Five Things Learned: Colts-Titans (2020, Week 10)

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» TRADING BLOWS: The Colts and Titans routinely find themselves in physical, tight matchups twice a year, especially since Frank Reich and Mike Vrabel took over as head coaches of their respective teams in 2018, so it was no surprise that Thursday night's game was just a continuation of that theme — especially in the first two quarters. But while the Colts seemed to have the upper hand on the stat sheet, it was the Titans who went into halftime with a 17-13 lead. That was largely due to the fact Indy had some penalty problems on defense — on one Titans first-half scoring drive, the Colts were called for four penalties alone, three of which resulted in Tennessee first downs — and then, on offense, Reich remained very aggressive on fourth down, which didn't end up playing in the Colts' favor on Indy's first drive of the game, which ended with Jordan Wilkins being stuffed on 4th and 1 from the Titans' 29-yard line. All that being said, down just four at halftime and knowing the team needed to make just a few adjustments, the Colts were a confident bunch heading into the final two quarters. "The mood was great," Reich said. "We just kind of came in and said, 'This is what we expected — a tight game.' Just going back and forth. Felt like we were able to do some things, but we needed to lock in and finish it off."


» FINISH HIM!: The Colts didn't even blink after a second failed fourth-down attempt — this time from the Tennessee 1-yard line — to open up the third quarter. In fact, it would be the defense and special teams that would spark one of the best halves of football played by the team this entire season, and it didn't take long for the offense to follow suit. Denico Autry's sack of Ryan Tannehill on third down on Tennessee's first drive of the second half would be followed by a shanked punt, setting up the Colts are the Titans' 27-yard line; Nyheim Hines would run it in from two yards out four plays later to give Indy a 20-17 lead. The Titans' next drive also ended with a punt, which was blocked by linebacker E.J. Speed and scooped up by cornerback T.J. Carrie, who ran it into the end zone from six yards out for a special teams touchdown. All of a sudden, the Colts were up 10, 27-17, with 1:52 left in the third quarter. Indy would add a Jacoby Brissett two-yard rushing touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to put a bow on a dominant second half of play for the Colts. "That's what we talk about, playing good football in all three phases," Colts linebacker Darius Leonard said. "That's what it takes to win ball games, especially on the road against a divisional opponent. That's what we did, we came out, all three phases played well and we're leaving with a 'W.' That's all that matters."