it comes to Rudolph’s night.
Each of the Titans’ seven scoring drives were navigated by Rudolph, a seven-year veteran who went 8-4-1 as the Steelers’ starting quarterback during his six seasons in Pittsburgh. He hit two big passes on Tennessee’s first scoring drive and his short completion to Calvin Ridley on the Titans’ ensuing drive helped set up Nick Folk’s 52-yard field goal.
Just before halftime, Rudolph’s 27-yard dart to Tyler Boyd set up another Folk field goal that extended the Titans’ lead to 9-3 at intermission.
With the Dolphins’ offense stuck in neutral, Rudolph settled into a game manager role in the second half. He still managed to lead several more scoring drives in the second half and did not turn the ball over.
Speaking of turnovers, that is an element of Levis’ game that has been a big issue this season. Levis actually threw his sixth interception (tying Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson for the most in the NFL) prior to getting injured on Monday night.
While Callahan said otherwise, it’ll be interesting to see if things do change at quarterback in Nashville when the Titans return from their bye week.
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