Titans Offense Had No Answer For Colts

By Pierce Greenberg October 11, 2009

With the league leaders in total offensive yardage coming to town, the Titans offensive unit spoke all week on how they would have to put points on the board if they wanted to beat the Colts. 

Not surprisingly, three field goals were not enough as the Titans fell at home to Indianapolis, 31-9.

''Unfortunately, they weren’t going to allow us to put the ball down the field and they matched us up front with speed,'' Titans head coach Jeff Fisher said. 

''So basically, they were able to defend the deep ball. We had a couple opportunities that we missed—but they were also able to defend the run.''

The Titans entered the game averaging 358.5 yards of offense, but mustered only 245 yards against the Colts. Running back Chris Johnson, who led the NFL in rushing prior to the game, only had 34 yards on nine carries.

''I think the circumstances got out of hand a little bit, so we had to go throw it a little more than we wanted,'' Titans tight end Bo Scaife said. ''But we’re a running team so that’s what we do best. We have to stick to that first because that sets up the pass.  I don’t think we did a good job of that tonight.''

The passing attack was also struggling. Scaife led the receiving corps with four catches for 45 yards—and there were several drops on crucial plays. 

The Titans found themselves with short fields twice in the first quarter—both were results of Colts turnovers. But Tennessee had to settle for field goals both times.

''You’ve got to be able to convert the third downs and get those scoring opportunities,'' Titans quarterback Kerry Collins said. ''We just didn’t take advantage of the ones we had.''

On the other side of the ball, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning had a field day, going 36-of-44 for 309 yards and three touchdowns. It was Manning's fifth straight game with more than 300 yards.

"I think we had a solid game plan, we knew what we were going to do, we knew how to stop it," defensive end Jacob Ford said. "We just couldn’t execute tonight."

Things won’t get much easier for the Titans next week as they travel to Foxboro, MA, to face another Top-10 offense led by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

''We’ve created this situation for ourselves and only we can get ourselves out of it,'' Fisher said. ''We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got a very fine opponent this weekend in New England.''