The Tennessee Titans made the trip up to Indiana today for a massive AFC South showdown with the 3-4 Indianapolis Colts at high noon. The Colts entered the game 3-4 and favored by three points. They were on a 3-1 hot streak in their last four games. Getting Carson Wentz back and healthy for this one was a key difference between this contest and the first meeting between these two teams (which the Titans won, 25-16). With a chance to put, essentially, a four-game strain on their division rivals, and to get their fourth straight win, the Titans showed some gumption against a Colts team that would not go quietly in the night. This one was evenly matched (even in the terrible officiating), and it was every bit the dogfight we thought it would be. It all came down to the leg of Randy Bullock in overtime. But, no sweat – he nailed a 45-yarder to get the 34-31 win for the Titans, and now, this team is 6-2 alone atop the AFC playoff standings.
Takeaways: Titans Climb to #1 in the AFC After Outlasting the Colts in Overtime
- This was absolutely a disastrous start for the Titans. I mean, it could not have gone any worse – the Titans blinked and were down 14-0 before they knew it. Frank Reich and Wentz looked like mad scientists, cooking up ways to get Michael Pittman Jr. one on one in ideal match-ups, including on that first touchdown. Greg Mabin funneled Pittman inside, he made a great cut, found open field and Elijah Molden, and Molden just doesn’t have the size, change-of-direction ability, nor the recovery speed to get beat by Pittman in that spot and then get back into position to break that pass up. Wentz is going to take that match-up every chance he gets. The Colts were absolutely dealing, finding those match-ups, and taking advantage of them early on in this game. But, the Titans did well to bow up and get stops after those first two drives in the first half.
- These announcers were awful – saying the Titans were basically helpless after getting down 14, and talking about how Todd Downing would have to reconsider his entire game plan was a surefire way to tell me you don’t watch the Titans without telling me you don’t watch the Titans.
- Ryan Tannehill had two really ugly interceptions that were totally forced – he did not do well under duress today, and the pass protection was a liability at times. He looked shaken up after a hard hit on the final drive of the game, but came back in for overtime.
- Derrick Henry had his right cleat off in the first half of the game but at the time of this writing, there’s still no word on an injury. The Colts run defense did an excellent job on Henry for the entirety of the game, but I wonder if he wasn’t exactly full strength in the 2nd half of the game. The Colts played Henry better than anyone else has all year.
- Anybody have ‘Geoff Swaim breakout game’ on their bingo card? When the Titans got down early, they leaned on the tight end for a couple of big catches and the touchdown to get it going.
- I’m not sure about putting Jeremy McNichols out wide on third down (twice) when he’s usually in to pass protect. That didn’t work out well, but ended up being a non-factor in the end.
- There was a fluky play on 3rd & 11 when Tannehill tried to force a ball that ended up being his second interception of the day, but it was fumbled, and then recovered by the Titans for a first down. That felt like a pivotal moment in the game.
- The lights weren’t too bright for Monty Rice, who was getting the start for the injured Rashaan Evans. Vrabel talks about it all the time, but every guy on this roster is expected to be ready to go at a moment’s notice, and that was the case for Rice today. He made a nice play 1:1 with Taylor that kept him from converting a first down.
- Molden had the bad play early on that resulted in a Colts touchdown, but he became a hero in this game when he leapt into the air and pulled down the ball for a pick six that put the Titans up 31-24.
- The officiating in this one was awful…both ways. The pass interference calls were not consistent. Molden and Chris Jackson could’ve easily been flagged on a couple of plays that weren’t called. There were some questionable calls against the Titans. You hate to see it, but the refs absolutely became a factor in the outcome of this game.
- The pass rush took some time to get going today, but once it did, it was awesome. Harold Landry had the team’s only sack today, but that defensive front was in Wentz’s face and flushing him out of the pocket consistently. Bud Dupree generated the pressure that led to the Molden pick-six late in the 4th quarter.
- The Colts found some success in getting the ball away from the Titans defensive front and getting Jonathan Taylor and Nyhiem Hines out in space. I was surprised they didn’t do more of that as the game wore on.
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine continues to show up in big ways. He had a touchdown on an in-breaking route. Granted, the throw was perfect, but it was a nice contested catch against tight coverage.
Game Balls
- AJ Brown – I wrote about it earlier in the week, but Brown being healthy and back to full strength is huge for this Titans offense. He came up big time for the Titans again this week, hauling in 10 catches for 155 yards and a touchdown.
- Kevin Byard – I know he had the bad pass interference call late in the game…and it was bad. Byard was in the postgame press conference talking about how he was planning to come to the press conference taking all the blame for the loss. But, outside of that, I thought he played pretty well and he ended up getting the interception that wound up clinching the game for the Titans.
- Randy Bullock – Two long ones for Fat Randy, but none bigger than the game winner in overtime. He has firmly taken command of the kicking spot. Build his statue outside Nissan Stadium tomorrow.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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