The Tennessee Titans went into Lucas Oil Stadium with the hopes of achieving a different outcome against the Indianapolis Colts than what we saw in Week 6. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as the Titans fell 38-30 to the Colts on the road.
The Titans had already been eliminated from playoff contention, but this was supposed to be a redemption game for the Titans. Especially after Brian Callahan’s rant about his team being soft. After drawing first blood with a touchdown in the first quarter, though, the Titans allowed the Colts to score 38 straight points. Their efforts to come back in the second half were too little, too late, though, and they could not overcome.
Now, let’s examine the snap counts that contributed to the Titans’ Week 16 loss.
Offensive snaps: 61
Defensive snaps: 62
Special teams snaps: 30
The Titans showed more rotation along the offensive line in this game than they have all season, with several of the linemen also appearing on special teams. The rotation meant Mason Rudolph only took one sack, but it wasn’t enough to reduce the pressure and Rudolph threw three interceptions.
Defensively, not one player was out there for every single defensive snap for the first time this season. Jeffery Simmons pulled triple-duty once again, making an appearance on all sides of the ball at least once, but otherwise Dennard Robinson moved his guys around.
The increased rotation likely helped the Titans’ ability to make any kind of comeback in this game, and if they had been doing it all season, the players would have been more effective on Sunday. We’ll see if the coaching staff keeps this up or returns to its stagnant assignments against the Jacksonville Jaguars this week.