Defense shines as the Titans beat the Colts, 19-10

None of them have been pretty, but the Titans just keep winning. Tennessee found their fourth consecutive win on Sunday against the Colts, gaining a tighter grip on the AFC South race.

Here’s how it played out.

Neither offense could be found in the first half, but thankfully for the Titans, Matt Ryan made a couple of critical mistakes. The veteran quarterback tossed a couple of interceptions in the opening half, one of which that went back for six.

Andrew Adams went the distance, scoring the game’s first touchdown after jumping a route. Ryan tossed another ugly pick to David Long shortly after, which led to a Randy Bullock field goal — his second of the half.

The Titans took a 13-0 lead into the halftime break, despite failing to get anything going offensively.

It took Indy until the middle of the third quarter to find the scoreboard. The Colts converted on 4th and 3 to keep the drive alive, then Ryan found Parris Campbell in the back of the endzone for six. It was an impressive bounceback drive for Indy, one they had to have.

Now the pressure was on the Tennessee offense, which hadn’t done anything all day long outside of 50 yards from Derrick Henry. Ryan Tannehill found Austin Hooper a couple of times to get the Titans into scoring range. However, Tannehill would leave the game after landing awkwardly taking a sack.

Malik Willis entered on third down, but the Titans played it safe and kept the ball on the ground. Bullock connected on another field goal on the next snap, once again making it a two-score game.

It was an apparent ankle injury for Tannehill, but he did return on the following drive.

The Tennessee defense forced a three and out to open the fourth quarter, leading 16-7. Everything was setting up for an easy coast to the finish, but Todd Downing had other plans. He dialed up a jet sweep to Malik Willis — yes Malik Willis. Tannehill and Willis fumbled the exchange, ruining the attempted trick play. The Colts recovered.

The turnover resulted in a free three points for Indianapolis, taking us back to a one-score game at 16-10 with 8:31 to play.

Tannehill turned right back to Austin Hooper. The two converted a massive third down and flipped the field in the process. Frank Reich burned through his timeouts early, but Bullock was able to push the lead back out to nine on a 48 yard field goal.

Bullock finished the day a perfect 4-4.

Down 19-10, it was desperation time for the Colts — but another mistake would break their backs. Michael Pittman coughed it up and the Titans recovered, securing the victory.

Final Score: Titans 19, Colts 10.

Derrick Henry went over 100 yards again (128 total), while Jonathan Taylor handled just ten carries all day, rushing for 58 yards. The Tennessee offense didn’t do much all day, but Tannehill and Hooper came up big in key spots.

The Titans will head to Houston next week to take on the Texans.