The Tennessee Titans won't be better in 2024 if the offensive line isn't significantly better than it was in 2022 and 2023.

Wednesday's practice was the Titans' second in full pads this training camp, coming on the heels of a Tuesday practice where the defensive line kicked the offensive line's collective tails. Performance grades weren't as cut-and-dry Wednesday, giving us an opportunity to examine the Titans' growth at the vital position and ask what more can be done to fix the unit as the season draws nearer.

Here are The Tennessean's overreactions from Wednesday's practice, with a special eye on line play.

Grading the 1-on-1 plays

Titans offensive and defensive linemen squared off in 27 head-to-head, one-on-one reps simulating pass protection Wednesday, with the offense coming out victorious 14 times to the defense's 13, though two of the offense's wins were called back for penalties. In the eight matchups that pitted potential starters against one another, the offense won four times and the defense won four times. It was about as even of a day as possible.

Left-to-middle, things looked pretty great: JC Latham, Lloyd Cushenberry III and Peter Skoronski were a combined 5-1 in this drill. A good sign. Among the potential starters on the right side, things went worse: John Ojukwu, Dillon Radunz, Leroy Watson IV, Geron Christian and Saahdiq Charles combined to win one of 12 reps here. A less-than-good sign.

Is this good enough? You can look at it two ways. First: No, of course it's not good enough, offensive linemen should win a lot more often than defensive linemen, even the worst NFL lines don't allow pressure 50% of the time. Second: Well, yeah, this is fine, how often do linemen — particularly interior linemen — actually have to block defenders 1-on-1? Help is almost always available, so even winning half the time on your own is a good sign.

As always, reality falls somewhere in the middle. So let's move on to full team work.

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Training camp sacks aren't exactly a reliable stat since hitting quarterbacks is off-limits and plays almost never get blown dead for the sake of letting players get their reps downfield. But, the general estimate is the defense came away with five sacks in 52 team reps, as well as two or three additional pressures and a pair of screen plays blown up in the backfield.

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Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was the lead menace, logging two sacks and crushing one of the screens. Fellow defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day logged a sack as well, as did outside linebackers Harold Landry III and Rashad Weaver coming off the edge. Joseph-Day also clogged a few run holes, flashing his potential to be a space eater in a defense that already features Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat.

But there were some nice moments for the O-line too. Skoronski and Cushenberry did a nice job of picking up a Simmons stunt to allow QB Will Levis to find receiver Tyler Boyd from a shrinking pocket. Skoronski had another nice play where he caught cornerback Roger McCreary coming on a blitz after McCreary crept closer to the line off a hard snap count and receiver DeAndre Hopkins helped communicate the incoming pressure.

Maybe the prevailing image, though, came toward the end of practice. Latham looked visibly tired and at one point grabbed at his hamstring as the morning sessions finished up with a red zone and hurry-up period. The first-team offense did a nice job of getting the ball inside the 5-yard line with a long completion to tight end Chig Okonkwo near the start of this period. But the unit had to settle for a field goal after running back Tony Pollard was stuffed trying to run up the middle, Simmons registered a sack on the next play and Levis was flushed out of the pocket on third down.

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So what's the overreaction?

It's hard to identify a moment in the two days since putting on pads where the first-team offense wowed in team periods. There have been some nice plays, some moderate gains. But nothing that feels like it would've been a touchdown. The O-line isn't all to blame, but it needs to shoulder a lot of it.

Yes, a lot of attention needs to be given to figuring out the right side. Getting Nicholas Petit-Frere back from injury later this week might be the salve, but there are no guarantees there and he'll certainly have an adjustment period.

But the issue feels more structural at this point. There was a perception that line coach Bill Callahan would come in and fix all the issues from last year wholesale, but that process clearly doesn't happen quickly.

The line has the makings to be better than it was a year ago, but the makings haven't congealed yet. Until they do, the team's greatest weakness from the last two years can't be crossed off as a problem solved.

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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: Titans' Jeffery Simmons, Harold Landry wrecking O-line in camp again