The Tennessee Titans have a stranglehold on the AFC South now.
It wasn’t pretty. At times, it was downright frustrating if you want to be honest, but in the end, the Tennessee Titans pulled one out in their first divisional matchup of this young NFL regular season.
The Titans leave their second game at Nissan Stadium with a much better feeling than they had after their first. By virtue of a 25-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Titans improve to a 2-1 record and now have a stranglehold on the AFC South.
The Colts are now 0-3, and the head-to-head loss versus the Titans figures to come in handy for Tennessee at some point. The home team turned the ball over three times. Indy scored ten points off of those turnovers. That can’t happen in the NFL as teams that give their opponent three extra opportunities normally don’t win.
Still, aside from that, Titans fans walk away from this one happy. Let’s give out some game balls on both offense and defense as the two-tone blue will now shift its attention towards a road game versus the New York Jets.
Tennessee Titans offensive MVPs
Ryan Tannehill, quarterback
Ryan Tannehill tossed two interceptions in this one. You can argue that one of them shouldn’t be on him, but you know how those things go.
QB1 kept his head down and kept swinging despite a tough outing, and that’s all you can ask for from your signal-caller. You want to see how your leaders handle adversity, and Tannehill came through. He also threw three touchdown passes and picked up 56 yards on five carries. That was good for the team’s second-highest total.
Chester Rogers, wide receiver
Chester Rogers spent the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, caught 111 passes there, and reached the end zone five times. Versus his former team, he helped set the tone by opening the scoring by snagging the game’s first touchdown.
He won’t admit it, but that had to feel good. Give Julio Jones an assist for picking up 16 on an early fourth-down attempt that set that one up.
Derrick Henry, running back
There weren’t any splash plays by the Tennessee Titans’ best player (we’ve come to expect him to make amazing plays look routine), but he was good enough and did what we’d want any running back not named Derrick Henry to do. He made timely contributions and helped keep drives going.
In all, he racked up 113 yards on 28 carries and added another 31 yards on three receptions. He also punched one in on a two-point conversion.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine/Jeremy McNichols
We talked about adversity, and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine saw some. Overall, he had a good day. He had a costly fumble on a Titans red-zone drive, but he also scored his first touchdown, delivered the best celebration of the day, and drew a 30-yard pass interference penalty that led to Tannehill’s touchdown pass to Jeremy McNichols.
Westbrook-Ikhine finished with four catches for 53 yards and that TD.
Tennessee Titans defensive MVPs
Dane Cruikshank, defensive back
If you played football as a youngster, you’re no stranger to the word ‘hustle’. It isn’t said much at the professional level. It’s sort of an expectation, but you have to give credit when you see the extra effort.
Dane Cruikshank ran over running backs on blitzes, prevented touchdown passes while in coverage on more than one occasion, and early in the third quarter, applied the heat to stall a promising Colts drive that came early in the third quarter.
David Long Jr., linebacker
Did you watch David Long Jr. play in this one? Let’s put it this way. It’s getting to a point where taking this guy off of the field for any reason is inexcusable.
Ola Adeniyi, linebacker
He had a sack in Week 2 versus the Seattle Seahawks. He added another in Week 3 (and he would have had two had it not been for a defensive penalty that wiped another away. Ola Adeniyi is doing all that he can to end that issue the Tennessee Titans have had with getting to the quarterback.
Kristian Fulton, cornerback
You aren’t hearing Kristian Fulton‘s name much, and that’s because he’s doing his job and doing so without a ton of thank yous. We’re three games into the 2021-2022 NFL season, and so far, he’s been what Caleb Farley was supposed to be. He got nicked up in this one. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.