The Tennessee Titans had their chances to win, and should have won, but fell to the Indianapolis Colts 19-13 in overtime. Frankly, I wasn't surprised by the loss but was surprised at the way(s) the Titans lost – I was expecting a high-scoring game, something along the lines of 38-35.
The game was not particularly well officiated – there were some questionable calls and no-calls that hurt the Titans – but they should have won despite those.
The wind was brisk and seemed to have more of an effect on the kicking game than on the passers. Still, it was encouraging that the Titans gave up only 3 points in the first quarter, when the Colts had the wind. It was even more encouraging when the Titans had the lead and the wind in the fourth quarter. Sadly, the Titans couldn't make a 13-6 lead late in the fourth quarter stand up.
Matt Hasselbeck was picking on the Colts left corner early but got away from it in the second half. I don't have a clue why he/Chris Palmer didn't continue that, and with the exception of a late throw to Jared Cook, he didn't throw deep after some success earlier.
The running game was semi-productive, with Chris Johnson gaining 99 yards on 21 attempts.
Defensively, the Titans were able to hold the Colts to just 13 points in regulation. If you were told that stat and hadn't seen the game, you'd probably think the defense played well. They did, at times, but not when it counted. The Colts moved the ball almost at will in their final drive in regulation and in their lone overtime possession, especially on the ground.
The Titans simply failed to take advantage of their opportunities.
Those opportunities included:
- a missed field goal
- a Kenny Britt touchdown negated by offensive pass interference
- a dropped interception by Colin McCarthy that should have been a pick six
- a fumbled snap in the red zone on a drive that ended in 3 points instead of 6
- a dropped screen pass by CJ on what should have been a huge gain, if not a TD
- a Hasselbeck overthrow of a wide open Cook for an easy touchdown
- a failure to prevent the Colts from gaining a first down when backed up deep with a minute left and the Titans had all three of their timeouts remaining
The Colts took advantage of their opportunities late, scoring the game's final 13 points.
Overall, I was impressed with Andrew Luck, especially his accuracy with pressure in his face. It's a little scary to think of how good he might become in a few years and that we'll have to face him twice a year.
The loss drops the Titans' record to 3-5 for the season and 0-2 in the division, in third place behind the Texans (6-1 and 2-0) and Colts (4-3 and 1-1).
Alas, I'm not encouraged about the Titans having to face the Chicago Bears defense next week, but we shall see.
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