The Titans win a game! (And it was without Will Levis) | Estes

MIAMI — Breaking down the Tennessee Titans' 31-12 win over the Miami Dolphins on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

Talking points

• Brian Callahan's first win as Titans coach came against the sinking Dolphins and with — surprise! — Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Will Levis didn’t return after landing on his throwing shoulder while trying to dive for a first down near the sideline. That happened on the Titans’ second possession. On their first possession, Levis threw an interception. So Rudolph came on and capably quarterbacked his way into inevitable debates for the next two weeks about who should be starting.
• This was expected to be an ugly game. And guess what? For the most part, it was an ugly game. Offensive ineptitude. Mistakes all over the place. Turnovers. Penalties. Referees needing forever to sort things out. Just ugly. If this happens at noon on a random Sunday, then OK. But you subject a national audience to this on “Monday Night Football” and people will talk. The Titans got the better of this matchup , but they could be a tough prime-time sell for a while.
• Yes, these Dolphins are a mess without Tua Tagovailoa. But the Titans can only play who is on the field. Credit to them for getting it done with good defense, good enough offense and a wonderful evening from kicker Nick Folk.

Where the game turned

After Levis’ interception, the Dolphins gained 30 yards on their first two offensive plays and were flying down the field when Tyreek Hill couldn’t corral a short throw that on review was ruled a backward pass. That made it a fumble that Arden Key had recovered.

A huge turnover, and it killed any Dolphins momentum. On their next nine offensive possessions, only once did they drive more than 30 net yards. Home fans were booing their team by halftime.

Key number

84 — Total yards for the Dolphins in the game’s first three quarters, including only 47 passing yards for makeshift quarterback Tyler Huntley.

The Titans weren’t great offensively on Monday, but they had 220 yards at the start of the fourth quarter. Not coincidentally, they had a 19-6 lead entering the quarter.

What I liked

• The Titans kept smashing the run button until finally breaking through with Tony Pollard’s 41-yarder in the second half, setting up Tyjae Spears’ touchdown. For an offense that has struggled to close games going back to last season, the strong finish was progress.
• This past offseason, the Titans got faster on the defensive side of the ball. That showed up Monday night. The speedy Dolphins had a heck of a time getting around the corner on the Titans, with safety Quandre Diggs standing out. On a key fourth-and-1 in the first half, Diggs ran down Hill and stopped him short.
• The Titans were without star defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons (elbow) and still played quite well on that side of the football. Thinking T'Vondre Sweat might be pretty good, y'all.
• And bringing Folk back was a low-key important move for a franchise that had dealt with kicker drama for too long. So the Titans know they have a kicker who’s capable of drilling field goals of 53, 52, 47, 51 and 29 yards in a sluggish game like this one.

What I didn’t like

• The Titans took a long look at their right tackle dilemma last week and decided that Nicholas Petit-Frere — the player they benched midgame in Week 3 — was the best choice to start in Week 4 after all. NPF’s primary competition, Jaelyn Duncan, wasn’t even active in Miami.
• When you start 0-3, any type of win is a big deal. But it would have helped Levis’ confidence if the Titans’ struggling young quarterback had played an active role rather than watching Rudolph get the season’s first win.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The Titans win a game! (And it was without Will Levis) | Estes