Colts' New QB Has Been Trouble for Tennessee

Titans have beaten Philip Rivers just twice in nine tries, now must face him twice a season

A day after one problem departed, another arrived.

Philip Rivers, who routinely bedeviled the Tennessee Titans during his 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, is now in the AFC South. The 38-year-old agreed to a one-year, $25 million deal Tuesday that makes him the Indianapolis Colts’ starting quarterback.

His decision to join the Colts is just one significant move made by Titans’ division rivals already this week. Perhaps the most notable was Houston’s decision on Monday to trade wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, another player who often has been a challenge for Tennessee. Hopkins was sent to the Arizona Cardinals in a trade that brought running back David Johnson to Houston and involved multiple draft picks.

Rivers has faced the Titans nine times in his career and has won seven of those games, which matches his highest win total against any team outside of the AFC West. His 70.5 completion percentage against Tennessee is his second-best against any opponent he has faced at least five times, and his 17 touchdown passes (against just four interceptions) are his most against any opponent outside of the AFC West. His career passer rating against the Titans is 109.0.

Hopkins spent seven seasons with the Texans during which he faced Tennessee 13 times. In more than half of those contests (seven), he topped 100 yards receiving, including a career-high 238 yards (on nine receptions) on Nov. 30, 2014, and in six of them he scored at least one touchdown. Houston was 9-4 in those macthups.

His per-game averages are 6.4 receptions, 101 yards and 0.54 touchdowns.

Also traded out of the division was Jacksonville defensive lineman Calais Campbell, who had three sacks against the Titans and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 3 of the 2019 season. Campbell, who spent the majority of his 12-year NFL career with Arizona, has 5.5 career sacks versus Tennessee. Only four franchise have surrendered more to him. The Jaguars got a fifth-round draft pick in exchange for the 33-year-old.

The Titans’ focus as the new contract year approaches has been on retaining as many of its players as possible. Franchise officials have re-signed quarterback Ryan Tannehill and right tackle Dennis Kelly. They also tendered running back Derrick Henry with the non-exclusive franchise tag.

“Obviously a team changes every year and that’s the unfortunate part of the business,” Tannehill said Tuesday. “You have a team that you love, and care about each guy, and then throughout one year there’s a lot of changes. That’s a tough part of the business that every team has to go through. But, there’s a lot of guys coming back that I think are extremely talented and good football players, and guys I love going to work with every single day.

“I think the guys we need to win are in that locker room.”

Their division rivals, though, seem more interested in major shakeups to their rosters. How it all shakes out this fall is anybody’s guess.