The Tennessee Titans hardly had the ball during Sunday's 41-17 loss in Indianapolis.
They were 1-for-9 on third down, while allowing the Colts to go 7-for-14.
Those numbers are a major factor in time of possession, as are turnovers. The Titans gave the ball away three times and took it away only once. Tennessee also was victimized by an early onside kick.
It all meant the Colts ran 82 offensive plays in 42:21 and the Titans ran just 47 in 17:39.
That time of possession is not just the worst in the NFL this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information, it's the worst in the NFL dating back to Week 2 of the 2012 season. On that weekend, the Titans had possession for just 16:21 in a 38-10 loss at San Diego and the Jaguars had the ball for only 16:43 in a 27-7 loss to Houston.
I stayed up all night counting and it turns out of the past 540 regular-season NFL football games played, the Titans on Sunday held the ball the least of any team.
And they have four seconds of cushion over the Eagles, who held the ball for 17:43 in their 26-21 loss at San Francisco Sunday.
"[The Colts[ controlled the ball and made plays," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "We had opportunities for plays and we didn't make them all. We turned the ball over, it's not good enough for third down. You can't just pick one thing because there were a lot of things we weren't good at."
To make things worse, the Titans' time of possession in Week 2 against Dallas was 18:49. That's the fourth-worst number in that 540-game span.
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