Colts vs. Titans: Grading Each Team's Performance
Thursday Night Football saw the Indianapolis Colts take on the Tennessee Titans in a matchup of two struggling AFC South teams.
Questions abounded going into this game.
Could Chris Johnson break out of his slump and actually get the Titans' ground game rolling again?
How about Peyton Manning? Could he end his interception-fest after throwing 11 in the last three games?
More importantly, both teams were fighting to stay alive in the playoff race. The Titans needed a win to avoid a de facto elimination while the Colts needed a win to stay close to the Jaguars for the division lead.
For the answer to those questions and more, read on.
Indianapolis Colts' First Drive
1 of 21
Drive Stats:
10 plays, 40 yards, 4:55 elapsed
The Analysis:
It seemed as though Peyton Manning was going to suddenly turn it all around after he started the game off by completing his first five passes.
But then, two incompletions and a -4 yard run by Donald Brown doomed the Colts and they were forced to punt on the opening possession.
The Grade:
C+
Tennessee Titans' First Drive
2 of 21
Drive Stats:
3 plays, 5 yards, 1:45 elapsed, punt
The Analysis:
Much like the last few games have been for the Titans, this first drive was a complete and total disaster as a holding call on the first play proved to be too much to overcome.
A three-and-out resulted in a punt, giving the Colts another early opportunity to take the lead.
The Grade:
F
Indianapolis Colts' Second Drive
3 of 21
Drive Stats:
11 plays, 73 yards, 5:58 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
Starting on their own 32-yard line, the Colts moved down the field quite efficiently.
Peyton Manning completed six of his nine passes for 63 yards and set up rookie running back Javarris James, who plunged into the end zone from one yard out for the first score of the game.
The Grade:
A+
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Tennessee Titans' Second Drive
4 of 21
Drive Stats:
5 plays, 34 yards, 2:14 elapsed, fumbled recovered by defense
The Analysis:
The Titans were finally moving the ball on this possession. In fact, they'd worked it all the way down the field to the Colts 39-yard line, close to field-goal range already.
However, on second-and-1, Kerry Collins threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Kenny Britt, who caught it and then fumbled it. The Colts picked up the ball, thus ending the possession for the Titans.
The Grade:
C-
Indianapolis Colts' Third Drive
5 of 21
Drive Stats:
10 plays, 59 yards, 4:33 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
The Colts struggled a bit on this drive, but still overcame all obstacles and drove down the field for a touchdown.
A sack occurred on the first down of the drive, putting Peyton Manning in an early hole, but on third-and-14 he hit Reggie Wayne for 50 yards and a new set of chains.
Later, stalled at the goal line, the Colts were given another chance after Chris Hope held a receiver on third-and-goal from the five-yard line. Manning seized the new opportunity by throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon.
The Grade:
A
Tennessee Titans' Third Drive
6 of 21
Drive Stats:
6 plays, 21 yards, 2:50 elapsed, punt
The Analysis:
Up to this point, this was the best drive for the Tennessee Titans. They avoided turning the ball over and actually picked up a first down in the process.
Chris Johnson ran three times for 11 yards and Kerry Collins was 1-for-3 for 10 yards. The result was one first down and another punt.
The Grade:
C
Indianapolis Colts' Fourth Drive
7 of 21
Drive Stats:
3 plays, 9 yards, 1:16 elapsed, punt
The Analysis:
Everyone expected the Colts' offense to keep rolling along here, but it didn't.
After a four-yard run by Javarris James, an incomplete pass by Peyton Manning, and a five-yard completion to Blair White, Indianapolis had to punt.
The Grade:
C
Tennessee Titans' Fourth Drive
8 of 21
Drive Stats:
6 plays, 30 yards, 3:24 elapsed, fumble recovered by defense
The Analysis:
The Titans offense struggled again here. After picking up two first downs in the first three plays, it suddenly started to sputter.
After three more plays, the punter strode onto the field. A bad snap caused a fumble and the football was recovered by Indianapolis on the Tennessee 19-yard line.
The Grade:
F
Indianapolis Colts' Fifth Drive
9 of 21
Drive Stats:
2 plays, 19 yards, 0:08 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
Starting in the red zone, Peyton Manning started salivating at the opportunity to increase the lead to three scores.
The first play was an incompletion intended for Reggie Wayne, which is why the picture is of Wayne giving himself a thumbs down. The second was a 19-yard completion to Pierre Garcon for his second touchdown of the game.
The Grade:
A+
Tennessee Titans' Fifth Drive
10 of 21
Drive Stats:
7 plays, 55 yards, 1:36 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
Without much time left in the first half and down three scores, the Tennessee Titans desperately needed a score.
Chris Johnson had 25 receiving yards to go along with his nine rushing yards on the drive. Most importantly, he scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with less than a minute to play in the half.
The Grade:
A+
Indianapolis Colts' Sixth Drive
11 of 21
Drive Stats:
2 plays, 13 yards, 0:49 elapsed, end of half
The Analysis:
With a 14-point lead and just 0:49 left, the Colts elected to hand the ball off twice to Javarris James and let the half draw to a close.
The Grade:
Incomplete
Tennessee Titans' Sixth Drive
12 of 21
Drive Stats:
7 plays, 62 yards, 3:51 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
The Titans came out of the locker room fired up and drove all the way down the field to close the margin to just a touchdown.
Kerry Collins was 4-for-4 for 44 yards (it's too bad he doesn't wear jersey No. 4), including the touchdown pass to tight end Craig Stevens.
The Grade:
A+
Indianapolis Colts' Seventh Drive
13 of 21
Drive Stats:
8 plays, 77 yards, 3:47 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis:
Even though the Colts still had a one-touchdown lead, they needed to stop the bleeding and get some momentum back.
Thanks to two nice Donald Brown runs and a 46-yard pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne, that proved easy enough. However, the Colts couldn't find the end zone and settled for a 21-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri.
The Grade:
B+
Tennessee Titans' Seventh Drive
14 of 21
Drive Stats:
3 plays, 4 yards, 1:27 elapsed, punt
The Analysis:
This ended the Titans string of point-producing drives rather quickly.
Three plays, no first downs, and a punt were all that happened.
The Grade:
C-
Indianapolis Colts' Eighth Drive
15 of 21
Drive Stats:
16 plays, 64 yards, 7:52 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis:
Whenever you're in the lead it's great to have lengthy drives that end in a score.
That's exactly what happened here as the Colts ran all the time out of the third quarter, then had Adam Vinatieri make a 28-yard field goal, his second of the game, at the end of a 16-play drive.
The Grade:
A-
Tennessee Titans' Eighth Drive
16 of 21
Drive Stats:
8 plays, 66 yards, 4:56 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
Thanks to the perfection of Kerry Collins and the speed of Chris Johnson, the Titans suddenly made this a football game.
Collins completed all three of his passes, including a 4-yard touchdown toss to Bo Scaife. As for Johnson, he ran four times for 36 yards on the drive, but one was a 37-yard scamper.
The end result was a touchdown and a one-score game.
The Grade:
A+
Indianapolis Colts' Ninth Drive
17 of 21
Drive Stats:
3 plays, 9 yards, 1:44 elapsed, punt
The Analysis:
This was a pretty bad time for a three-and-out as the Titans had just closed the gap to six points.
But after a five-yard pass from Peyton Manning to Blair White, a four-yard run by Donald Brown, and a run for no gain by Brown, that's exactly what happened.
The Grade:
C-
Tennessee Titans' Ninth Drive
18 of 21
Drive Stats:
3 plays, 9 yards, 1:53 elapsed
The Analysis:
If the Colts' three-and-out came at a bad time, this one was even worse.
Chris Johnson gained nine total yards on the drive, but fell just short of reaching a first down.
The Titans had to punt, which made the possibility of winning drop drastically.
The Grade:
F
Indianapolis Colts' 10th Drive
19 of 21
Drive Stats:
6 plays, 46 yards, 1:12 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis:
All it took was one big play to get into field goal range and that's what the Colts got as Peyton Manning threw a 43-yard pass to Pierre Garcon on the second play of the drive.
After Javarris James ran three times, Adam Vinatieri kicked a 47-yard field goal to increase the lead to nine.
The Grade:
A-
Tennessee Titans' 10th Drive
20 of 21
Drive Stats:
14 plays, 76 yards, 2:55 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis:
The Titans were put in a tough spot here with under three minutes remaining and starting on their own 23-yard line while down nine points.
They methodically drove all the way down the field and scored a touchdown on a Kerry Collins connection with Bo Scaife to close the margin to just two points.
The only problem was, the game was over after that play.
The Grade:
A
Overall Grades
21 of 21
Indianapolis Colts:
The Colts jumped out to an early lead, then let the Titans back in the game before pulling ahead in the final quarter.
Peyton Manning played like he forgot about the last three weeks and the team ran like a well-oiled machine for much of the game.
Grade: A
Tennessee Titans:
Not many people expected the Titans to win this game, or to even keep it close. The team was slumping and it's tough to bet against Manning during a primetime game.
Yet they hung in there and showed some heart while crawling back into the game. Chris Johnson also played very well, as did Kerry Collins.
Grade: B+
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
