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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterSep 22, 2024, 06:42 PM ET
- Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Malik Willis did things to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday that he was never able to do for them, which was why less than a month ago they traded him to the Green Bay Packers.
And he did them to the amazement of just about everyone in the victorious visitors’ locker room who could not have imagined that Willis would be pressed into duty with his new team so soon after he joined them Aug. 26.
Willis wouldn’t call it a revenge game nor would he take much of the credit for Sunday’s 30-14 win over his old team in its own stadium. But others sure did after he led the Packers to the second straight unlikely victory without Jordan Love, who missed his second straight game because of the knee injury he sustained late in the season opener.
A month ago, coach Matt LaFleur had never coached Willis. Now, he’s 2-0 with him as his fill-in starting quarterback.
“I just cannot articulate the job that he’s done in this short period of time,” LaFleur said. “People can’t fathom it. I promise you, you guys don’t get it. I know you think you got it, but you don’t get it. What he’s been able to do, I’ve never seen something like this.”
Willis had plenty of help thanks to one of the most dominant performances by a Packers defense in years with eight sacks (their most in a game since 2005) and three more takeaways (giving them nine this season, their most through three games since 2009). Safety Xavier McKinney got his third interception in as many games to start the season and Jaire Alexander’s pick-six of Titans quarterback Will Levis in the first quarter helped Willis play from the lead for the second straight week. Preston Smith and Devonte Wyatt also had two sacks each.
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But after a run-heavy game plan last week against the Colts, it was clear right away Sunday that LaFleur had more in mind for Willis against the Titans. On the game’s first play, Willis hit receiver Jayden Reed on a crossing route for 30 yards. Three plays later, Willis checked out of a play based on the Titans’ defensive look and threw a 30-yard deep ball to Christian Watson that led to a 5-yard Willis rushing touchdown.
In all, Willis threw for more yards than he ever has in an NFL game (202 while completing 13 of 19 passes with one touchdown) and rushed for more yards (73 on six attempts) than he ever has. In three starts with the Titans in 2022, he failed to reach 100 passing yards in any of them. His rushing total was the second most by a Packers quarterback in a game since 1970, trailing only Don Majkowski’s 88 rushing yards against the Lions in 1990.
That he did it against the team that once used a third-round pick on him in 2022 only to discard him in exchange for a seventh-round pick from the Packers didn’t faze him. At least not publicly.
“I think all wins count the same,” Willis said afterward.
That’s not how it played in the Packers locker room.
“Hearing him talk about his situation and everything — for me, I was talking to other wideouts earlier in the game — I don’t care if he doesn’t think it’s a revenge game, I’m going out there and playing for him,” said Watson, who led the Packers with 67 receiving yards on two catches. “I want him to be able to go out there and win this thing considering his situation. I know that he’s always going to be humble and remain his character that he is.”
A week after the Packers rushed 53 times and threw it 14, the balance wasn’t quite as out of whack. Against the Titans, they rushed 37 times for 188 yards and threw it 19 times. LaFleur would not say when he knew Willis would make a second straight start; Love, who practiced last week on a limited basis and was listed as questionable on the final injury report, went through an extensive pregame workout before being announced as inactive 90 minutes before kickoff.
Whether Love returns next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings (3-0) remains to be seen, but the emotional boost the Packers (2-1) got from going 2-0 without him was apparent.
“I think that can galvanize our team,” LaFleur said. “We needed everybody.”
