The Titans Finally Won a Game. The Box Score Says Don't Get Comfortable Yet

Tennessee is no longer winless. The Titans went to Lucas Oil Stadium in Week 6 and beat the Colts 26-20, snapping a five-game losing streak and moving to 1-5 on the season. It was the kind of win that a 1-5 team needed badly, and it came with real contributions from the defense, the kicking game and a fourth-quarter touchdown drive that closed it out.

It also came with 186 yards of offense.

That's the uncomfortable part of the story. Tennessee produced 102 passing yards and 84 on the ground, converting just 30 percent of its third downs. Cam Ward finished 11-of-22 for 102 yards with one touchdown and one interception, good for a 59.3 passer rating. His completion percentage above expectation in that game was minus-17.5 — by far his worst mark of the season, and a sharp departure from weeks where he was hovering closer to expectation. The lone bright spot through the air was the 8-yard scoring toss to Carnell Tate in the fourth quarter that effectively sealed it.

So how did the Titans score 26? Special teams and takeaways, mostly. Joey Slye went 4-for-4 on field goals — 29, 56, 49 and 44 yards — and he's now 9-of-10 on the season. The 56-yarder was the biggest kick of his Tennessee tenure. On top of that, Julius Chestnut blocked a Colts punt in the fourth quarter and Oluwafemi Oladejo recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. Defensively, Amani Hooker and Cor'Dale Flott both intercepted Daniel Jones, and Jeffery Simmons forced a fumble on a Jonathan Taylor run and recovered it himself, part of a two-sack, six-tackle afternoon for the veteran tackle.

That's a formula, but it's a narrow one. The Colts put up 434 yards of their own and converted nearly 47 percent of their third downs. Indianapolis moved the ball; Tennessee just took it away at the right moments and let Slye cash in the short fields.

The season-long picture for Ward remains a work in progress. Through six games he's at 998 yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions and a 75.0 passer rating, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. He's been pressured on 24 percent of his dropbacks and sacked 10 times, and his average depth of target sits around 20 air yards — an aggressive profile that explains some of the volatility. The deep shots are there. The consistency isn't yet.

Now comes the test. Cleveland visits Nissan Stadium in Week 7 at 4-2, and the Browns bring one of the league's more productive pass rushes — 19 sacks on the season, among the top marks in football. That's a rough matchup for an offense that just managed 186 yards and has struggled to protect Ward. Deshaun Watson gets the start at quarterback for Cleveland. The market has the Browns as roughly a 1.5-point favorite with the total sitting in the high 30s, so Las Vegas isn't expecting fireworks either way.

Health matters here too. The Titans have listed Kevin Winston (quad) and Jordan Elliott (personal) as out, thinning a secondary and defensive tackle rotation that just played well. Tyjae Spears is questionable with a knee issue, which is worth watching given Tony Pollard's workload — 19 carries for 76 yards against Indianapolis and 87 attempts for 349 yards on the year. If Spears can't go, that's a lot of volume on Pollard's plate.

The encouraging sign is that the underlying numbers are trending the right way. Tennessee's power rating jumped about three points after Week 6 and the team climbed four spots in the rankings, and its performance against the number has been better than the raw record suggests. The defense has flashed — Simmons, Jacob Martin and Jermaine Johnson have combined for 10.5 sacks.

But a win built on four field goals, a blocked punt and three takeaways is not a sustainable weekly plan. The Titans need Ward and the offense to turn 186 yards into something closer to 300 before this qualifies as a turning point rather than a one-week reprieve.