NASHVILLE, TENN. – Brian Callahan wants a few things for his offensive line regarding pass protection, things which seem in conflict.
Game reps, patience and urgency for improvement.
How does all of that mix together?
As for the time, Callahan said…

“I think all growth and improvement takes time. There’s certain things that may be more natural than others for certain guys, it sort of varies player-to-player. And I think that those things come with actual game reps. You can do as much as you want in practice. You can simulate it, you play against your own team, but there's different styles, and different body types, and different rush counters and there’s a lot of things that go on.
“And for those guys, it's just banking of reps. Obviously, you don't have forever to make improvement, but there does take some growth. There is some uniqueness to it and some technicalities that only improve as you get more shots at it.”
As for the patience, he said…
“There's an element of patience. There’s an element of we’ve got to get better fast. There’s some urgency to get better. And I think that’s the most important point, is that the urgency to improve quickly is what makes teams in the NFL. If you can get better quickly, you can make improvements, make corrections and not repeat mistakes, you’re going to have a pretty good chance to improve at a rate that’s going to give you a competitive advantage.
“But we need to improve certainly. There’s again, a patience part, but there's also an urgency part where things got to get better quickly.”
Per NextGenStats, Will Levis was pressured 53.4 percent of the time through two games, an incredibly high rate.
The Packers have a pressure rate of 22.4 percent per Pro Football Reference, just 20th. That could conceivably help offer some relief as the Titans seek to find their footing.
Of course, the Titans see plenty of threats.
“They are very good up front, (Kenny Clark) is a good edge rusher,” Lloyd Cushenberry said. “That’s been their strength for the last few years.”
Peter Skoronski spoke of growth, better execution of techniques and the need to win one on one.. He said the communication hasn’t been much of an issue.
“These first two weeks we’ve probably not given Will the chance to make the plays you need and put him in riskier positions,” he said. “So it’s got to be better.”
Daniel Brunskill is not in the starting lineup right now, after playing as the right guard last year. But the veteran is a key backup and can still serve as a key spokesman for the line.
He said the Titans’ pass-pro problems stem from one root cause.
“All of our pass pro problems, from last year, from this year, it comes down to how efficient we are on first down,” he said.
Brunskill said Callahan put up a stat that when the Titans got a first down they scored on that drive. That was not quite the case against the Jets. The Titans got their two touchdowns on drives with multiple first downs and their field goal on a drive with one.
But Will Levis also fumbled the ball away on a drive with five first downs and Tennessee gave the ball up on downs on the final possession after moving the chains four times.
The bigger point remains.
In 10 three-and-out series so far, the Titans ran seven times for 15 yards and Levis hit two of three passes for 9 yards.
Those plays set up bad second downs, with an average to-go distance of 9.4 yards in Chicago and 7.8 against the Jets. Pass protection got harder.
Levis knows he needs to be part of the solution.
"We're very locked in on pass protection and kind of what we're seeing and what we know our answers or our problems are," he said.