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Jeffery Simmons Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports

Jeffery Simmons questions the motives of some of his Titans teammates

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 10/15/23

Following Sunday’s 24-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in London, it’s clear the Tennessee Titans need to do some soul searching heading into their bye week.

According to defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, that process should begin by weeding out the players who are part of the solution from the ones who are part of the problem.

“We need to figure something out,” Simmons said, via Paul Kuharsky. “We need to figure out the guys who are going to fight and we need to figure out the guys who want to be out there; not the guys that don’t want to be out there. That’s what it needs to be. We need to reevaluate our team and figure it out. That’s the message: let’s figure out who wants to play football for the Titans.”

That #Titans locker room was different from the other locker rooms in which they’d just suffered a loss this year.

The first 3 losses were handled by coaches and players with mostly patience, staying the course.

Today, that patience largely turned to frustration.
— Easton Freeze (@eastonfreeze) October 15, 2023

Sunday’s loss was Tennessee’s second in a row. It’s just the second time in six seasons under head coach Mike Vrabel that the Titans have been below .500 after Week 6.

The other instance came in 2019 when the team was also 2-4 and contemplating a quarterback change. That season, Marcus Mariota was benched heading into Week 7 in favor of Ryan Tannehill, who guided the team to a 7-3 record as the starter and led the Titans to the AFC Championship game.

Tannehill, who’s tied for the fewest touchdown passes (two) of any QB to play in five or more games this year, may be in danger of watching history repeat itself after the bye.

Rookie quarterback Will Levis, who the Titans drafted 33rd overall in April, could be in line to take over the starting job with Tannehill in the final year of his contract and proving to be ineffective running the offense.

The Titans have plenty of other questions beyond just QB. Tennessee ranks 26th in total offense and scoring offense.

#Titans benched Fulton and Dillard and almost immediately started playing better. Would have loved to hear whatever Vrabel said to the team at halftime.
— Mike Herndon (@MikeHerndonNFL) October 15, 2023

The secondary is one of the worst in the NFL, allowing the fourth-highest completion percentage and the eighth-most passing yards, and aside from rookie left guard Peter Skoronski, the entire offensive line is a liability. The unit surrendered 64 pressures, 34 hurries and 23 sacks entering Sunday.

If the coaches heed Simmons’s advice, there could be some big changes for the Titans entering their Week 8 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 29.

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