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| Former 1st round draft pick Donald Brown had a career day, rushing for 80 yards and two touchdowns in Indy's win on Thursday. |
Cory Puffett
After one of their worst performances since the 2011 season,
the Colts needed bounce-back game. They got just that, and it could not have
come at a more critical time.
Visiting their AFC South rivals, Indianapolis held a
two-game lead over Tennessee entering Thursday. With another matchup with the
Titans coming in Week 13, the Colts could ill afford to give up a game in their
division race.
The Titans got off to a booming start. Chris Johnson talked
during the week about wanting to gain 100 yards on the ground in this game
after failing to do so in each of Tennessee’s last five tangles with the Colts.
He certainly got off to a good start, rushing for 70 yards
and two touchdowns on eight carries on the Titans’ first two possessions.
But Tennessee got away from the run game and Johnson only
saw the ball ten more times the rest of the game, nine times on the ground and
once through the air, and finished with just 84 total yards.
Still, trailing 17-3 early in the second quarter and 17-6 at
halftime, Indianapolis was looking far too much like the team we saw last week
against St. Louis. The offensive line was not blocking well in any aspect of
the game, and though the defense settled down after the first two Tennessee
drives, it looked like those scores might be enough for the Titans.
But the Colts flipped the switch in the second half. Indy
got the ball to start the second half, and Andrew Luck went 5/5 for 42 yards
along with a 13-yard scramble that led to a six-yard Donald Brown touchdown
run.
Tennessee return man Devon Wylie fumbled the ensuing kickoff
and after tossing a nine-yard completion, Luck scored on an 11-yard scramble to
give the Colts a 20-17 lead.
In all, the Titans ran just seven plays for eleven yards in
the third quarter.
The Titans did a better job of stringing plays together and
keeping their defense off the field in the final quarter, but the damage was
already done and the Colts rode their momentum swing to a big victory that gives
them a three-game lead in the AFC South and a 3-0 division record.
This win also protected a long-standing accomplishment for
Andrew Luck. He has not lost consecutive games since his redshirt freshman year
at Stanford.
The Colts have divisional games every other week for the
rest of the season with matchups at Arizona, at Cincinnati and at Kansas City
in between.
At 4-6, the Titans’ playoff hopes are slim. Their next move
is a three-game road trip. They get a long week to prepare for Oakland, and
then they play in Indianapolis with Thursday’s loss fresh in their minds. They
will finish this road trip in Denver. If they lose either of their next two
games, that will be a must-win for Tennessee.
Final Score:
Indianapolis Colts – 30
Tennessee Titans – 27
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