Robert Saleh on What Colts Win Can Do for Titans Going Forward

The Tennessee Titans defied the odds and beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday 26-20. 

It was a story of good defense and bad offense in the first half. The defense continued to pressure Daniel Jones and even forced an interception in the second quarter. 

However, the Titans could not do themselves any favors and didn't manage any points to go into halftime down 13-0 after a Mo Alie-Cox touchdown and two field goals by the Colts. 

After a dormant first half, the Titans were still down by only two possessions. The offensive issues continued in the second half, but so did the stellar defensive play. 

On one of the first plays of the Colts' opening drive in the third quarter, Jeffery Simmons forced a fumble off Jonathan Taylor. Momentum shifted, and the Titans got back into the game with two field goals from Joey Slye. 

Cam Ward found Carnell Tate in the end zone a couple of drives later, and the game was tied at 13. Special teams was the real hero, as Femi Oladejo recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown to make it 20-13 for the Titans. 

The Colts tied the game at 20 with a touchdown run from Taylor, but the Titans took the lead again with another field goal from Slye. The defense stepped up and secured the win by stopping the Colts twice in the final two minutes of the game. 

This win snapped an 11-game losing streak to AFC South opponents and it was also the first time the Titans had beaten the Colts since 2022. 

For Robert Saleh, it's his first win as the Titans' head coach. He shared what this win could do for the team for the remainder of the season.

Saleh was happy for his team, but understood they needed to avoid getting too high or too low with the Cleveland Browns up next. 

"We'll see, right?" Saleh said. "I know this group; it was a hard week. A gut-check week, in my opinion. I thought our guys did a really nice job of answering the bell. You know, when you're making progress, and Houston just punches you straight in the mouth, just to come back, it did not feel good this week. There was a lot of really good discussions this week. Real discussions. I thought our guys answered the bell completely this week. So, what does it do? It gives us a little bit of joy for the next 12 hours, but at the end of the day, we've gotta stack up these days, focus on the things that we did well, fix the things we didn't, and try to do our best on Sunday against Cleveland."  

Just because they won doesn't mean that the Titans were perfect by any means.

Although Ward was able to rebound and have a better second half, he still finished with 102 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception. He completed 11 of 22 passes, which is not ideal. 

The Titans also struggled to capitalize on the Colts' mistakes for most of the game. They settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. 

This fanbase and team will enjoy the win for a little while, as they should, but the Titans have a lot to work on ahead of their next game against the Browns. 

The Titans and Browns meet at noon CT on CBS live from Nissan Stadium next Sunday.