Tennessee Titans: Game planning For the Colts
By Les Bailey
The Tennessee Titans begin a five-week, four-game home stand on Sunday when they take the field for their 2015 season home opener at Nissan Stadium. The Indianapolis Colts are in town for the festivities, and come to the banks of the Cumberland river looking for a cure to a two-game losing streak.
More at Titan Sized: The Secondary is a concern against the Colts
For the second year in a row, the Colts are 0-2 to start the season after losing in consecutive weeks to the Buffalo Bills and at home to the New York Jets in front of a national audience on Monday night football.
It the Titans want to break the streak of losses to the divisional powerhouse and get on top of the division, they will need to play a nearly flawless game on Sunday after a less-than stellar performance in Cleveland last Sunday.
If defensive head coach, Dick LeBeau can work his magic and continue to put pressure on quarterback Andrew Luck, there is a realistic chance the Titans can send the Colts home 0-3 after the dust settles on Sunday.
Luck has had trouble hanging on to the ball in the early going, and has turned it over six times.
I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before Luck breaks out of his early-season slump and gets the ship turned around, but the best game plan for the Titans would be to keep the former Stanford star on the sidelines.
It goes against head coach, Ken Whisenhunts norm, but the best scenario would be to put together some long drives with a running game that keeps Luck off the field.
Coach Whiz likes to throw the ball down the field, and if the running game isn’t putting Marcus Mariota in favorable down and distance, the offense sputters and he turns the game over to Brett Kern and his strong leg.
Without Jason McCourty on the field, giving T.Y Hilton and Donte Moncrief to many snaps could end in disaster and the secondary could end up getting burned like they did last week in the Dawg Pound.
With Delanie Walker back in the lineup this week, and having five tight ends, the best approach for Sunday would be short quick passes along with a steady dose of Bishop Sankey, Dexter McCluster and others in an effort to convert third downs and keep Andrew Luck on the side line.
Antonio Andrews is expected back this week, and is looking for some snaps as well, and after what we saw from the second-year back out of Western Kentucky during the preseason, it would be a good time to see what he has.
The one thing the Titans didn’t do last week in Cleveland, was quit after they got beat up in the first quarter. Marcus Mariota wouldn’t let his team give up, and had it not been for the late Johnny Manziel to Travis Benjamin bomb, the Titans had a chance to get the game tied with a chance to win.
Most of the analysts around the media are not giving the Titans much of a chance to win this game. Even though the Titans have improved over last season, the talk is more about the Colts tuning their season around than about a young and exciting team like the Titans.
It’s time for the Titans to protect their home turf and send a message to the rest of the NFL that this team is for real in 2015, and they can expect a battle when they come to Nissan Stadium.
The Tennessee Titans send the Colts home 0-3 in a close, low scoring game 20-14!
Next: Tennessee Titans: Bigger home opener than 1999