GoJo and Golic preview Thursday Night Football: Can Will Levis stay hot?

It’s Thursday and you know what that means — it’s time for another Thursday Night Football preview with Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr.!

GoJo says this game has become infinitely more interesting since Will Levis’ NFL debut last Sunday. Ryan Fitzpatrick hit upon a few things that might be different for Levis in his second career start during Wednesday’s show, but as Jessie points out, all eyes are going to be on Levis on Thursday night.

GoJo says this is a prime spot for the overreaction bowl. He says the Pittsburgh defense still has some dudes and a head coach who could put together a game plan that forces the rookie quarterback in some more difficult situations, forces him into some interceptions and all of a sudden we’re talking a bit differently about Levis when in actuality the truth has probably always lied somewhere in the middle.

Senior says the one reason he may lean toward Tennessee in this one is that the Pittsburgh defense, at least statistically, ranks toward the bottom of the league. But, he does point out that the Steelers are 11th in the NFL with 22 sacks and second in the league with 15 takeaways. Senior does point out that the Titans also have a pretty solid option in the backfield in Derrick Henry, especially when you consider Pittsburgh is 27th against the run. That, Senior says, could be Will Levis’ best friend. Senior says that if the Titans can get a run game going against a defense that has given up yards on the ground, that could really, really help Levis.

GoJo agrees that is going to be the battle, and notes that the Steelers could be getting Cam Heyward back after he was activated off of IR. GoJo says if you go back and look at the Titans’ win last week, so much of what they were able to do was because Henry was so successful and they could just hand it off to him on first and second down. But, GoJo points out that Levis did hit shots and he was fearless to throw the ball downfield. Senior says watch the down and distance — if Levis has 3rd & 4 or less, that’s advantage Tennessee because it opens up the playbook for him an awful lot. That’s what Senior says he looks for in a game with a young QB — how comfortable are you making third down for them.

GoJo says it will be fun to see if the Titans get into some spots where Levis has to do some straight dropbacks, as even going back to his days at Kentucky, they were a heavy passaction offense.

Later in the show, we learned you don’t mess with GoJo’s space on an airplane.

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Hour 1: PJ Carlesimo on the Sixers w/o Harden, Wembanyama exceeding expectations and the NBA In-Season Tourney + the Raiders’ Antonio Pierce era, a World Series Title powered by Creed & LeBron’s minutes

Hour 2: CJ Nitkowski on the Texas Rangers’ 1st World Series win, Adolis García’s Impact & that miracle Bullpen + TNF Preview: Mike Tomlin’s Steelers host Will Levis led Titans and Airplane Etiquette

VIDEO:

Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show will also be available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.

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