The Tennessee Titans traveled to Indianapolis yesterday and stole their first victory over the Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s also the first time since 2002 that the Titans have swept the Colts. The Titans are now 5-1 in their last six games, but man, it has not been easy. Once again, yesterday’s game came down to the fourth quarter.
“Lackadaisical” is the word left tackle Taylor Lewan used to describe how they played in the first half, and it rings a bit true. But, we do need to give the Colts some credit. They’re much better than many expected them to be, and they’re much better than their 3-8 record would suggest. But, that being said, let’s not act like the Colts are world beaters either. Over this six-game span, the Titans have played (and beaten) some decent teams, but when time came to visit Pittsburgh, they fell on their collective face.
Lackadaisical, inefficient, downright flat – these are all appropriate terms to describe the Titans right now. If they keep playing this way, we’ve seen what’s going to happen. They may get a nice home win against a middling Buffalo or inconsistent Jacksonville in the playoffs, but there’s no way this team should be expected to travel to Pittsburgh or New England and steal a win.
You want to be playing your best football at this time of the year, and the Titans are simply not. Their best football came at the beginning of the season, when the walloped the Jaguars and took down the Seahawks. They suffered back to back losses to a pretty bad Miami team and were slaughtered by Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans.
Since then, they had a nice little win against the Colts on Monday Night Football, but struggled to put away the Browns. They had comeback wins against the average Ravens and Bengals before the debacle that was Thursday Night Football in Pittsburgh. This just isn’t a team that is winning convincingly right now.
The reasons are numerous – the passing game isn’t working, Marcus Mariota is throwing interceptions, the ‘smashmouth’ component of ‘exotic smashmouth’ hasn’t been present. The offense is just sputtering at this point.
But, the bottom line is good. The Titans are 7-4, and a win is a win is a win.
Unlike many Titans fans, I think it’s encouraging that they are playing poorly and still winning games. Just imagine what this team would look like if it was firing on all cylinders. I mean, they seem to be running at half-optimization, and they currently hold the #3 seed in the playoffs.
Plus, they still have time to work out the kinks before the playoffs, which in itself is a victory for the season. People so quickly lose sight of how bad this team was prior to 2016. The fact that now its fan base is restless because the playoffs aren’t good enough speaks volumes.
Expectations were high heading into this season, but let’s not lose sight of all the boxes Mike Mularkey is checking off as the season wears on. End the Colts’ streak of dominance over the Titans: check. Win in Indy: check. Get to the playoffs: appears likely. Host a playoff game: maybe.
The Titans may not look like it per the eye test, but this team has the record we thought they’d have at this point in the season.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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