SPORTS BETTING

• Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans

  Posted on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT by GetChalk

  
  

  The Tennessee Titans are hoping some southern home cooking can snap the team's early-season funk. Last season's top team has stumbled out of the gate with an 0-4 (1-3 ATS) start to 2009 and hosts a surging Indianapolis Colts team on Sunday Night Football.
   
  Oddsmakers have tagged Tennessee as a 3.5-point home underdog.
   
  The Titans' once-mighty defense is a shell of its former self. After allowing just over two touchdowns a game last season, Tennessee has watched opponents run up the score, averaging 27 points versus the Titans in their first four games.
   
  The biggest issue on defense is defending the pass. Opposing quarterbacks have launched for more than 282 yards through the air per game, including the Jacksonville Jaguars, who officially dropped the Titans’ defense to rock bottom by totaling more than 300 yards passing in their 37-17 win over Tennessee this past Sunday. Jacksonville picked up more than 11 yards per completion.
   
  Improving the pass defense starts up front. The Titans had one of the best pass rushes in 2008 but haven't been able to put the same pressure on the pocket and have nine sacks through the first four games of the season. They have three interceptions on the year and now face one of the best passers in NFL history. It also doesn't help that starting corners Nick Harper and Cortland Finnegan are both banged up and considered questionable for Sunday.
   
  Peyton Manning has once again proven why he's a future Hall of Famer. The Colts quarterback has his team a perfect 4-0 (3-1 ATS) and is the top-ranked passer in the league. Manning is driving the Indianapolis offense to more than 414 total yards and 26.5 points per game. Last week, Manning passed for 353 yards and two touchdowns against the Seattle Seahawks. He was picked off once, giving him three interceptions on the season.
   
  Manning has spread the ball around, hitting receiver Reggie Wayne for 399 yards and four touchdowns, tight end Dallas Clark for 364 yards and two scores, and finding second-year deep-threat Pierre Garcon for 207 yards and two scores. Running back Joseph Addai, who has scored three touchdowns, and rookie Donald Brown have combined to give the Colts an adequate rushing attack that has kept opposing defenses honest.
   
  The Titans' quarterback situation isn't as sound. Veteran Kerry Collins has struggled to produce his steady numbers of last year. Collins has been picked off six times and has failed to move the football in recent games. Tennessee went three-and-out six times in the loss to the New York Jets and did it five times in last week's shocker vs. Jacksonville.
   
  This inability to move the chains has started a rumbling within the organization to finally put their faith in former first-round pick Vince Young. Young has yet to show the consistency that the Titans want under center.
   
  Bettors would think having a rushing game like Tennessee's would make passing the ball that much easier. However, the Titans haven't been able to open up the air attack with the ground threat of Chris Johnson and LenDale White. The tandem has combined for 137 rushing yards per game with Johnson getting the majority of carries. The second-year star has totaled 551 yards on the ground but has been held scoreless in three of the Titans' four contests. White has just 94 yards this season and has found the end zone once.
   
  Indianapolis' defense is giving up just over 106 yards per game on the ground this season. The Colts, however, have faced two feeble run attacks in the past two weeks in Seattle and Arizona. In Week 1, they gave up 97 yards and a score to the Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew and followed that by allowing 239 rushing gains to Miami's wildcat offense in Week 2.
   
  Against the Colts last year, the Titans got a 31-21 win at home behind three scores from the rushing attack. Johnson rushed for 77 yards in that first meeting but missed December's 23-0 loss in Indianapolis, when Tennessee managed only 83 yards on the ground.
   
  Those meetings finished 1-1 over/under while the Colts and Titans have gone under the total in seven of their last eight meetings. Sunday night's number is posted at 45.5. Indianapolis is 2-2 over/under and Tennessee is 3-1 over/under heading into Week 5.