Today at 8:20, the Indianapolis Colts will face off against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The winner of the game will make the playoffs. The loser goes home. In other words, they are playing a playoff game a week before the playoffs. This game is on track to be a good one, with both sides boasting talent that the other does not have.
The Titans have an extremely strong running game, led by former Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry. The Alabama product has an astounding 492 rushing yards in his last three games. Tennessee has treated Henry as the bell-cow the past few weeks, and expect them to give him the same type of workload again. Quarterback Marcus Mariota is on the wrong side of questionable this week, after suffering an elbow injury on his throwing hand. This means Blaine Gabbert will likely start for the Titans. The Titans also have the leagues 7th best defense. Malcolm Butler has shown great improvement after having a rocky start to the season. However, Tennessee will be without pro bowl nose tackle Jurrell Casey.
Meanwhile, the Colts feature one of the most complete teams in the league. If they had not started off shaky(1-5), they would be in contention for a first-round bye. Andrew Luck is looking like an MVP candidate, along with Comeback Player of the Year favorite. T.Y. Hilton has been scorching hot the last few weeks, as he has 322 receiving yards. To cap it off, the Colts offensive line has finally been good, and Andrew Luck has not been given many chances to get hurt this year.
While the Titans do have a good defense and run game, missing Marcus Mariota will likely make the difference in this one. Also, Henry will have a tough time running against Darius Leonard and the sneaky good Colts defense. Andrew Luck will improve his record against the Titans to 11-0, and make the playoffs as the sixth seed.
Prediction - Colts 27, Titans 21
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