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J.C. Latham Highlights Key Difference Maker in Titans Win vs. Colts
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- J.C. Latham Highlights Key Difference Maker in Titans Win vs. Colts
(Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)
Sunday was a special day for Tennessee Titans fans.
It was the first win of the year for the team and for Robert Saleh's tenure in Music City. The Titans walked into Lucas Oil Stadium and left with a 26-20 win , stunning the Indianapolis Colts at home.
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Things didn't get off to a good start for the Titans.
The defense played lights out. Daniel Jones was intercepted by Amani Hooker on the Colts' first drive of the game. The Titans continued applying pressure throughout.
Jones was sacked six times on Sunday and threw another interception in the second half. However, the Titans offense struggled to turn the defense's effort into touchdowns.
The team had just three first downs in the first half. The Colts scored a touchdown and added two field goals to carry a 13-0 lead into halftime.
Then, things started to flip.
Jeffery Simmons forced a fumble from Jonathan Taylor, and momentum shifted to the Titans' sideline. The offense added two field goals to make it a one-score game. The Colts were held scoreless in the third quarter.
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The Titans then tied the game at 13 with a touchdown pass from Cam Ward to Carnell Tate, thanks to a toe-tapping catch.
The special teams came through in a big way, giving the Titans a 20-13 lead. James Williams Sr. and Julius Chestnut combined for a blocked punt, and Femi Oladejo ran it in for a touchdown.
The Colts scored on a Jonathan Taylor run to tie it 20-20. The Titans added two more field goals to make it 26-20.
The defense then came through and got two stops to secure the victory.
After the game, J.C. Latham spoke with ESPN's Turron Davenport. He highlighted how the team's response to adversity really showed itself in the win.
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"Our identity got tested last week," Latham said. "Not to say anything, but our identity just got tested and people like to say, 'Oh, we're young. We're this. We're that.' But at some point, we all came up together to say we got to respond. And I mean all week that's what it was. Practice ain't going to be perfect. So, how do you respond to the negative things that happened? I told my people around me, I feel like we did a great job at practice this week with responding to our negative plays. And I mean, we knew that's all that was in this game."
The Titans were finally able to respond to adversity with a win this season. In the losses against the New York Jets and Houston Texans, the Titans were never able to respond to the negative things that happened throughout the game.
On Sunday, we saw this team respond and take the win. It's obviously not ideal for the Titans to be down every week and still come back, but that is what life in the NFL is all about.
How do you react when things aren't going your way? The Titans have experienced this feeling before but haven't been able to come back and win when the chips are down.
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Hopefully, this will be the start of changes in the franchise. These kinds of wins can be the foundation for what coaches like Saleh are trying to build.
We'll see if this carries over into the next game with the Cleveland Browns. The Titans are back home to face the Browns at noon CT on CBS next Sunday.
