Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans: Everything You Need to Know

Tennessee Titans fans were thinking it couldn't get much worse after their 41-7 devastating home loss to division rival Houston Texans last Sunday.  If the Titans won they would of had sole possession of first place in the AFC South division.

Luckily for Titans fans it did get worse—much worse—but not for their fan base.  The Indianapolis Colts lost 62-7 on national television to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night.  The 62 points was the most points scored in the NFL since 1999.  It was also the worst defeat and most points given up in Colts franchise history.

The combined score for the two games was 103-14.  Now those two teams play each other on Sunday.

Predicting this game is hard with both teams playing so bad last week.

The Colts travel to LP Field in Nashville in the final game of their three-game road trip at 0-7.  It's the worst start since 1997. 

The Titans are 3-3 and in the middle of a three-game home stand.

The Colts come into this game having an advantage in a rare stat for them—the running game.  The Titans rank last in the league with an average just over 64 yards per game while the Colts rank 25th with 94 yards per game.

The Titans' starting running back Chris Johnson held out in the offseason for more money and the Titans made a mistake paying their franchise player so much.  He's off to the worst start of his career, having compiled 93 carries for just 268 yards and just one touchdown.

If there's any game he's going to get rolling it would be this one. 

The Colts are ranked 31st in the league against the run in giving up 150.9 yards per game. 

The Titans also use running back Javon Ringer.  He's carried the ball 21 times for 62 yards and a touchdown.

The Colts' running game was really the only positive from last week's blow out in New Orleans.  It was a coming-out party for rookie Delone Carter.

Carter leads the team in rushing this year with 65 carries for 259 yards and two touchdowns.  He's been the biggest benefactor of Joseph Addai missing sometime with a hamstring injury he suffered in a loss at home to Kansas City.

Addai tried to come back last week, but wasn't in sync with the offense and he didn't seem healthy.  He came out early and left the rushing duties to Carter.

The passing edge for both teams goes to the Titans.

Matt Hasselbeck came over in the offseason from Seattle and he's played very well before last week.  He's 13-for-211 on the year, which is 62.1 percent.  He's thrown for 1,518 yards with 10 touchdowns.  The bad stats are his six interceptions and eight sacks.

His best target in Kenny Britt was lost due to injury early in the season so Nate Washington became his primary threat.  Washington has 29 receptions for 399 yards and a touchdown this year.

Running back Chris Johnson is second in the team in receiving with 24 receptions and 146 yards.

Tight end Jared Cook is also a threat with 13 receptions for 230 yards and two touchdowns.

The Colts' defense ranks 30th against the pass in giving up 416 yards per game while the Titans' pass offense ranks 12th with 242.8 yards per game.

I think the Colts will have an easier time keying in on the Titans' passing attack than they have in the past few weeks.

The Colts' passing game flourished once Curtis Painter was announced as the starter in Week 4, but it's struggled in the last few games.

Painter is 65-for-119 on the year with 873 yards and five touchdowns.  He's thrown an interception the last two games.

He needs his receivers to wake up in he wants any shot at being effective.

Pierre Garcon and Reggie Wayne have done the brunt of the work with 30 receptions each, but Dallas Clark and Austin Collie have been invisible.

They have a combined 35 receptions for 318 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were caught by Clark.

Teams are keying in on Garcon and Wayne and it's causing trouble for Painter since Clark and Collie aren't working to get open.

This game is once again going to come down to converting third downs.

The Titans, like the Colts, struggle to convert while letting their opponents convert almost every time.

The Titans are getting beat in the first-down mark 134-95 by opponents this year while the Colts are losing as well, 167-105.

The Colts are 31-for-87 on third downs while the Titans are 32-for-80.  Both are pathetic.

The Time of possession battle for both teams are even as well.

The final key stat is scoring.  The Titans only average 18.7 points per game which is ranked 25th in the league while the Colts average 15.9 a game which is 29th.

The Colts, though, give up the most points a game in the league with 32.1.

Prediction:

Both teams are pretty even and this could be a close but sloppy game.

I know the Colts' defense is horrible, but the Titans are right there with them in giving up 38 points to Pittsburgh and 41 to Houston the last two games.

Score: Tennessee 26, Indianapolis 20.