Titans recover from early deficit, blow late lead, fail to tie in 35-33 loss to Colts

That was more eventual than most games. In their first regular season home opener since it became Nissan Stadium, the Tennessee Titans went down 14-0 early, reeled off 27 straight points, joined their cross-state counterpart the Vols in giving up a 27-14 fourth quarter lead, and then had an opportunity to tie and another one to get a winning score before the Indianapolis Colts finally walked off the field with a 35-33 triumph.

The start was mostly inauspicious, especially for the offense. A pair of three-and-outs to start, a Colts touchdown on their second possession, and Delanie Walker had the ball dislodged from him for the third drop of the game, it bounced to a safety, and he raced 69 yards for that 14-0 lead just over two minutes into the second quarter.

Then a funny thing happened. All those Colts questions in pass coverage, at cornerback beyond Vontae Davis, at safety, and at inside linebacker came to fruition. The Titans kicked a field goal their next possession, after a holding penalty wiped out a touchdown run by Antonio Andrews. Marcus Mariota found Kendall Wright just before the half to make it 14-10. Next possession, Andrews got a score that counted, 17-14 lead. Perrish Cox steps in front of an Andrew Luck pass (horrible interception by him), and Mariota found Dorial Green-Beckham on the first play to make it 24-14. Another bad Luck interception, this time by Zach Brown, and it was 27-14 after the Titans couldn’t punch the ball in after first-and-goal from the 1. Colts three-and-out, and the Titans had third-and-8 at the Colts 34 before things started to go awry.

Marcus Mariota took a sack. No field goal to make it 30-14 and make it effectively three scores. Luck suddenly starts hitting those receivers who may have been open all day, mostly a bunch of short throws until Marqueston Huff, forced into action because of just three corners active and Perrish Cox banged up, gets beat in man coverage for a 35-yard score. Mariota makes his first real bad decision of the game, giving up an easy pick, and the Colts were up one play later. Three and out as the Colts do a nice job of contesting passes. Indy’s version of the four-minute drill goes much better, taking all of five plays to go 69 yards with the assistance of some shoddy tackling, and it was 35-27 with just under three minutes to play.

An 8-point lead is basically a two score one, as the Titans found out to their disadvantage. Mariota took a sack to start the drive, but then those same Colts coverage questions came back. Delanie Walker for 13 on third-and-10. Wright for 20, and tack on 15 more for roughing Mariota. Walker with more YAC and another clock stoppage. Green-Beckham down inside the 5. Fowler for the score to make it 35-33. Ken Whisenhunt went back to the Fowler well again after the Colts were flagged for pass interference on the first conversion attempt to tie, and unlike the first two times, it was not successful. Ryan Succop’s onside kick went out of bounds, and it was all over but the kneeling.

Notes:

• Another day of running back by committee with no standouts. Dexter McCluster was back to the same McCluster we’d seen most of his career, with 7 yards on 5 carries. We did see him more in the slot today. Bishop Sankey had 5 carries for 10 yards. Andrews was the standout at 12-49, with the expected mix of solid gainers and carries that went nowhere.
• Welcome back, Delanie. He matched Wright’s team-high 7 grabs.
• Eight different Titans had a pass reception that went for at least 19 yards. Chunk plays are fun, and chunk plays from a 60+% passer are something we haven’t seen much of from the Titans lately.
• Zach Brown’s interception before the field goal that made it 27-14 looked for all the world that it should have gone for a score. If he only he’d made better use of Derrick Morgan’s block… but in a game like this, there are many of those moments.
• No, Whisenhunt should not have challenged the Kendall Wright near-catch before the first field goal that would have made it about third-and-2 instead of third-and-17. Wright’s whole foot needed to come down inbounds there.
• Jurrell Casey was beating up a questionable Colts offensive line and caused them a ton of problems today.
• CBS’s broadcast was concentrated on the pocket and the quarterback today, so it was nearly impossible to assign blame or credit on Indy’s offensive struggles for three quarters and say how much was great coverage in matchups I feared and how much a defensive front that harried Luck (Brian Orakpo didn’t get stats aside from one sack, but he posed problems today as well) and how much a troubled quarterback.
• Taylor Lewan left the game for a bit before returning, shifting Jamon Meredith to left tackle and seeing Andy Gallik, rather than Quinton Spain, coming in at right guard.
• Cox would eventually return to the game, but I don’t believe it was until after the Colts had regained the lead.
• What a downer way to kick off a big homestand and go into the ridiculously early bye week. Whisenhunt again complimented the players’ effort after the game, but at some point it would be nice to win a competitive game. The victory against Jacksonville feels like a really long time ago at this point.
• The whole AFC South is 1-2. The Titans are in last based on division record. Yippee.

Snap report tomorrow, and a couple things I want to get at in the bye week like a broad-scale Mariota report and a look at the safeties, since that was one of the question I had going into the season.