Indianapolis Colts cling to a lead over the Tennessee Titans in nail-biter second half

The Indianapolis Colts dominated the first half, despite initially having a slow start. But once they got going, they never stopped; the offense had 24 unanswered points, and the big question was, would they keep it up in the second, or would it be a replay of their disastrous game against the Denver Broncos?

After the Titans elected to receive in the first half, the Colts kicked off the second with the ball, and Jonathan Taylor came out swinging; he got a second touchdown after breaking several tackles and running an astonishing 70 yards.

The Colts' lead expanded to a whopping 31-7.

Things didn't look good for the Titans, who answered Taylor's touchdown with quarterback Mason Rudolph being sacked by Kwity Paye, and they were forced to punt it back to the Colts. Unfortunately, the Colts didn't go anywhere with the ball, and the ball went right back to the Titans.

This time, the Titans started slowly driving forward with a first down, only for Rudolph to narrowly avoid an interception; a pass from Rudolph was caught by Samuel Womack III, who only missed the pick because one of his feet was out.

He got it on the very next throw, though; the ball popped right out of Tony Pollard's hands, and Womack caught it for the Titans' second interception of the day.

Anthony Richardson seemed determined to take advantage of the gift the defense just gave them; he quickly got a pass off to Josh Downs, who skirted past the Titans and got the Colts a whopping 31 yards.

That led to another touchdown, this time from Richardson himself, who lowered his shoulder and plowed through the Titans' defense like it was nothing. Stunningly, the referees reviewed the play and claimed he was down just inches short of the goal line, with the analysts openly shocked that the touchdown was overturned.

At 3rd and 1, Richardson handed the ball off to Taylor, who ran it in easily, and the Colts were then ahead 38-7. That also gave Taylor his third touchdown of the day.

Rudolph responded with a pass to Chigoziem Okonkwo for a first down that took the Titans into Colts territory, and then racked up another nine yards to bring them to 3rd and 1. Rudolph then ran it in himself for another first down, and the Colts got flagged for a face mask from Jaylon Jones.

That 15-yard penalty meant an automatic first down for the Titans. Tyjae Spears was able to run into the end zone, the first time the Titans scored after 38 unanswered points from the Colts.

The Titans decided to go for a two-point conversion, but not until Raekwon Davis got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the touchdown, with the referees saying if it happened again, he would be ejected. Without much resistance, the Titans easily got the second point, making the score 38-15.

By the end of the third quarter, the Colts were driving again, this time without Jonathan Taylor. Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson got some yards in, and with that, the Titans gave up 284 rushing yards... the worst for the Titans since 1999.

Goodson got two more runs to take the Colts for 3rd and 1, and Richardson took them all the way in for another first down. On the next play, Sermon ran for two yards, and Quenton Nelson went down with an injury. Next, Richardson tossed the ball right to Downs, who caught it, and then bobbled it right back out, for 3rd and 8. Sermon took the ball again, but only got one yard, so they brought Matt Gay out to attempt a 55-yard field goal.

Unfortunately, that kick was no good.

Rudolph came back out onto the field, and DeForest Buckner pressured him quickly, forcing him to throw it away. The next pass was complete to Pollard, but Jaylon Carlies slammed into him right away, for a loss of three yards. On 2nd and 13, Rudolph managed to get a deep pass to Tyler Spears for 25 yards, which was followed up by a touchdown pass.

The score narrowed to 38-22.

After this, Quenton Nelson returned to the game; Taylor ran for five yards, but then a false start from Michael Pittman, Jr. put them back at 2nd and 10. Taylor ran again for one yard, and the Colts were still in their own territory for one yard; worse, Anthony Richardson was, shockingly, sacked by Jeffery Simmons, and the Colts had to punt the ball away.

As the Titans drove down the field, David Long, Jr. got slammed with a series of penalties, including pass intereference and a face mask, and the Titans seems reenergized for the first time in this game. They quickly got into the end zone, and then -- with the addition of Jefferey Simmons on offense -- got a touchdown as well as a two-point conversion, and it became a one-score game.

The massive lead the Colts amassed had disappeared.

With only two minutes left, the Colts needed to -- at the very least -- run the clock out to stay alive. Richardson started his drive with a completed pass to Pittman for a first down. Jonathan Taylor ran for two yards, and then Richardson pulled off a fake that no one saw coming; everyone thought Taylor had the ball, but it was Richardson himself who ran it in for a first down.

Taylor got the ball to the 44 yard line, and then the 42, as the Colts inched their way into field goal range with less than a minute to go. Another handoff to Taylor got them another two yards, which was not enough to get them the first down, and they were just out of field goal range.

At 4th and 5, head coach Shane Steichen had a big decision to make, and it initially appeared that he chose to go for it. The Colts took a delay of game penalty, which then got the clock down to :10, and the Colts brought Rigoberto Sanchez out to punt.

That brought the Titans offense back on the field with just :03 left to go. Rudolph stepped back to pass, threw the ball, and it landed right in the hands of Kenny Moore II for an interception, cementing the Colts' win.

The second half was nearly a repeat of their loss to the Broncos -- the Colts had a huge lead over the Titans, and squandered it. This time, though, they managed to hang on long enough to give them the win.

Richardson finished the game with seven completions out of 11 attempts, for a 63.6% completion percentage and a 97.2 rating. The Colts had an absolutely insane 335 rushing yards, over 200 of which were from Taylor, while the defense snagged one sack and three interceptions.