Few players have tormented the Tennessee Titans like Jonathan Taylor, and the Indianapolis Colts need that version of him back. Indy has won six straight in the series, but the Colts are in need of major improvement after the loss in Pittsburgh, and road trips to Minnesota and Jacksonville come next.
A 0-5 opponent at home is the kind of game a 2-3 team has to bank. These six players will decide whether it does.
Make players for the Colts
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Jonathan Taylor, RB
Taylor owns this matchup. In his last three games against Tennessee, he has 510 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns, per the Titans’ own preview. He also hasn’t topped 100 rushing yards in 12 straight games, and last week’s 15 carries for 45 yards were season lows.
The issue has been contact at or behind the line, which Next Gen Stats puts at 47.5% of his carries, the seventh-highest rate in the league. “If he’s got space and he gets through there, that’s when he gets to the second and third level,” Shane Steichen said, per the Colts’ website. Six rushing touchdowns show he still finishes when the blocking is there.
Quenton Nelson, LG
Nelson was the best player on the field in Pittsburgh, according to PFF. He earned an 86.9 overall grade and allowed one pressure on 47 pass-blocking snaps, which earned him the highest PFF grade in that game.
Sunday he draws the Titans’ best player on a lot of snaps. If Nelson can move Jeffery Simmons off the ball, the cutback lanes open for Taylor and Daniel Jones gets a clean pocket. Lose that battle, and the Colts are back to kicking field goals.
Tyler Warren, TE
Warren leads the Colts with 30 catches and two touchdown receptions, and he came out a winner in a loss to the Steelers with seven catches for 83 yards and a leap over the line for a rushing score. His yards after the catch have dipped from 6.2 to 4.3 per reception compared with the same point last season.
“Any time I see 84 do something with the ball, I know something good is going to happen,” guard Matt Goncalves told the team’s website. With Alec Pierce on injured reserve, Warren is the safest target Jones has against a secondary that gives up plenty underneath.
Break players for the Titans
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Jeffery Simmons, DT
Simmons is a tackle machine for an interior lineman. PFF credits him with 17 solo tackles and 13 stops, and he leads all interior defenders with 127 run-defense snaps on his PFF player page.
He’s also a captain who hasn’t let the losing change his tone, and his 2.0 sacks show he can still get after the quarterback. Daniel Jones has thrown four interceptions, and pressure up the middle is the quickest way to add to that total. Tennessee will move him around to find the weakest Colts blocker, and if he wins those reps, Indy’s run game stalls before it starts.
Carnell Tate, WR
The fourth overall pick leads all rookies with 23 receptions, and his nine-catch, 145-yard day in Baltimore showed what he can do when he’s fed. Houston held him to one catch for 6 yards a week later, and Robert Saleh said the Texans “took him way by feasting up front,” per the Titans’ recap of his Zoom call.
The Colts’ secondary has been giving up big plays, including Sauce Gardner’s two long catches allowed in London. “I am just focused on what I can control,” Tate said Wednesday.
Tony Pollard, RB
Pollard has 273 rushing yards and a touchdown on 68 carries. That’s barely 4 yards per attempt, but he’s the most reliable part of a Tennessee offense that rarely sustains drives, and he practiced fully Friday after a rest day, according to the Titans’ injury update.
Indy’s run defense allows 4.97 yards per carry, which gives Pollard a real chance to control the clock. With Tyjae Spears questionable and Pollard’s name surfacing as a trade deadline decision, he could see a heavy workload in what might be an audition.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET on FOX at Lucas Oil Stadium. If Taylor and Nelson win up front, the rest of this list gets a lot easier on Colts fans. If Simmons and Pollard control the line of scrimmage, a winless team could hang around deep into the second half.
