Will Levis isn't playing like himself anymore. Is this what Tennessee Titans want?

It's all there. Every mannerism. Every gesture. Every landmark that has come to define Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis as the NFL's most meme-able player of 2024 — it's all been there since the beginning.

Go back and watch the TV broadcast of Levis' first turnover as a freshman quarterback at Penn State and you'll see the frustrated-handclap-look-down-storm-off. Catch the tape of Levis' fumble against Indiana in 2020 to see one of his famed "Surrender Cobra" moments, eyes bulging with his arms behind his head in shock.

Turn to his interceptions in 2021 against UL-Monroe and South Carolina to see his sad, exasperated upward arm fling and his angry, punch-the-air-to-say-c'mon downward arm fling. You can even see his now-infamous, hands-on-his-hips-while-on-his-knees move after a fumble against Ole Miss in 2022.

In total, Levis turned the ball over 33 times in four college seasons. The TV broadcasts caught one of those big Levis reactions after 13 of them.

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None of this is meant to pile on. Turnovers happen. The fact that he threw an interception against Rutgers in 2019 or fumbled against New Mexico State in 2021 doesn't and shouldn't have anything to do with Levis in 2024 .

The real point here is that Will Levis is, for better and for worse, himself. As the Titans (1-3) get ready to host the Indianapolis Colts (2-3) at Nissan Stadium on Sunday (noon CT, CBS), the Levis who Titans fans will see is the authentic one. Warts and all.

Authentic, of course, doesn't mean complete. Levis is still evolving and learning and maturing and showing the hallmarks of doing all the things a quarterback who has finished 11 NFL starts is supposed to be doing. But an evolving, learning, maturing Levis can still be an authentic Levis, and that's a convergence Titans coach Brian Callahan is trying to synthesize.

"You never want to take the aggressiveness away from the quarterback. I think that’s the fine line," Callahan said. "You want to be aggressive. You’ve got to toe the line a little bit. There’s part of playing quarterback that’s in Will’s DNA. There’s a little bit of ‘f' it.’ Of, ’Sure, I’ll dive for the first down. I’ll throw the ball into that coverage.’ You have to have that balanced."

Will Levis turnovers, deep shots and evolution

Levis spent the Titans' bye week watching football. His family watched in fascination as Levis, parked on his couch watching NFL RedZone, called out plays as they happened. He wants to watch football as a fan, but it's hard for him to turn off the inner quarterback.

Especially when the inner quarterback is seemingly at a crossroad.

Callahan's tutelage is morphing Levis, at least production wise. In 2023, Levis threw 41.2% of his passes 10 or more yards through the air. In 2024, that rate is down to 27.5%. He went from leading the NFL in average depth of target in 2023 to being tied for 12th in the league in 2024. Per Pro Football Focus, his "big time throw" percentage is down from 5.9% to 1.9%. And instead of lamenting the disappearance of the deep shots that got him to where he is, Levis is rethinking their value to begin with.

"I feel like at the end of the day I’m just taking throws that I have available to me," he said. "I could argue that some of those throws were not necessary last year. Maybe I had an opportunity to make those dangerous throws last year that I haven’t. I feel like that’s one of the areas I’ve improved on the most is just not throwing it into 'team meetings' and cloudy windows."

It's not a confidence thing. Levis says he thinks he's throwing the ball better than ever. Yet he's thrown more interceptions in 13 quarters than any other passer has in 20.

It's tempting to call this regression. After all, he turned the ball over only seven times in nine games last year. But again, go back and watch Levis' college tape. He's not turning the ball over the way he did at Penn State or Kentucky. He's not throwing off his back foot into double coverage. He's not underthrowing unneeded deep balls. He's not diving headfirst into linebackers.

This isn't regression. These are new mistakes.

"I think quarterbacks, there’s no substitute for experience," Callahan said. "There’s no better way to learn than some failure as well. You’ve got to learn those lessons, and I think that’s how you get better fast. Certainly there’s a time and a place where you can learn by watching others, by stepping back out of the intensity of it sometimes. But I’ll always stand on the table for quarterbacks needing to experience and play to learn the lessons they need to learn."

The next steps

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw an inexplicable pick-six Sunday trying to avoid a sack in a way staggeringly reminiscent of Levis' "boneheaded" pick-six against Chicago. Levis saw the highlight. He also saw clips of his childhood hero Tom Brady throwing an interception in an AFC Championship game because he didn't notice a linebacker dropping into coverage (just like Levis in Miami) and a clip of Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow foolishly shovel-passing an interception into a defender's arms less than a yard away from him (similar to what Levis did against the Jets).

Callahan actually sent Levis the latter two plays.

"That was just funny to see those things and know that it happens to everybody," Levis said.

After Love's interception, the television cameras caught him sitting motionless on the turf behind the end zone, staring into space as celebrations swirled around him. A move with an essence of Levis.

Young quarterbacks grow on the job. That's Callahan's thesis, at least.

"That’s a maturity process of playing quarterback," he said. "Those things I’ve been encouraged with in the early part of the season."

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Will Levis isn't playing like himself anymore. Is this what Tennessee Titans want?