The Jacksonville Jaguars playoff hopes have long been gone, but the AFC South did send two teams into the 2020 postseason. Those two teams were the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts, who were the fourth and seventh seeds for the conference, respectively.
Unfortunately for their fanbases, both teams were victims of first-round exits this weekend. The Colts took the field for the first game of the postseason against the Buffalo Bills for a game that was a tight one and ended with a 27-24 figure. The biggest issue that most would say hurt Indy in the process was their issues in the red-zone as they finished the game 3-of-5 when driving inside the 20-yard line on Buffalo’s side of the field.
While they were able to garner over 450 total yards and had zero turnovers, they were unable to make their trips into Bills territory count, and the result was a 3-point loss. Those figures also put them in the history books as the Colts became the first team to lose a playoff game despite register such favorable figures in both categories.
Talk about a rough day.
Another key takeaway from the Colts’ loss was that it could mark Philip Rivers’ last game with the team or in the league in general. The 39-year-old veteran signed a one-year deal this offseason and it’s unknown if he’ll retire or not. After the game, Colts coach Frank Reich said he wants the veteran to return to the team, but the decision will ultimately come down to Rivers.
As for the Titans, they fell to the Baltimore Ravens by a score of 20-13. The key issue for Tennessee was their inability to get the run going as the Ravens’ front seven was stout and held Derrick Henry to just 40 yards over the span of 18 carries. That put him at an average of 2.2 yards per carry. They also struggled to contain the electric Lamar Jackson on the ground, as he led his team in rushing with 136 yards.
In a nutshell, the Ravens beat the Titans at their own game and were the more physical team, which is a key that will win a team a lot of playoff games. With a win, former Jags Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell will inch closer to the Super Bowl but will need to aid their team to two more victories to get there.
Both the Colts and Titans finished their seasons with 11-5 records in the regular season, which is certainly nothing to be upset about despite how the postseason went. As for the Jags, there were certainly a lot of key lessons that can be taken from the 2020 postseason and how both divisional rivals were defeated, but plenty of issues need to be addressed this offseason before they can have another crack at it.