Titans put boots to Colts with second-half surge

TITANS 36, COLTS 22

Marcus Mariota threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Taywan Taylor with 5:29 left and the Tennessee Titans beat the Indianapolis Colts 36-22 Monday night to snap an 11-game skid tied for the NFL’s longest active losing streak against one team.

Mariota didn’t move around much on a cool night after missing a game with a strained left hamstring, but still managed to throw for a season-high 306 yards. He completed each of his three passes on the drive that ended with Taylor’s tiebreaking score.

The Titans (3-3) also snapped a two-game skid with the win. Jacoby Brissett tried to rally the Colts (2-4) to a second straight overtime, but Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard forced Brissett out of bounds shy of the first-down marker on fourth-and-inches with 2:19 left. Coach Chuck Pagano lost his challenge.

Derrick Henry then clinched the win for Tennessee with a 72yard TD run with 47 seconds left. Henry finished with a career-high 131 yards on 19 carries. DeMarco Murray also scored.

The Titans looked like the NFL’s worst scoring defence in the first half instead of Indianapolis, with Brissett directing the Colts to a 13-9 halftime lead. John Simon then intercepted Mariota’s first pass of the third quarter and returned it 26 yards for a TD.

But the Titans forced the Colts to go three-and-out on three of their first four drives of the second half and Avery Williamson stripped tight end Jack Doyle of the ball after a catch.

Titans placekicker Ryan Succop set an NFL record with his 47th consecutive successful kick inside 50 yards on a 48-yard field goal in the first quarter. Succop came into Monday tied with Matt Bryant, who connected on 46 straight field goals inside 50 yards between 2013 and 2015 for the Atlanta Falcons.

The kicker capped the Titans’ opening drive with his recordbreaking field goal. Succop then made a 32-yard field goal late in the first quarter and a 40-yarder with 4:10 left in the second quarter. He ended up with five field goals.

Succop’s current streak started in 2014 and he topped the franchise record of 24 straight set by Al Del Greco in 1995-96.

MARK ZALESKI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Titans’ Ryan Succop kicks one of his five field goals in Tennessee’s win over Indianapolis on Monday. He set an NFL record for most consecutive field goals made inside 50 yards.