by 
There’s no quarterback controversy in Nashville, at least if you take Brian Callahan’s post-game 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 suffered 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.
“When Will Levis is healthy, he is 100 percent 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 was 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 remaining in neutral, Rudolph took on the role of game manager 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’s an area of Levis’ game that has been a major problem this season. Levis actually threw his sixth interception (tiing Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson for most in the NFL) before he was injured Monday night.
Although Callahan said otherwise, it will be interesting to see if things change at quarterback in Nashville when the Titans return from their bye week.
