NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Once upon a time, not all that long ago, the Titans couldn’t beat the Colts. Indianapolis owned Tennessee behind star quarterbacks and a culture of winning that fueled division champions and playoff contenders. But the tables have turned completely in this series.
On Sunday at Nissan Stadium the Titans beat the Colts for a fifth straight time, cementing their place as the team to beat in the AFC South.
The defense forced three turnovers that led directly to 10 points, Derrick Henry rushed for a season-high 128 yards on 30 carries and the Titans scored their first six fourth quarter points of the season to salt away the 19-10 victory. It’s the team’s fourth win in-a-row after starting the season 0-2, and it puts them a full game-and-a-half up on the Colts in the division with the tiebreak of the season sweep in hand.
It’s a result many Titans fans wondered if they’d ever see when Peyton Manning was carving them up with 14 wins in 19 career meetings. If anything, it got worse when Andrew Luck took over and went a perfect 11-0 against the two-tone blue while quarterbacking the Colts.
Over the 20 years in which those two signal callers were in charge the Colts sat perennially amongst the NFL’s elite. They won a Super Bowl, two AFC championships and nine division titles, and the franchise’s popularity helped pave the way for the building of Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Colts retractable roof home opened in 2008 and hosted the Super Bowl in 2012. It also served as a significant homefield advantage in the early years, especially against the Titans who lost their first nine trips to Indy’s new home.
But neither Manning or Luck is walking out of the tunnel in Indianapolis anymore and the current cast in Tennessee has reversed the tide so completely in this series that Colts owner Jim Irsay bemoaned this offseason that he was sick of losing to the Titans. Earlier this week Indianapolis coach Frank Reich acknowledged what has become obvious to anyone paying attention to this rivalry or the division, saying, “all roads run through Nashville” in the AFC South.
The Titans proved that again Sunday.
Henry topped 100 yards rushing for the sixth time in his last seven games against the Colts. The only game he failed to top the century mark in that time was when he broke a bone in his foot in week eight last season in Indianapolis. Perhaps not coincidentally Tennessee has won six of the seven meetings during that run, which also coincides with the time that Ryan Tannehill has been the team’s starting quarterback.
Tannehill took over for Marcus Mariota in week seven of the 2019 season when the Titans were just 2-4. Since then he’s led them to a 34-15 record in the regular season and Sunday made his 49th consecutive start, passing Steve McNair for the most consecutive starts by a QB in franchise history. The numbers aren’t always eye-popping – Tannehill was just 13-20 for 132 yards in this game – but his consistency and durability have been monumental in the Titans ability to topple the Colts and rule the division despite having, at times, limited offensive talent around him.
The biggest concern leaving Sunday’s victory will be Tannehill’s health and availability for a 50th consecutive start next week in Houston after he suffered an ankle injury when he was rolled up on after a pass completion early in the fourth quarter. He missed one play, but got his ankle taped up and was able to return. After the game, Tannehill admitted he was in pain and left the stadium in a walking boot.
If he’s somehow unable to go, it would be a major blow to a Titans team that’s been besieged by injuries for a second straight season. But somehow Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff keep cobbling things together, winning an AFC best 12 games last year despite using a NFL record 91 players, and winning four straight this season despite using 66 players already, including receiver Mason Kinsey and safety Josh Thompson who made their season debuts against the Colts.
The recipe of running the football and playing good defense seems awfully simple, but it continues to work. And Vrabel, who lost his first three matchups with Reich, has repeatedly gotten the better of his counterpart in recent meetings. On Sunday the Titans defense dialed up more zone blitzes, hitting Matt Ryan 10 times, sacking him three times and forcing two interceptions. And they did it with stars like Jeffery Simmons, Bud Dupree, Denico Autry and David Long playing big roles and unheralded additions making key contributions.
Safety Andrew Adams and cornerback Terrence Mitchell were signed on the same day five weeks ago, poached from practice squads in Pittsburgh and New England, respectively. Adams had a 76-yard pick six of Ryan in the first half that was the Titans only touchdown of the day, while Mitchell punched the ball free from Michael Pittman Jr. late in the fourth quarter and Amani Hooker recovered the fumble to put the game away.
All of the changes – the running of Henry, the reliability of Tannehill, the leadership of Vrabel and the resilience of the entire football team – has come under the watch of Amy Adams Strunk. The team’s controlling owner since 2015 brought about the necessary changes that led to this turnaround. From the hiring of Vrabel and general manager Jon Robinson to the millions of dollars of renovations to the team’s practice facility perhaps no one has had more influence on the change in the Titans culture than Adams Strunk. It’s a first class organization on every level and the results are showing up on the field.
And this week brought the announcement that Adams Strunk, the Titans and the city of Nashville have reached a deal in principle to build a new, state-of-the-art $2.1 billion stadium in the parking lost next to Nissan Stadium. If the deal gets approval from the metro council and sports authority, construction is expected to begin next fall and be completed in time for the 2026 Titans season. It will also be ready to host a future Super Bowl that was already excitedly discussed by league media and officials this week.
It was just a few short years ago that the talk of the AFC South was the Colts, their stars and their stadium. But the luck of the (horse)shoe is now officially on the other foot in this series.
The Titans own the rivalry right now, and the Colts know it. And there’s no sign that the pendulum is swinging back the other way any time soon.
