The open game threads have been awesome this year, and Monday night's was the best one yet.  1,403 comments is unbelievable.  Thanks to everyone who participated.

Stats after the jump.

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There are very few things that make me happier than watching the Titans beat Peyton Manning.  I have hated Manning for years, and seeing that sad look on his goofy face brings me so much joy.

Chris Carr opened the game with a bang when he returned the opening kickoff 42 yards.  I was very critical of Carr early this season, but he has turned out to be a solid return man for this team.  He is going to take a kickoff to the house before this season is over.

The Titans opened with a very efficient first drive as they always do under Dinger.  The only bad thing about the drive was that the Titans had to settle for a field goal after a 3 yard completion to Bo Scaife on 3rd and 8.  It is frustrating to see a throw to a guy that isn't going to pick up the necessary yardage on 3rd down, but it is possible that all of the other receivers were covered, and Kerry Collins dumped it to Scaife to avoid taking a sack or throwing into traffic.

The Titans defense, playing without Kyle Vanden Bosch, had a good opening series.  It was tough watching Peyton have all day to throw last night, but Schwartz stuck with his gameplan and didn't blitz hardly at all.  The "Bend but Don't Break" defense worked again last night.  I applaud Schwartz for not over-reacting and sending a bunch of people.

The Titans did nothing on their next possession, and bad punt from Craig Hentrich gave the Colts really good field position.  Peyton hit a big pass to Dallas Clark, who seemed to be running free in the middle of the field all night long, and then another 10 yard pass to Clark for a touchdown.

The Titans next drive ended with a field goal as well.  You really saw the Titans philosophy shift on this drive.  They had pretty much decided they were going to attempt to throw the Colts out of their 9 man front.  The Titans proved last night that they can win a game when the other team takes the run away from them.  Some may call the Titans offense anemic, but it is putting up more points per game than the "explosive" Colts offense.  The excuses are really piling up over there.

But I digress.  That was it for the scoring in the first half.  Rob Bironas missed his first field goal of the season after Chris Hope's first interception of Peyton.  Maybe Bironas missed because they didn't shoot off the cannon before he kicked the field goal.

The Colts marched right down the field for a touchdown to open the second half.  That put the Titans behind 14-6, and started Tony Kornheiser's monologue on how that was it for the Titans.  They weren't built to come from behind with Collins at quarterback and blah, blah, blah.  It was enjoyable to watch him flip as the game went on.

Collins shut Kornheiser up by taking the Titans 80 yards on 17 plays.  Only 7 of those plays were runs, and 3 of those 7 runs came from inside the 5.  The Titans then went for 2, and Dinger made a great play call with a play fake to Smash where Ahmard Hall slipped out of the Titans backfield and was wide open in the end zone.

The next Colts drive was what won the game for the Titans.  The Colts decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Indy 49.  Not only did they not get it, their play was absolutely blown up by the Titans.  Dominic Rhodes was stopped by Stephen Tulloch for a 1 yard loss.

You could feel the momentum build even more with that stop.  The Titans were able to take the lead on one big throw from Collins to Alge Crumpler and a 48 yard Bironas field goal.  That gave the Titans the lead back at 17-14.

The Colts didn't learn from their first mistake and decided to go for it on 4th down again.  Nick Harper jumped the route on a pass intended for the washed up Marvin Harrison and knocked the ball away.

The Titans anemic offense took the ball 66 yards for a touchdown to push the score to 24-14, and that was your ballgame folks.  It wasn't the end of the scoring though because Peyton gave the ball to the Titans again with another interception.  Chris Johnson took the first play of that drive for a 16 yard touchdown run, and there was much rejoicing in Nashville.

The Colts added another TD in junk time to make the game not look so lopsided, but if you watched the game you saw the Colts hang around for three quarters but get exposed in the 4th quarter.

7-0 is a fantastic start, but there is still a lot of work to be done this season.  The 4 game division lead is awesome, but the race is not over.  The Titans will actually have to play some good teams the next 3 weeks.  We would love to win all 3, but going 2-1 in that stretch will keep the Titans in the driver's seat not only in the divison, but also for home field advantage in the playoffs.

The Titans can't come from behind according to Tony Kornheiser: False

The Titans can't win a game where they can't run the ball: False

The Titans defense isn't that good because they haven't played anyone: Well I guess we can't call that one false yet because the Colts, just like most of the teams the Titans have played, are under .500 and aren't very good.  Yeah, I said it.

This is the biggest win the Titans have had in a long time.  A 4 game lead in the divison through 7 games is awesome.  

Also, who predicted a 7-0 start?  This guy (says Jimmy with two thumbs pointed at himself).  

The Titans have a tough 3 game stretch coming up, but the good news is the Titans have a 4 game lead in the division.  Much, much more coming on this game tomorrow.  For now we celebrate this win.

Let's win this one in the 4th quarter.

Well the good news is that the Titans played terrible and they only trail 7-6.  I knew this was going to come down to the wire.

Can't give the Colts a short field like that.  

Looks like Dinger is determined to throw them out of the 9 man front.

Continue the discussion below.

     VS.   

NUTS AND BOLTS

Date: October 27th, 2008
Time: 7:30 p.m. Central
Location: LP Field, Nashville, TN
Records: Titans (6-0) Colts (3-3)
Weather: 45 degrees, 0% chance of rain, Wind NW 9 mph
TV: ESPN
Radio: 103.3 WKDF
Colts Coverage: Stampede Blue and The Indianapolis Star
Titans Gameday Central

This is the game most of us have been waiting for since the season started.  A win tonight gives the Titans a 4 game lead in the division.  As Smash said last week, "There's nothing better than beating the Colts."

GO TITANS!!

 
The Colts are giving up over 150 yards per game on the ground.  What do you think this Jeff Fisher team is going to do tonight?  If you guessed run the ball 30+ times then you are correct.  This is going to be another of those games that Kerry Collins only puts the ball in the air 15-20 times......unless......the Titans turn the ball over a few times and fall behind. 

I really think that is the only way the Titans lose this game.  This Colts defense is small, fast and built to play from ahead.  They are excellent at getting after the quarterback when they have nothing to worry about but the pass.  The Titans would be in some trouble if they got in that situation.

This is going to be the game that wins Chris Johnson the offensive rookie of the year.  He is going to have a huge game against this defense.  I think we will see him a little more involved in the passing game as well.  They haven't thrown many screens to him this year, but they will probably have some opportunities to do that tonight against the Colts defense.

Look for LenDale White to have his typical game tonight.  I think he gets 15-18 carries and averages right around 4 yards per carry.  Last week Ryan Grant had 31 carries for 105 yards against the Colts.  His 3.4 yards per carry doesn't look great, but it was effective in moving the chains and keeping Peyton Manning off the field.  That will be Smash's job tonight.

Defensively we will see "Bend but Don't Break" just as we have for the last 2 years against the Colts.  It is pretty amazing that in the last 4 match-ups the Colts have averaged 15.75 points per game (for comparison in 2006 they averaged 26.7 ppg and 28.1 in 2007).  I realize that the 2nd game last season was a throw away for the Colts, but in 2006 the Colts scored 14 and 17 against a bad Titans' defense.

The biggest question mark for the defense tonight is the health of Kyle Vanden Bosch.  The Titans won't blitz Peyton much, so they need The Boom King in there to get that pressure.  The play of the front 4 will go a long way in determining the outcome of this game.  The Colts have had some problems on the offensive line this season, and the Titans should be able to take advantage of that.

Again, the Titans are the better team in this game, but I don't think it will be a blow out.  The Colts still have a lot of offensive weapons, the main one being Peyton Manning.  It is really hard to ever count a team out as long as he is on the field.  I predicted a win in this game at the beginning of the season and again on Saturday.  I don't intend on going against that now.  Titans 20-14.

Be sure and be here tonight for the game thread if you aren't going to the game.  I will have the open thread up at 5 central so there is plenty of time for discussion before the game.

This is the biggest game in Nashville in years.  I know there is no shortage of excitement on this site about the game.

Let's be honest, the Colts aren't what they have been.  People can argue that all they want, but it is a fact.  It is also a fact that they still have Peyton Manning, and he can still hit the home run to any of his weapons at any time.  The Titans might win this game big, but I am not expecting that.

Here is my prediction for the game:

The Colts defense is bad against the run, and the Titans are very good at running the ball.  That sounds like a recipe for success to me.  The Titans will be able to move the ball, but they won't put up a ton of points.  They are going to grind it out and get a huge win in the time of possession battle.

On defense the Titans will employ the same strategy they have against the Colts for the last few years, "Bend but Don't Break."  I know that is really over-used, but that is what they will do.  They won't blitz Peyton because that is suicide.  They will rely on the front 4 to get pressure on Peyton, which they should be able to do against the Colts offensive line.  I would love to see Jevon Kearse get a couple of shots on Peyton because some people think he has always been overrated.

The Titans move to 7-0 with a 20-14 win.

I would love to hear your predictions below.