Nobody expected the Tennessee Titans to repeat the 10-0 start they had to last season. But it's also probably safe to say nobody expected Tennessee to be winless a quarter of the way through this season, either.
And now, as the Titans get ready to host the 4-0 Indianapolis Colts in an AFC South Division clash Sunday night (8:20 pm ET, NBC), they face the distinct possibility of starting 0-5.
BetJamaica.com opened this game earlier this week with Indy favored by 3.5 points, with a total of 45.5. As of Friday morning those numbers have held firm. The Colts are also listed at -190 for Sunday's game on the BetJam NFL betting moneyline, with the Titans getting +160 as home dogs.
Tennessee opened this season by losing a tough one in overtime on a Thursday night at Pittsburgh 13-10. The Titans then blew a 21-7 lead and allowed more than 350 passing yards in a loss at home to Houston 34-31, and coughed the ball up four times, leading directly to 14 points, in losing at the Jets 24-17. And last week, in a game many – including the oddsmakers – expected Tennessee to get its first win of the season in, the Titans instead laid an egg and lost at Jacksonville 37-17.
Indy opened the season with a 14-12 win over the Jaguars, then won 27-23 at Miami, despite having the ball for just 15 minutes, and 31-10 at Arizona. Last week Indianapolis downed Seattle at home 34-17, easily covering the BetJamaica.com pointspread of -10.5. After taking a 34-3 lead with six minutes remaining in the game, the Colts then let the Seahawks score a couple of meaningless touchdowns to send the game over its total of 44.
By winning its first four games this season, Indy has run its league-best regular-season winning streak to 13 games. The last team to beat them? The Titans.
Indy QB Peyton Manning has already won three league MVP titles, and could be working on a fourth. Through the first four games of this season, Manning has completed 71% of his passes for a 9.8 YPA average – which leads all starting QBs – with nine TDs, three INTs and a league-best 114.5 passing rating.
For the moment, Tennessee is sticking with QB Kerry Collins as the starter. So far this year, the 15-year vet has completed 57% of his passes for a league-low 6.0 YPA average, five touchdowns and six interceptions, and a pedestrian 68.9 passing rating.
These divisional rivals split their two meetings last season. As alluded to above, Tennessee beat Indy in a Week 8 Monday nighter 31-21 in Nashville. The Colts then shut out the Titans 23-0 in Indianapolis in Week 17 in a game that meant nothing, as both teams had already been locked into their playoff seedings.
Despite being 0-4, the Titans are outrushing opponents by a 137-80 YPG margin. And despite being 4-0, the Colts are getting outrushed by a 107-84 YPG average.
On the injury front, Tennessee is banged up in the secondary, which obviously could be a problem going against Manning and his troops.
The totals are 2-2 in Colts games this season, which have averaged 42 points per, while the O/Us are 3-1 in Titans games, which are averaging 46 points.
Seven of the last eight games in the series between these two teams have stayed under the totals.
Through the first four weeks of NFL betting action, home underdogs are 6-14 straight up and 8-12 against the pointspreads.
BetJamaica.com opened the Colts this season at +650 to win the AFC championship, and at +1,400 to win Super Bowl 44 down in Miami in February. As of Friday morning, BetJam is listing Indy at +350 to win the AFC and +800 to win the Super Bowl.
Tennessee opened this season listed at +800 to win the conference championship, and at +1,600 to win the Super Bowl. As of Friday morning, the Titans are now getting +4,500 to win the AFC title and +10,000 to win the Super Bowl.