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Date: 10/8/2006
Tennessee Titans At Indianapolis Colts
at RCA Dome
Start Time: 1:02 PM EST
Game Day Weather
Played Indoor on Turf: FieldTurf
Outdoor Weather: Sunny, 64 Degrees
Officials
Referee: Mike Carey (94)
Line Judge: Mark Perlman (9)
Field Judge: Buddy Horton (82) Umpire: Dan Ferrell (64)
Side Judge: Tom Fincken (47)
Replay Official: Tommy Moore () Head Linesman: Steve Stelljes (22)
Back Judge: Bill Schmitz (122)
Video Operator:
It's a "W"
That's about all that one can
say about this game. Indianapolis Colts beat Tennessee 14
- 13 before a sell out crowd of 57,011 at the RCA Dome.
The first half, Titans held the game 10 - 0. Colts couldn't connect
anywhere as the Titans were doing just the opposite. Even without
defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who was serving the first game
of his five-game suspension, for kicking Dallas center Andre Gurode
in the head twice in Sunday's 45-to-14 victory by the Cowboys,
running back Chris Brown, who was inactive and a makeshift offensive
line, the Titans looked like they would pull off one of the most
shocking upsets in the NFL. With rookie quarterback Vince Young
making his second career start, Coach Jeff Fisher decided to play it
safe by attacking the Colts' porous defense the same way every
opponent has this season . . .
. . .running inside.
As usual, it worked.
It was nearly perfect. The
Titans rushed for 152 yards where the Colts offense couldn't get any
traction and were incapable of staying on the field, spending much of
the game on the sideline. Manning simply appeared out of sync. He
couldn't even complete a pass to his favorite target, Marvin
Harrison. He hit 9-of-17 passes for only 56 yards
During the halftime break,
The Colts regrouped, examined their tribulations and made the
necessary fine-tuning as things turned around during the second half.
The Colts defense yielded 86 yards and three points. The offense
accumulated 201 yards and 14 points. Colts were making plays. Peyton
was connecting with Harrison and Wayne, both.
"We came in at
halftime and nobody panicked," Wayne said. "Nobody
was blaming anybody. We came in, made some corrections and got going
in the second half."
The game concluded with a 3
yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Reggie Wayne on third-and-goal
as the Colts moved to 5-0 and won their 12th consecutive AFC South game.
On With The Show
1st Quarter
Colts win the toss and elects
to receive as Titans elects to defend the West goal.
Colts started out at their 20
yard line as Titans kicker, Rob Bironas kicked it into the endzone
for a touchback.
It started off looking real
good as Peyton hit Dallas Clark for a quick 9 yards and then Dominic
Rhodes ran 4 plays for 2, 9, 8 and 6 yards, spinning and pounding
down the field. On a 2nd and 4, Addai ran it for 5 yards getting the
first down and then ran another play for 4 yards. Then Peyton took to
the unfriendly skies as he fell incomplete twice. Once, deep to
Fletcher and the other to Reggie Wayne; which was just inches to high
for Wayne to snag. Colts bring out Hunter Smith to punt.
Tennessee
took control of the field as they hustled 88 yards to a 7-0
lead on Young's 19-yard touchdown run on its first possession. All
seven plays were runs. The Colts missed tackles and got caught out of position.
The home crowd actually booed.
That's encouragement!
Again Colts take down the
field with Dominic Rhodes for a gain of 5 yards then 11 and another 7
after a loss of 4 on the previous play. On 3rd and 7, Peyton hit
Stokley for 5 yards falling 2 yards short of a first and again Hunter
Smith takes to the field.
Titan's rookie Quarterback,
Vince Young was unable to do anything but a gain of 3 yards on their
next possession as they were forced to punt.
I love you Tarik as I'm sure
the rest of The Colts Fans do, however the penalties you bring forth
as the holding call on this drive set the Colts back for 10 yards.
Colts were unable to move more than 1 yard by Addai as Peyton again
threw incomplete passes and again Colts bring out Hunter "The Punter".
Titans take possession of the
ball going into the 2nd Quarter as they are also forced to punt.
2nd Quarter
With Colts next possession
things were looking quite promising as Rhodes ran for 4 yards and
Peyton connecting with Wayne for 10 yards making it 1st and 10.
Peyton then hits Rhodes for a 9 yarder and then Rhodes runs it for 4
for another 1st down. Rhodes then ran for 2 yards as Peyton tried to
Marvin on a short pass up the middle but fell incomplete. Then
the bad Officiating began as Rhodes supposedly fumbled a ball he
never had possession of and was recovered by Titans linebacker, Keith
Bullock at the Colts 49.
Titan's possession as they
used six plays to move the ball 45 yards, 2 of them on runs by
running back, Travis Henry for 17 yards each. However, on a Titan's
1st and Goal, The Colts defense came through as they prevented
Tennessee from getting into the endzone. Titans settled for a 22 yard
field goal making it Titans 10 - Colts 0.
Colts ended up punting again
on their next possession, but not until after Peyton made a nice 8
yard scramble and was then clothes lined by turncoat David Thornton
as Peyton was already in the slide.
Yet no call . . .
With very little over 4
minutes left in the first half of the game, Titans used up 3 of those
minutes to get nowhere ending up having to punt as where Colts were
forced to punt on their next possession in less than 1 minute leaving
3 seconds on the clock.
As Titans snap the ball,
Young throws deep to Drew Bennett who was picked off by Colts Mike
Doss who ran it back for 31 yards before being tackled.
End of the First Half.
3rd Quarter
Titans receive the kickoff
and on their first play Travis Henry runs another 17 yarder. However,
Young then went 3 and out and was forced to punt.
Addai started the Colts drive
on the ground and totaled 42 yards on five runs mixed around three
completions by Manning. Rhodes then reeled off three runs for 19
yards before Manning hit Harrison on a slant route for a 13-yard
touchdown pass, pulling the Colts to within 10-7
with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Robert Scheer
Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison scores a third quarter touchdown.
The Titans
responded with a 10-play, 38-yard drive that resulted in a 47-yard
field goal by Rob Bironas to make it 13-7.
Tennessee nearly scored on
the play before Bironas' kick as Young twirled a perfect pass to
Bobby Wade in front of the Colts' end zone that went through the
hands of the wide out before he was hit by Indianapolis defensive
back Mike Doss.
Closing out the 3rd quarter
with 3 plays simply resulting in 6 yards made by Brandon Stokley, The
Colts proceeded to drive all the way to the Titans 10 yard line on
their drive in the 4th quarter with the help of an 18 yard
connection from Peyton to Brandon Stokley and then another
Peyton/Stokley connection for 23 yards.
Sam Riche
Stokley limped to the
sidelines with a leg injury after this play. Matters went unpleasant
as on second-and-8 from the Tennessee 10, a Manning pass came in hot,
went through Wayne's hands and was intercepted by safety Chris Hope.
"A missile," Wayne
called it.
4th Quarter
The Titans went three and out
on the resulting drive and had to punt from deep within their own
territory as the Colts took over on Tennessee's 43.
Manning still had too much
time to work his magic as he threw incomplete on 1st down and Addai
ran for a mere 2 yards on the 2nd down. The Colts are faced 3rd-and-8
at the Titans 41.
Wayne lined up in the slot,
ran an out and made a laid-out, diving catch while well-covered for a
12-yard gain and a first down.
"Probably the pivotal
play in the game," Manning called it. "The guy had
pretty tight coverage, but Reggie's made that diving catch a lot.
Obviously, my confidence is high in going to him."
Addai ran for another 2 ion
the next play and then caught a short pass for 7 after that. After
Rhodes ran it for 3, Peyton Manning hit Marvin Harrison for 13 yards
putting them on the Jets 3 yard line.
MATT KRYGER / The Star
Resilient: Colts receiver Marvin Harrison (left) caroms off
Tennessee defensive back Pacman Jones after making a fourth-quarter reception.
Now 1st and Goal, Peyton
fired it over the middle to Wayne, however fell incomplete as Rhodes
ran it up the middle for a gain of 1 on the next play. Now
third-and-goal at the Titans 2, the Titans lined up in a familiar
scheme to stop a run. "It's Peyton Manning, man,"
Titans outside linebacker Keith Bulluck said.
Was Peyton about to make his
third touchdown of the 2006 season?
Reggie Wayne was lined up on
the left side. The ball was snapped and as Keith Bulluck put it. "All
he did was a Pop Warner play. He just turned around."
Manning threw a high pass to Wayne, who caught it just over the goal
line for the winning touchdown - before being knocked out of the end
zone by a defender. Colts 14-13
Robert Scheer
The Colts Reggie
Wayne scores a fourth quarter touchdown as Lamont Thompson defends
for the Titans.
After officials' signaled
touchdown, Wayne ran back into the end zone, and knelt for a brief celebration/prayer.
Later, Wayne admitted that he
might have brought a little greater depth of sentiment than usual on
Sunday. His brother, Rashad, 32, was killed in a traffic accident
Sept. 24. Rashad was buried Tuesday in New Orleans.
After his touchdown catch,
Reggie was knocked out of the end zone by Titans safety Lamont
Thompson. Wayne gathered himself and walked back into the end zone.
He knelt on one knee and raised his index finger toward the sky.
It was the most private of
moments, amidst 57,000 in full scream.
"He knocked me out of
the end zone," Wayne said. "I had to get back into
the end zone. I just wanted to score and I finally got in there. I
hadn't gotten in there since last year."
The Titans still had 5:10 on
the clock. They had great field position after Bobby Wade returned
the ensuing kickoff 48 yards to the Colts 46. On their first play,
Colts fan were excited as Vincent Young threw a deep pass to Wide
Receiver, Bobby Wade as Colts rookie Defensive Back, Antoine Bethea
intervened - almost making the pick, preventing Young from connecting
on probably a Titans promising play. But did anybody notice who
Bethea really intervened with? Cornerback Nick Harper was poised to
make his second interception of the season when rookie safety Antoine
Bethea intervened.
Harper had settled under a
badly under thrown pass from Titans quarterback Vince Young late in
the fourth quarter, only to have Bethea run into him and jar the ball loose.
"I know he was a
little upset because that was his pick,'' Bethea said."I
was just trying to make a play.''
Harper had visions of making
a really big play.
"I was looking downfield,''
he said, smiling broadly."I was plotting my course. I had
already picked out my lane, then Bethea came flying by. I was like,
'Who is this?'
Nonetheless the Titans lost 3
yards in the next two plays as Titans were forced to punt with 3 1/2
minutes remaining.
The Colts were able to run
the clock all the way down to 26 seconds before punting to seal the win.
It wasn't over until
Tennessee's final desperation pass was knocked down near the Colts 10
on a day that sent practically everyone home drained.
(AP Photo/Tom Strattman)
Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher walks off the
field after the Indianapolis Colts beat the Titans 14-13 in an NFL
football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006.
Commercial Break:
The Tennessee Titans lost a
heartbreaking game to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday after Peyton
Manning engineered a fourth quarter touchdown drive to give his team
a one-point victory. Adding to the humiliation, the Titans were
unaware that the final drive was engineered as part of a new Sprint
commercial featuring Manning watching a highlight of himself on his
new Sprint mobile phone.
"When my favorite
player scores a game-winning touchdown, I always want to check out
the highlight right away," said Manning, sporting a fake
mustache and wig. "With Sprint Mobile NFL, I can see it
instantly at the push of a button."
Manning then jogged to the
sidelines and celebrated with his teammates. Afterward, he credited
Sprint for coming up with the idea for the live, in-game commercial.
"The folks from
Sprint just asked me if we could film an ad during the game." he
said. "I said that's no problem. They wanted me to embark on
a late-game touchdown drive, something really dramatic, and then use
that as a jumping off point for the commercial. It was a roaring success."
When informed they just
starred in a new Peyton Manning commercial, Titans players were
shocked and embarrassed. None of them suspected a thing at the time,
said linebacker Keith Bulluck.
"Wow, that's
surprising and embarrassing," said Bulluck. "I
didn't realize we were being used like that. It seemed like a
perfectly normal drive. We played tough, but they scored. I didn't
see Peyton running into the end zone talking into any cameras or
anything. I mean, I did see someone standing in the end zone with a
Colts uniform holding up a phone and talking to the camera, but he
had a mustache. Wait a minute . . .f*%!!"
The commercial will hit the
airwaves next month and run approximately 35,000 times until the end
of the football season. For the Titans, that means 35,000 reminders
of their gut wrenching loss.
"That's a joke, man.
There's just something wrong with that," said Bulluck. "Not
only did we lose the game, we lost our dignity as well. It's going
to be shown over and over again for the whole season and we're never
going to forget it."
NOTES:
COLTS:
The Colts are on the bye next
week while the Titans travel to play the Redskins.
Manning finished with 20
completions in 31 attempts for 166 yards with one interception.
The game-winning drive was
the second in as many weeks for quarterback Peyton Manning and the
26th of his career
Manning had a career-best
streak of 132 passes without an interception end when safety Chris
Hope intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter
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*The Colts, who went into the
game leading the NFL in third-down conversions at 62.3 percent, went
0-for-6 on third down during the opening half.
*They were 5-for-6 in the
second half. |
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Indy has won seven straight
in this series, 12 straight over division teams and completed another
sweep of its three home division games.
Rhodes ran 20 times for 84 yards
Joseph Addai carried 13 times
for 62 yards.
Linebacker Cato June led the
Colts with 11 tackles
The win tied Colts head coach
Tony Dungy with Hall of Fame coach John Madden in career victories
with 112
Wayne has a TD catch in five
straight games against the Titans
Marvin Harrison set a new
record with his three-catch, 29-yard performance. Harrison now has a
catch in his first 159 career games, surpassing former Colt Marshall
Faulk for the longest streak of games with a catch to begin a career.
Marvin Harrison's first catch
Sunday against the Tennessee Titans gave him a reception in his 159th
consecutive game, an NFL record to start a career.
Harrison broke the previous
mark of 158 established by former Colts and St. Louis Rams running
back Marshall Faulk.
Harrison broke Faulk's record
with a 3-yard reception with 11:33 left in the third quarter. In the
last two weeks, Harrison moved from sixth on the career receptions
list to fourth.
He also entered Sunday's game
needing 41 yards to pass Irving Fryar (12,785) for eighth on the
career list in yards receiving.
Harrison and Wayne each
caught their first TDs of the season
Brandon Stokley left the game
in the second half with a sprained left knee.
Brandon Stokley's return to
the Indianapolis Colts' offense after a two-game hiatus turned out to
be a mixture of pleasure and pain.
The veteran wide receiver had
five receptions for a team-high 57 yards in Sunday's 14-13 win over
Tennessee but didn't play after spraining his left knee early in the
fourth quarter.
"It was good to be
back in the game and making some catches,'' Stokley said.
The injury occurred on a
23-yard reception. Stokley limped to the sideline.
"Hopefully it's just
a sprained (posterior
cruciate ligament),'' he
said. "We'll get an MRI on it."
Colts' kicker Adam Vinatieri
missed his third straight game because of a groin injury. Safety Bob
Sanders was also out for Indianapolis.
Rankings:
Colts --
offense 5th overall (20th rushing, 3rd passing), defense 20th
overall (30th rushing, 10th passing).
Titans --
offense 27th overall (tied-30th rushing, 17th passing),
defense 30th overall (32nd rushing, 16th passing).
Injury report:
Colts -- Questionable,
K Adam Vinatieri (groin), DE Bo Schobel (heart), DT Raheem Brock
(elbow), OT Ryan Diem (groin), DE Dwight Freeney (shoulder), CB Nick
Harper (groin), CB Kelvin Hayden (ankle), CB Marlin Jackson
(concussion), OT Charlie Johnson (ankle), DT Dan Klecko (low back),
DE Ryan LaCasse (quadricep), G Ryan Lilja (knee), DT Montae Reagor
(knee), S Bob Sanders (knee), C Jeff Saturday (low back), WR Brandon
Stokley (ankle), DE Josh Thomas (ankle), TE Ben Utecht (low back), WR
Terrence Wilkins (concussion); probable.
Titans -- Out,
WR David Givens (hand), TE Erron Kinney (knee), G Zach Piller
(ankle); questionable, OL Eugene
Amato (ankle), WR Drew Bennett (quad), DT Jesse Mahelona (knee), LB
Robert Reynolds (thigh).
Medical update
Along with losing Stokley,
the Colts lost the services of Marlin Jackson on Sunday. The
second-year cornerback suffered an undisclosed injury when he was
"leg-whipped'' while covering a punt in the first quarter.
Also, the team decided to
keep place-kicker Adam Vinatieri inactive for a third straight game.
He still isn't fully recovered from a strained groin. Martin
Gramatica was re-signed and handled the kicking chores.
TITANS:
Former Colts linebacker David
Thornton was credited with 13 tackles.
Titans running back Travis
Henry rushed 19 times for 123 yards as Tennessee piled up 214 yards
on the ground.
Wide receiver David Givens
were among those inactive for the Titans
Henry had his first 100-yard
game since Dec. 7, 2003 while with Buffalo
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