Titans take step back with defeat
NASHVILLE — No matter how much the Indianapolis Colts are hurting or struggling, they can always count on beating the Tennessee Titans.
Especially with Andrew Luck taking the snaps.
Luck threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jack Doyle with 1:55 left to put Indianapolis ahead to stay, and the Colts rallied to beat the Titans 34-26 Sunday for their 10th straight win — and 15th in 16 games — against their AFC South rivals.
The Colts (3-4) came in having lost two of three, including blowing a 14-point lead in an overtime loss last week at Houston. But Luck improved to 8-0 against the Titans with yet another comeback win. He finished with 353 passing yards and three touchdowns, the last after Tennessee went up 23-20.
Despite a changing supporting cast over his five NFL seasons, Luck has always been trouble for the Titans (3-4), who fell short in their bid to win three straight games for the first time since early in the 2011 season.
“He’s that good of a quarterback — he’s going to make players make plays,” Titans coach
Mike Mularkey said.
The Colts’ T.Y. Hilton caught seven passes for 133 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown. Indianapolis was missing wide receiver Donte Moncrief and tight end Dwayne Allen, and Doyle caught nine passes for 78 yards to fill in at tight end.
“We as a team, if we’re dealt those cards, we embrace it,” Luck said of the injuries. “We welcome everybody in and say this is what you’ve got to do to help this team get a win. That’s the beauty of it.”
The Titans trailed 27-23 when they got the ball at their 25-yard line with a timeout remaining and 1:55 on the clock, plenty of time for their own rally.
But on the first play, the Colts’ T.Y. McGill came through the line, where Brian Schwenke had replaced Titans starting left guard Quinton Spain, who was carted off the field with a knee injury in the second quarter. McGill sacked Marcus Mariota and forced a fumble that Robert Mathis recovered before running 14 yards for an easy touchdown with 1:47 left.
Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, is just 2-8 at Nissan Field and has made 19 turnovers (six fumbles, 13 interceptions) in his young NFL career.
“That’s one of the things we have to stop doing,” said Mularkey, whose team hosts Jacksonville in another AFC South game Thursday.
Mariota said he “was trying to step up in the pocket and make a throw to the left. They moved from the pressure, probably could have moved away from it. It was one of those things that was kind of perfect timing for him. I was separating my hands to throw the football. He just kind of poked at it and ended up knocking it out.”
Mariota passed for 232 yards and two touchdowns, but he was streaky. He completed his first five passes, with the last a 10-yard screen to left tackle Taylor Lewan for a touchdown. Then he missed on five of his next six attempts, throwing too high. He sailed a pass to Andre Johnson on third-and-1 in the second quarter.
Mariota took the blame, noting he also missed Rishard Matthews on a deep pass.
“Again, that really was on me,” Mariota said. “I mean I just missed throws in the pass game, especially on third down. We can’t be missing those opportunities. We’ve got to continue to move the chains, allow us to either score points or pin them deep.”
Titans tight end Delanie Walker, who caught a 7-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 20 early in the fourth quarter, stood up for his quarterback.
“He only plays one position,” Walker said. “We’ve all got to do our part.”
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri made a pair of field goals, and the second — a 33-yarder with 3:46 left in the third quarter — gave him an NFL-record 43 consecutive made. His first tied him with former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who made 42 straight from 2002 to 2004.
“I’m happy that we won the game,” Vinatieri said, “and that this is a little bit to go along with it.”