NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are coming off the early bye nobody really wanted, with the NFL schedule offering a chance to start making up for their 0-3 start.
Indianapolis visits Sunday for the Titans' first AFC South game this season.
“We’re 1-3, but you got a chance to quickly get back in the mix if you can win a divisional game this week,” first-year coach Brian Callahan said. “You see most of the league outside of about three teams is either 3-2 or 2-3 or 2-2. So, it’s all jumbled up.”
The Titans finally gave Callahan his first victory on Sept. 30 with a 31-12 rout at Miami. This game matters plenty because they don't play another AFC South opponent until Nov. 24, when they visit defending division champ Houston.
The Colts (2-3) know how much division games matter. They've already dropped their first two AFC South matchups and are coming off a 37-34 loss at Jacksonville.
“You want to win championships, you’ve got to win division games," Indy coach Shane Steichen said. “And going on the road, having another division opponent — the urgency is there. You can feel it from the guys.”
Steichen at least has the advantage of having swept Tennessee in his debut season last year, snapping a five-game skid in this divisional rivalry and helping cost Titans coach Mike Vrabel his job.
Both teams drafted quarterbacks in 2023, with Indianapolis using the fourth overall pick on Anthony Richardson and Tennessee waiting until No. 33 to take Will Levis. Both teams are trying to speed the development of their young QBs.
Levis and Richardson have yet to play against each other in the NFL. Richardson's rookie season lasted four games before coming to an end with an injury against Tennessee. Levis made his debut three weeks later with a win.
Richardson didn't play last week because of a sore hip. Levis left the win over the Dolphins after hurting his right shoulder trying to scramble for a first down. Richardson is 4-4 as a starter, while Levis is 4-9. Both have six interceptions this season, tied for the most in the NFL.
Levis has nine turnovers, and Tennessee is tied for the worst turnover margin in the league at minus-7. He is working hard to play Sunday. He said he has to trust his eyes and “hopefully my body feels good to where I don’t even have to think about those things.”
The Colts could be without their starting running back, with Jonathan Taylor nursing an ankle injury that kept him out last week, and their top wide receiver. Michael Pittman Jr. has a back injury that may force the Colts to make him their 10th player on injured reserve.
The Titans have the NFL’s stingiest defense in overall yards and passing yards allowed per game. They also have not allowed a player to run for 100 yards, throw for 300 or have a 100-yard receiving game. The Chargers are the only other team to do that.
Tennessee has allowed only one 300-yard passing game in the past 19 games, to then-Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew on Dec. 3 last season. The Titans won at Miami without two-time Pro Bowl lineman Jeffery Simmons, who's nursing a torn ligament in his left elbow.
“There’s no way I’m missing Sunday,” Simmons said.
Indy’s defense has been dissecting what went wrong last week at Jacksonville, when it gave up a season high in points and nearly 500 total yards to what had been a struggling offense — and how to fix it before Sunday.
The corrections began with releasing cornerback Dallis Flowers, who made miscues on two TD passes last week. Linebacker Zaire Franklin said the video session wasn't easy to sit through for a group missing linemen Samson Ebukam, DeForest Buckner and Tyquan Lewis and cornerback JuJu Brents.
“We’ve just got to be better, and we will be,” Franklin said.
One thing that could help the Colts' defense? No Derrick Henry. It’s the first time since 2015 these teams will meet without the two-time NFL rushing champ and the first time they’ve played since 2018 without Henry starting.
In 16 career games, Henry rushed for 1,432 yards (89.5 per game), averaged 5 yards per carry and scored nine TDs. He topped the 100-yard mark in half of those matchups.
Even without Henry — or Vrabel — the Colts recognize some of the new faces, with Titans receiver Calvin Ridley having last played for Jacksonville. Franklin said they are familiar with Tennessee's running backs, Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears, adding that's how the NFL goes.
The Titans have a chance to tie Buffalo for nine straight wins after a bye for the longest active streak in the NFL. Only Philadelphia has a longer streak, winning 13 consecutive games coming off a bye between 1999 and 2011.
Tennessee's streak has spanned two coaches in Mike Mularkey and Vrabel.
___
AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed to this report.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl