Colts Backups Defeat Titans, 27-10

The Indianapolis Colts used the final game of the season to fine tune the team before the playoffs. The Tennessee Titans offered little resistance as they played for the number one pick in the draft. The result was a 27-10 victory for the Colts.

The Colts had a 17-7 lead at halftime, and numerous injuries to starters on offense (most importantly along the line) made it an easy decision to pull a number of starters.

Andrew Luck saw his day come to an end after the first half. But in that time he managed to set a Colts single season record for passing yards and hit the 40 touchdown mark. Luck threw for 160 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, the Colts offense didn’t turn the ball over.

Luck set the record on an 80-pass to Reggie Wayne. Wayne plucked the ball out of the air with his fingertips and managed to break away from the Titan defenders. He came up a yard short of the end zone, and left the game following the play with a groin injury. It was a fitting way to break Peyton Manning‘s record.

Coby Fleener played a larger roll with so many receivers sidelined to injury or out as a precaution. Fleener had five catches for 56 yards and a pair of touchdowns (one from Luck and another from Matt Hasselbeck).

The defense held the Titans to under 200 total yards and just 4-of-16 on third down attempts. The Colts also forced four fumbles, but unfortunately only recovered one of them. That recovery came when Vontae Davis simply ripped the ball out of Bishop Sankey‘s hands as he was being tackled.

Davis finished the regular season without giving up a single touchdown pass.

Rookie Jonathan Newsome had two sacks and finished the season with 6.5 sacks, which led the team this year. 6.5 sacks is the third most by a rookie for the Colts, but well short of Dwight Freeney‘s 2002 record of 13.

Adam Vinatieri saw his perfect season come to an end as he made 29 straight field goals this year before missing a 46-yard attempt. Vinatieri drilled two other field goals from 23 and 26 yards out.

The Colts will host the loser of the Sunday Night game between the Steelers and Bengals in the Wild Card round of the playoffs next weekend.