INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Tennessee Titans finally got into the win column Sunday in Indianapolis, scoring every point of the game after halftime to win 26-20 over the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The result snapped an 0-5 start, handed Robert Saleh his first victory as the team’s head coach and gave the franchise its 500th win counting regular season and playoff games. Quarterback Cam Ward gave Saleh the game ball in the locker room afterward.
For a half, little went right. Tennessee managed only 64 total yards and three first downs before the break, and Indianapolis built a 13-0 lead on a short touchdown pass from Daniel Jones to tight end Mo Alie-Cox plus a pair of Spencer Shrader field goals.
The defense changed the game after intermission. Jeffery Simmons forced and recovered a fumble early in the third quarter, and Joey Slye turned that into a 29-yard field goal. Chimere Dike later ripped off a 58-yard punt return to the Colts 23, setting up an 8-yard scoring pass from Ward to Carnell Tate that tied it at 13 with 13 minutes to play.
Special teams struck again moments later. Julius Chestnut got a hand on a Rigoberto Sanchez punt, and Oluwafemi Oladejo scooped the ball and returned it 14 yards, the first touchdown of his NFL career. It was the first blocked punt returned for a score anywhere in the NFL this season and the first for Tennessee since 2011.
Jonathan Taylor tied the game at 20 on a 4-yard run with 5:32 left, but Slye answered with a 49-yard field goal with 2:03 remaining and added one more before the defense closed it out. Slye made four field goals in all, the longest from 56 yards and the shortest from 29, as Tennessee scored on all five of its second-half drives.
Tennessee’s defense piled up six sacks and three takeaways while the offense allowed no sacks. The Titans are now 1-1 in division play and return home next Sunday to face the Cleveland Browns at noon Central time.
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