Tennessee Titans fall to Indianapolis Colts 35-33
By Les Bailey
35. 46. Final. 33. 35
In the week leading up to the week three matchup between the 1-1 Tennessee Titans and the 0-2 Indianapolis Colts, none of the expert analysts around the game were picking Marcus Mariota and the young Titans to win their home opener at Nissan Stadium….. And they were right!
What they all said, was embattled head coach Chuck Pagano and quarterback Andrew Luck would get off the snide and get this team a much-needed win against an inferior AFC South opponent…. They were right again!
On the other side of the coin, Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt wanted to use this game to change the culture of what has been almost a decade of loosing football in Music City, and make a statement to the hometown fans that things would be different.
At the end of the day after 60 minutes of very exciting football in Nashville on Sunday afternoon, nothing changed.
Marcus Mariota and his young team came up two points and one yard short of sending the the Colts back to Indianapolis down 0-3 and take sole possession of first place in the AFC South.
I’m not going to spend my time this morning ranting about the early dropped passes and interception that lead to an early 14 point hole for the good guys, or the comeback that would eventually give them them a 27-14 lead.
Or letting Andrew Luck off the hook in the shadow of his goal post in the fourth quarter and letting him put together a 98 yard drive that would lead the way for a Colts comeback.
Okay, the rant is over!
This is a game that the home-team should have won, but with all of the positive changes around this team, they still don’t know how to close a game out, and some argue that they have been bad so long that they just don’t know how to win.
I’m not sure if fans in the Tennessee area were still pissed that the Volunteers lost a close game Saturday night to the Florida Gators, but the reaction to the Sunday afternoon loss in Music City turned ugly on the internet, with words like “here we go again”, “same old Titans”, and “this team is still a bunch of losers”.
Whatever the case, this is a new and exciting team that gave us hope and above all, an exciting game where they didn’t give up, and at the end of the game, had a chance to win.
But as usual…..they didn’t!
The Tennessee Titans get a bye-week next Sunday, and return home to Nissan Stadium for a week five game with Rex Ryan, Tyrod Taylor and the Buffalo Bills.
Next: Tennessee Titans secondary a concern against the Colts