5 Things Learned, Colts vs. Titans Week 4

1. The Colts fell behind early and lost the turnover battle.

The Colts left no margin for error against the Tennessee Titans in large part because of two factors: One, turning the ball over three times and having zero takeaways; second, falling behind 24-3 midway through the second quarter.

“When you lose the turnover battle the way we did and started the way we did, put ourselves behind the hole, and just not good enough,” head coach Frank Reich said. “I’m proud of how we fought back, gave ourselves a chance at the end, but at the end of the day, not good enough.”

The Colts also struggled to run the ball, with running back Jonathan Taylor (20 carries, 42 yards) held under three yards per carry for only the fourth time in his career. But the combination of falling behind early and losing the turnover battle 3-0 significantly increased the level of difficultly the Colts had to face throughout Sunday afternoon.

“You can find a way when you’re down 17 to get the job done, but it makes it extremely difficult,” quarterback Matt Ryan said. “Your margin for error from that point on is like zero. It’s not a place you want to be often. Sometimes you’re there and you’ve got to find a way and you’ve got to be resilient. But it does, it makes it very difficult to overcome, and it’s certainly not what we’re – it’s not the intent going out there. We’d love to play from in front.”

So far this season, the Colts have had 22 first-half possessions on which they’ve turned the ball over as many times (five) as they’ve scored (two touchdowns, three field goals); the other 12 drives have resulted in a punt or a turnover on downs. As a result, the Colts have been losing at halftime by an average of just over 10 points in their first four games.

The Colts battled back from three-score first-half deficits to tie the Houston Texans in Week 1, and had multiple chances to tie the Titans in Week 4. But this is a team that expects to avoid needing to put those comebacks together in the first…