Big Plays Could Go a Long Way Toward Determining Sunday's Winner

Indianapolis' run defense and Tennessee's pass defense have allowed some sizable gains in recent games.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA Today Network
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NASHVILLE – It is the little things that will decide Sunday’s game between the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts at Nissan Stadium. After all, these franchises know each other well having been in the same division since 2002 and having met most recently earlier this month.

Or will it?

Big plays allowed have been a recurring and increasing problem for both defenses. Thus, things might turn on which offense chews up chunks of yards most often.

“We have to be better at it,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “It changes field position and changes momentum. We have to make them earn everything.”

For Tennessee (3-2), the problem has been in pass defense. Every opponent in the first five games has produced at least one gain of 30 yards or more through the air. There have been 12 such plays in all, including a season-high four allowed to Washington in the most recent contest.

The Titans enter Week 7 last in the NFL in pass defense with an average of 287.6 yards allowed per game and last average yards allowed per attempt at 7.94.

The Colts managed two touchdown drives when these teams met in Week 4 (a 24-17 Titans victory). The first included a 33-yard reception by tight end Jelani Woods, and the second included a 25-yard reception by wide receiver Alec Pierce.

“We have to keep preaching it because we – obviously – haven’t changed the trend,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. “We’ve got to make them earn it. We do. We can’t be having the ball thrown over our heads. We’ve got to be able to make tackles. … There’s a ton of reasons for them, and we have to do a better job of eliminating (big plays).”

For Indianapolis (3-2-1), the issue has been with the run defense. The Colts have allowed 10 runs of more than 15, and nine have been in the last three contests. Jacksonville produced runs of 61, 48 and 27 yards last Sunday. The Jaguars’ 243 rushing yards in that one are third-highest total by any NFL team this season (the most by a road team) and their average of 7.4 yards per carry rank second for a team with at least 25 rushes.

The issue first surfaced against the Titans when Derrick Henry had runs of 19 and 18 yards. The two-time rushing champion’s only bigger gain on a handoff was one for 24 yards the following week against Las Vegas. Henry has run the ball 104 times this season, and four of his nine longest were against Indianapolis.

“We’ve been a pretty good tackling team and we’ve been keeping things in front of us,” Indianapolis defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said. “That prevents explosive plays and it’s a big part. When you get a couple in a series, the percentage of them scoring a touchdown goes way up. That’s what happened last game. I think there was a couple of series, one I know for sure, that they had three explosive plays within a series. Although we’ve rebounded from that before this season, this game we didn’t.”

The Titans are one of five teams that currently average fewer than 5.0 yards per play. There are 4.9, to be exact. The Colts are at barely above that mark, 24th in the NFL with an average of 5.04 yards per play.

In other words, they have two of the more methodical offenses in the league.

“There are certain plays you like throughout the week, but you never know which one is going to be the home run,” Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “A lot of times it comes down to one block on the backside, just freeing (Henry) up and letting him get through to that second level clean. Then we've seen what he can do from there.

“We just have to stick with it. I believe and we know that those big plays will come.”

Sunday, there is more reason than usual to believe they will come.


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David Boclair
DAVID BOCLAIR

David Boclair has covered the Tennessee Titans for multiple news outlets since 1998. He is award-winning journalist who has covered a wide range of topics in Middle Tennessee as well as Dallas-Fort Worth, where he worked for three different newspapers from 1987-96. As a student journalist at Southern Methodist University he covered the NCAA's decision to impose the so-called death penalty on the school's football program.