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The Indianapolis Colts (7-3) have a chance to put themselves in the driver’s seat when the Tennessee Titans (7-3) come to visit Lucas Oil Stadium for a crucial matchup in Week 12.
This bout will feature the two teams in the AFC South race at the top of the division. The Colts won the first battle in Week 10 during a 34-17 prime-time win at Nissan Stadium.
Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus spoke to the media Tuesday and gave some insight on how they can prepare for a big divisional game.
Eberflus
It hasn’t been long since the Colts faced off against the Titans. There’s just one game between these two divisional matchups. So while the Colts are likely going to try to implement some of the same game plan that gave them success in Week 10, Eberflus said it’s really about making sure their sideline is doing its job.
“We really make this about us, about our team and about our individual improvement. What happened last performance against Green Bay and then how can we improve for our next performance?” Eberflus said.
The Colts defense allowed 28 points in the first half to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers but shut the unit down in the second half, allowing just three points after halftime.
The second-half adjustments have been a huge storyline this season. We saw it against the Titans in Week 10 as well as the Colts held them scoreless in the final two quarters of the game.
“Then go back and look and see what we did well against [Titans] last time and what we need to improve last time – as an individual player and then as an individual linebacking group, d-line group and secondary, and then how can we pull that together as a whole defense?” Eberflus said. “We are going to be focusing on us this week, focusing on our effort and our fundamentals and what we can do better going forward for the next opponent.”
The Titans offense is coming off of a strong performance against the Baltimore Ravens, which should make for another strong matchup this weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Sirianni
The Colts offense has been humming since coming out of the bye week. Quarterback Philip Rivers has been enjoying a strong bounce-back season but we also saw a breakout performance from rookie running back Jonathan Taylor, who took 22 carries for 90 yards in Week 11.
Having patience on certain play-calls has led to some success for Taylor, who appeared to making strides when he took over the backfield in the second half against the Packers.
““I think it’s very important, particularly on certain runs more so than others. There are some runs that you just want to pound it in there and just go, and then you’ve got reads obviously on all your runs. There are certain runs that are slower developing reads than the others,” Sirianni said.
Taylor had a rough stretch of three games coming out of the bye week when he was essentially benched. The Colts deem it the hot-hand approach, but Taylor’s play didn’t warrant the need for any playing time.
But we finally saw a strong performance, and now he will be taking another step forward against the Titans as he gets more comfortable.
“So, it’s a very important part of the success of some of the runs and obviously their eyes and the way they read things,” Sirianni said. “Marlon (Mack) was very good at it and these guys are doing a good job of getting themselves more reps and more feel, and they’re just getting more and more comfortable each week.”
The Colts are likely to continue using the hot hand in the backfield but if Taylor continues to improve, the backfield share will come in larger chunks.
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