Tennessee Titans vs Indianapolis Colts: Biggest X-factors to watch

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 8: Delanie Walker #82 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates getting a first down during the second quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 8, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 8: Delanie Walker #82 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates getting a first down during the second quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 8, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
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Tennessee Titans TE, Delanie Walker.
(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

Tennessee Titans offense: Delanie Walker, TE

I am going to double down on last week’s X-factor and give the nod to Delanie Walker.

Corey Davis and A.J. Brown were extremely hard to ignore here considering that the Colts lack of talent pass rushing should allow Marcus Mariota and Arthur Smith to more aggressive with the WRs (more on that later).

However, unless I am mistaken it looks like every single pass thrown Hunter Henry‘s way was caught against the Indianapolis Colts. The box score says he was targeted 5 times, but the other pass was uncatchable and it just means that he was the receiving target closest to the pass.

While his stat line isn’t imposing (4 receptions, 60 yards, 3 first downs) there is a slight difference in Hunter Henry and Delanie Walker in terms of proven talent. I would assume that Arthur Smith has the matchup between Walker and those LBs circled and underlined in his gameplan for this week.

I can already see Smith calling a play action double screen with Henry going out left and Walker going out right after a slight delay. While the defense panics to get bodies in front of Henry, the Titans counter with the TE screen to Walker which should be wide open for a huge gain.

Not to mention that the Chargers made the Colts linebackers look laughable in coverage in the redzone. While Henry didn’t catch a TD, that is just because it was too easy to just get the ball to Austin Ekeler either in a hand off or through the air knowing that the Colts couldn’t stop it.

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