The Colts and Titans are now both 6-3, but Indianapolis owns the sting within the AFC South standings by virtue of the head-to-head win. the 2 teams meet again in Week 12
Punter Trevor Daniel struggled in his first game with the Titans, starting with a 17-yard punt from Tennessee's 10-yard line. The Colts drove 27 yards in four plays and took a 20-17 lead on a 2-yard touchdown travel by Nyheim Hines
The Titans went three-and-out on their next drive only to possess Daniel get his next punt blocked by E.J. Speed and returned 6 yards for a touchdown by T.J. Carrie to form the score 27-17. Daniel was elevated from the practice squad before the sport to require over for Ryan Allen, who averaged 50.5 yards per punt in last week's 24-17 convert the Chicago Bears. The Titans' decision to travel with Daniel was a puzzling move
“It just about spoke for itself, them getting the ball where they did. They got inside the 30-yard line just one occasion and that they got it within the end zone the opposite ,” Vrabel said of the Titans' punts
The special-teams struggles went beyond the punting. Tennessee attempted to answer the blocked punt for a touchdown with a drive that covered 52 yards in 12 plays to line up a 44-yard field goal attempt by Stephen Gostkowski, but it had been wide right
Gostkowski now has eight missed field goals, the foremost within the NFL this season. He has also missed two extra points. The last Titans/Houston Oilers kicker to miss a minimum of 10 kicks during a single season was Tony Zendejas, who missed 12 in 1989 for the Oilers
“I think we’re getting to need to evaluate everything that we do. we've to be better altogether areas,” Vrabel said. “I believe in Craig [special-teams coach Craig Aukerman] and Ryan [special-teams assistant Ryan Crowe] and what they are doing . We’ll still hold people accountable and still improve. i assumed that those guys, I’m very confident they know what they’re doing. i do know what they coach, I’m in those meetings and there at practice. we'll just keep working and ensuring that we start playing better therein area and performing better.”
Describe the sport in two words: Total meltdown. As mentioned earlier, the special teams failed miserably. The defense gave up 430 total yards of offense and therefore the Titans' offense struggled outside of Derrick Henry, who gained 103 yards
Promising trend: The Titans improved on their third-down defense, allowing the Colts to convert on only four of their 12 opportunities. That's far better than their NFL-worst 55.3% third-down conversion allowed. But the matter is that Indianapolis went for it five times on fourth down and picked up first downs on three of their attempts
Eye-popping NextGen Stat: QB Philip Rivers averaged 2.31 seconds from the snap before throwing the ball. that's his lowest of the season and fourth-lowest over the past five seasons. Rivers completed 22 of his 25 attempts for 199 yards when passing within 2.5 seconds of the snap