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How the Titans Drew Up Game-Changing Punt Block TD vs. Colts
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- How the Titans Drew Up Game-Changing Punt Block TD vs. Colts
(DENNY SIMMONS / THE TENNESSEAN)
The Tennessee Titans trailed the Indianapolis Colts for most of the game on Sunday.
The Colts took a 13-0 lead into halftime, with the Titans' offense struggling for most of the first half. Things changed instantly in the third quarter.
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Jeffery Simmons forced a fumble on the Colts' opening drive, and the Titans got the ball back in great field position. The offense was only able to put a field goal on the board, but momentum slowly started to shift.
The Titans added another field goal before the offense had a scoring drive that ended with a Carnell Tate touchdown to tie the game at 13 in the fourth quarter.
The game really flipped on the following possession for the Colts. The Titans' defense forced a stop, and the Colts were going to punt the ball back to them from their own half of the field.
Instead of getting the punt away, it was blocked with a combined effort from James Williams Sr. and Julius Chesnut. Femi Oladejo recovered the football and took it to the house for a touchdown, giving the Titans a 20-13 lead.
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It was the first time the Titans led the entire game. The Titans used that special-teams play to secure a 26-20 win.
Special teams coordinator John Fassel shared how the Titans drew up the play at Thursday's press conference . According to Fassel, Williams and Chestnut actually picked the play that led to the blocked punt.
Williams and Chestnut were on the sideline with Fassel before the Titans got the stop, and he asked them what play he should run. Both players unanimously chose a play that Chimere Dike had a good punt return on earlier, and Fassel went with their advice.
The Titans didn't even need Dike to return the punt since it got blocked. The team will be happy with a touchdown either way.
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"So, if you're asking about the punt block, we had a couple of calls left and had it all on the card," Fassel said. "So, I was talking with Julius Chestnut and James Williams about how they're just on the sideline; they have great information. It's second down. 'Guys, you like this? You like that?' They both said, 'We just had a big return off this one play we just did. Let's do this next one.' I had a card. So, they were the ones who advocated for the call that ended up blocking the punt."
This is the kind of thing that separates good coaches and bad coaches. Fassel was willing to listen to a couple of his players who had been paying attention to what worked during the game.
Because he listened to them, the Titans capitalized on a blocked punt to score a touchdown, which completely changed the game.
This is the kind of thing that can change the outcomes of games. Fassel understands this better than anyone, and it paid dividends for the Titans in Week 6.
If it hadn't been for Williams and Chestnut, the Titans might've lost that game and would be 0-6 instead of 1-5. Small things like that can be the difference between winning and losing.
