Titans vs Colts: First Look At Week Three
By Les Bailey
The Tennessee Titans and The Indianapolis Colts will both limp into Nissan Stadium for a week three matchup on Sunday afternoon in Music City. The first divisional contest of the 2015 season for both teams will kick off at 1:00 PM(Noon Central).
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Mariota has the heart and soul of his teammates
After facing two teams in their home openers against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week one and the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in the Dawg Pound, the Titans will have a rare five weeks at home.
The home stand will include a bye week and the Titans will not play out of the friendly confines until November 1st when they play J.J. Watt and the Houston Texans in Houston.
The Indianapolis Colts are 0-2 for a second consecutive season after losing at home to the New York Jets 20-7 on Monday night.
They recovered last year to finish the season 11-5 and earned a trip to the AFC Championship game where they lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
The infamous “deflategate game”.
The Colts lost in week one at Buffalo to Rex Ryan and the Bills 27-14.
For the Tennessee Titans, it’s been a tale of two cities. Marcus Mariota had a stellar day in Tampa when he beat Jameis Winston and the Buccaneers 42-14 in the season opener with four touchdown passes, and a perfect passer rating. He was wearing a ball cap on the sideline in the fourth quarter with Zach Mettenberger under center.
They were slammed back to earth in the Dawg Pound on Sunday by Johnny Manziel, Travis Benjamin and the fierce Cleveland Browns pass rush.
The Titans made a valiant comeback attempt in the second half, but still came away with a 28-14 loss.
This will be Andrew Luck‘s fourth season with head coach Chuck Pagano in a Colts uniform. Luck joined Dan Marino and Peyton Manning as the only players to pass for 4,000 yards in two of their first three campaigns. He also led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes in 2014, and his 86 touchdown passes in his first three years rank second in history behind Marino.
In an attempt to beef up the offense in Indy and add some options for their franchise quarterback, the Colts added two Pro Bowlers during the offseason.
They picked up running back Frank Gore from the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Andre Johnson from the Houston Texans.
To this point in the season, the two new additions haven’t gelled with the offensive line and Andrew Luck.
Johnson has caught seven passes so far for 51 yards and has yet to add a touchdown to his career 64 total.
Gore has run the ball 23 times for 88 yards for a 3.8 yard average and no touchdowns. He fumbled the ball on Monday night against the Jets at the goal line as they were trying to score. Gore also has caught the ball 3 times for 4 yards but has yet to find the end zone.
The Indianapolis Colts will be coming to town and looking to get their season back on-track, but they are not going to find a Tennessee Titans team they are accustomed to playing.
The Titans are young and will make some mistakes like we saw last week in Cleveland, but they will give the Colts a ball game, and make them earn a win.
As we saw last week in Cleveland, this team is not going to give up if they get behind, but will continue to fight to the final whistle.
Rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota continued to answer the bell even after being hit hard eleven times and sacked seven times.
Mariota has earned the heart and soul of his teammates, and if Indy is to win this game, they will need to bring their A-Game to Music City on Sunday.
Next: Restoring your faith in Marcus Mariota