Robert Saleh spent a week asking his Tennessee Titans for somebody to make a play.
He got several of them in the second half Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, a week after the Houston Texans flattened them, and almost none came from an offense that finished with 186 yards in a 26-20 comeback win over the Indianapolis Colts.
“One of the big challenges this week was making plays. Someone make a play,” Saleh said, per The Tennessean. “Someone break a tackle. Someone do something spectacular.”
Fans got their answer.
The Titans can win ugly, and they will probably have to keep doing it if this season is going anywhere.
Yes they can, if the defense keeps taking the ball away
Indianapolis outgained Tennessee 232-64 in the first half and led only 13-0 despite the massive yardage disparity.
That gap stayed manageable. The defense never broke, and then it started taking the ball.
The Titans forced three turnovers and recorded six sacks, according to the AP, after forcing just two takeaways in their first five games.
Amani Hooker had a career-high 13 tackles and an interception. Cor’Dale Flott picked off Daniel Jones to set up a field goal. Jermaine Johnson II added two sacks, and the defense came up with a late fourth-down stop.
“Was this perfect? No. But today we made some freaking plays. This league is hard,” Saleh said after the game.
Jeffery Simmons is the voice this team follows
The turn started at halftime. Simmons addressed the whole locker room, coaches included.
“It’s enough talking. We said enough. Coaches have said enough. Let’s go out there and finish the football game,” he said.
He then stripped Jonathan Taylor on the first play of the third quarter and recovered the fumble himself.
Simmons finished with two sacks and seven pressures, per Next Gen Stats data cited by the team. Simmons got both sacks while facing double teams.
He has been the steadiest player on the roster all season, and his 46.5 career sacks now rank 10th in franchise history.
Special teams can swing a game for them
Chimere Dike’s 58-yard punt return set up Cam Ward’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate, tying the game at 13.
Then Julius Chestnut and James Williams Sr. got to a Rigoberto Sanchez punt, and Oluwafemi Oladejo returned the punt block 14 yards for a touchdown.
It was the franchise’s first blocked-punt touchdown since 2011, per the team’s postgame notes.
“We do a lot of studying,” Williams said after the game. “I called it – I kind of felt we were going to get it.”
Joey Slye went 4-of-4, including a 56-yarder and the go-ahead 49-yarder with 2:03 left. The result snapped a six-game losing streak against Indianapolis.
Carnell Tate is the receiver Cam Ward can count on
Tate caught six of seven targets for 70 yards and his first career touchdown. No other Titans pass catcher topped 22 yards. The rookie keeps winning the contested catches Ward needs, and he leads the team with 29 catches for 344 yards.
Ward still finished 11 of 22 for 102 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The protection was the bright spot.
Six days after Saleh said the line was “nowhere near good enough to be qualified as an NFL offensive line,” on his Monday call, Ward was not sacked.
Tony Pollard ran for a season-high 76 yards on 19 carries, which fits a run-first game plan.
Penalties are the margin they can’t afford
Tennessee committed eight penalties for 54 yards, per the team site.
A running-into-the-kicker flag on Truman Jones extended an Indianapolis drive. An offside penalty on Jacob Martin and illegal contact on Joshua Williams turned likely punts into first downs.
Holding wiped out a long Dike return, and another hold on the opening kickoff pinned the offense deep.
A team that gains 186 yards has no room for that.
The defense and special teams covered for the flags against the Colts. That is a lot to ask of them every week, especially with an offense that is still learning how to finish drives.
