Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans Preview

NASHVILLE,TN The Indianapolis Colts, coming off their thrilling 34-27 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Indianapolis, extending their win streak to 5 straight and 9 of 10 when Jacksonville visits Indy. Matt Ryan racked up 389 yards with the game winning deep ball to Alec Pierce.

AFC South Standings

Colts Injury Report

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Player	Position	Injury	Wed	Thu	Fri	Game Status
Keke Coutee	WR	Concussion	DNP	LP	FP	Out
Stephon Gilmore	CB	Not Injury Related – Resting Player	DNP	FP	FP	(-)
Ryan Kelly	C	Not Injury Related – Resting Player	DNP	FP	FP	(-)
Yannick Ngakoue	DE	Not Injury Related – Resting Player	DNP	FP	FP	(-)
Kwity Paye	DE	Ankle	DNP	DNP	DNP	Out
Kylen Granson	TE	Neck	LP	FP	FP	(-)
Shaquille Leonard	OLB	Concussion/Nose/Back	LP	FP	FP	Out
Jonathan Taylor	RB	Ankle	LP	FP	FP	(-)
Julian Blackmon	FS	Ankle	FP	FP	FP	(-)
Nyheim Hines	RB	Concussion	FP	FP	FP	(-)
Deon Jackson	RB	Quad	FP	FP	FP	(-)
JoJo Domann	LB	Abdomen	(-)	DNP	DNP	Out
Grover Stewart	DT	Rest	(-)	DNP	FP	Unspecified
DeForest Buckner	DT	Rest	(-)	(-)	DNP	(-)

TENNESSEE TITANS

Table – Injury report

Player	Position	Injury	Wed	Thu	Fri	Game Status
Zach Cunningham	ILB	Elbow	DNP	DNP	DNP	Out
Joe Jones	LB	Knee	DNP	DNP	DNP	Out
Tory Carter	FB	Neck	LP	DNP	DNP	Out
Nate Davis	G	Foot	LP	LP	DNP	Out
Bud Dupree	OLB	Hip	FP	FP	FP	(-)
Amani Hooker	S	Concussion	FP	FP	FP	(-)
Ben Jones	C	Not Injury Related	(-)	(-)	LP	(-)
Kyle Philips	WR	Hamstring	(-)	(-)	LP	Questionable

Heyyyyyyy, it’s little brother hate week! The Titans really want us to hate them soooooo bad, have you seen the Titans Reddit? They hate the Colts more than they love the Titans and they love the Titans. Yes, this is a divisional game and we need to win but every time we play Tennessee the Titans fans get so angry and angsty, basically like the little brother every time he plays his big brother, the little brother will win sometimes but in the large scheme of things, the big brother dominates. I have to give the Titans credit, the Colts are 1-5 in their last 6 against Ryan Tannehill. The Colts still lead the overall series 35-21, a 2 touchdown lead, if they wanted to even up the series they would have to win 6.5 more season’s worth of games. Listen, I’m not saying the Titans are bad but they just aren’t worth the rivalry, really none of the AFC South teams are worth it for Indy, they just sound weird, the Jags and Texans are 20-something years old and the Colts have only seen the Titans in the playoffs once and one other playoff style matchup in 2018 in the final game of the season, whichever team won would go to the playoffs and the loser was eliminated, it was also Andrew Luck’s final season, he finished 12-0 against the Titans in his career, neva lost. So yes this is a big game but it’s about as much of a rivalry as the Colts and Ravens, we don’t like them but they aren’t in the back of our minds all season. 

Lets talk stats and how these teams match up. Believe it or not, the Colts are 14th in the NFL in yards per game while the Titans are 32nd in yards per game, Indy is 5th in passing yards per game and a measly 29th in rush yards per game while the Titans are 28th in passing and 21st in rushing yards per game but the Titans are a full 2 points per game better than the Colts, we will look into red zone percentages. The Colts defense is still top 10, just ahead of Jacksonville in yards per game and 10th in rush yards per game but after an abysmal performance stopping the rush against Jacksonville, they have dropped to 22nd in run defense. Tennessee is 28th in yards per game, dead last in passing yards per game and a bipolar 5th in run defense. They are 21st in the league in points per game while Indy is 14th, they have given up 23.6 and 20.2 ppg, respectively. Now you may be asking, how in the world is this Colts team worse than Tennessee record wise? Turnovers, the Titans are at a +1 turnover differential while Indy is -5 (which really is -6, Indy recovered a fumble on the final lateral play of the Jacksonville game). Now about that red zone offensive productivity. The Titans have been effective, actually the most effective offense in the red zone in the NFL while their defense is a top 10 defense in stopping in the red zone. They are converting at a 92.3% clip or 12 of 13, their defense is allowing just 50% of conversions with 9 of 18. Third down is an offensive struggle for the Tits ranking 25th in the league at 35.6 while their defense is the second best in the NFL allowing just 27.1 of conversions. Their 4th down defense is dead last in the NFL allowing 77.8%, they have seen 9 attempts and 7 conversions. Their offense is 5th in the NFL at converting on 4th down, what? This is another bizzare team, their offense and defense are alternating being good and bad in these crucial downs but they have shown to bend but not break in the red zone. Their scoring has been in bunches in their games, specifically in the first half, the titans are 3-2 yet through 5 games they averaged 2.8 first half points and from weeks 2-4 they scored 0 points in the second half, they totaled 478 yards of offense in the 5 games they have played. To note, Ryan Tannehill has racked up 5 touchdowns, 113.8 QBR and 9.1 air yards per attempt in the first half compared to one touchdown pass, 3 interceptions and 64.4 QBR. One big stat to note if you are the Titans, Tannehill’s passes have an 8.3% drop rate so far this season, since 2019, which was his first season in Tennessee, he has not seen a drop rate over 4.4%, I think it’s already clear he is missing his big talented wide receiver in AJ Brown. Tannehill is at the second lowest poor throw rate since he started for the Titans as well but his lowest on target throw rate. His offensive line hasn’t exactly helped him, he is seeing a 27.5% pressure rate, the highest he has seen with the Titans. In his 10 career starts vs Indy, he has a 66.55% completion percentage, 16 td to 5 int’s and 2 fumbles lost, that is including his time in Miami, as a Titan he has thrown 4 interceptions in 6 matchups but averaging 2 td’s per game with 12 as a Titan. The Titans are one of the few teams in the league to have a winning record and have a negative point differential. Their rush defense is much worse at home rather than on the road, they allow 6.5 yards per attempt at home versus 2.8 yards per attempt at home. 

Now to the Colts, one surprising thing is Matt Ryan is top 5 in pass yards, yes, it’s true, a Colts quarterback is top 5 in pass yards, did you know Zaire Franklin leads the league in tackles? Me neither, now you know. But I have some bad things to say, some evil and vile things about a certain cornerback that plays over another cornerback. I don’t want to talk about another man’s job, so I am going to name him, hmmmm, Facyson Brandon, I am NOT talking about Brandon Facyson. Facyson Brandon currently allows a 105.7 QBR, only worse than Kenny Moore who has allowed a 115.1 rating and 2 touchdowns. Facyson also has the second worst missed tackle rate on the team among all pass coverage players along with an 85.7% completion percentage. You know who is better, Isaiah Rodgers. He has allowed an 83.3 rating, no touchdowns, 75% completion percentage and a 0% missed tackle rate. How has Isaiah Rodgers seen under 50% of snaps? How is Facyson Brandon seeing over 50% of snaps? All because Gus Bradley gives his favorite players more time and not the actual players who deserve playing time. JT and Nyheim Hines are both scheduled to return this week which could be big if the offensive line can push the Titans around enough. Taylor’s last matchup against the Titans was, un-Tayloristic from his past few seasons. He rushed 20 times for 42 yards along with 1 rec for 1 yard, which was also the last time we saw Taylor.

Offensive Key to the Game:

1. Create holes for JT: JT cannot run if he doesn’t have space, but the coaches need to create space for him too, running the ball up the middle every time is predictable, get JT running downhill and you’ll see a lot more production.
2. Take Deep Shots: Predictable, that is what the offense has been, the audience knows what they are going to run before Frank Reich knows what they are going to run, they need to stretch the field more, that can help open up holes for Taylor since the defense will need more personnel off the ball rather than knowing they won’t take a shot over 15 yards
3. Get Hot Early: This Titans team cannot score in the second half and this Colts defense can get the job done in crunch time. The Colts have not score a 1st drive touchdown, get hot to start and you can coast to victory

Defensive Keys to the Game:

1. Stop Henry: When Henry get’s running downhill, you can’t stop it. Get to him in the backfield and he can’t build momentum.
2. Punish the Drops: Tannehill is seeing a high in drops since he joined the Titans, if they don’t want to catch don’t let them, just avoid penalties because they are going to shoot themselves in the foot enough.
3. Win the Turnover Battle: The Colts are -6 in turnovers (last week’s fumble recover doesn’t really count), they need to force turnovers and get the ball back to control the game flow.

Prediction:

Colts 23

Titans 17