Countdown to Kickoff: 57 Days

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 57 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 57 figures into the team’s recent history.

No one player bedeviled the Tennessee Titans more than Peyton Manning.

Every year from 2002, when the AFC South was created, until 2011, when an injury sidelined him for a year, the five-time NFL most valuable player faced the Titans twice a year every year. His team won 13 of 18 meetings and – in once stretch – seven division titles in eight years.

Before all of that, though, it was Tennessee that scored the first victory.

In a divisional playoff matchup following the 1999 regular season, Steve McNair, Eddie George and the Co. ran just 57 offensive plays in an efficient 19-16 victory over Manning and the Colts. The 57 plays were Tennessee’s fewest of that postseason, which ended with a loss in Super Bowl XXXIV but their 309 total yards were 115 more than the wild card triumph over the Buffalo Bills (the Music City Miracle) and 20 more than the AFC Championship victory the next week at Jacksonville.

Indianapolis ran 65 plays for 305 total yards.

The majority of the Titans’ offense came from the run game, which 197 yards on 33 carries. George led the way with 162 yards on 68 rushes, including a 68-yard touchdown run that put hs team ahead to stay and was the longest postseason run of his career.

Manning, on the other hand, attempted 42 passes but completed just 19 for 227 yards.

It was the only time Tennessee faced Manning in the postseason, and regardless of his regular-season record in the rivalry the Titans are one of two franchises he faced at least once in the postseason but never defeated.