The Titans finally start AFC South portion of schedule hosting banged-up Colts

Indianapolis (2-3) at Tennessee (1-3)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS.

BetMGM NFL Odds: Titans by 2 1/2.

Against the spread: Colts 4-1; Titans 1-3.

Last meeting: The Colts beat the Titans 31-28 in OT on Dec. 3, 2023, at Nashville.

Last week: Colts lost 37-34 at Jacksonville; Titans had bye after beating Miami 31-12 on Sept. 30.

Colts offense: overall (13), rush (12), pass (12), scoring (13).

Colts defense: overall (32), rush (31), pass (29), scoring (25).

Titans offense: overall (30), rush (18), pass (29), scoring (20).

Titans defense: overall (1), rush (15), pass (1), scoring (15).

Turnover differential: Colts plus-1; Titans minus-7

Alec Pierce. The third-year receiver has provided Indy with the big-play threat it's lacked in recent seasons. He leads the NFL at 28.3 yards per catch, already has established a new single-season career high with three TD catches and last week he almost single-handedly brought the Colts back at Jacksonville with three straight catches for a career-best 134 yards. He's looking for a strong encore this week.

QB Will Levis. He and Anthony Richardson both were drafted in 2023, and Levis has started more games than the fourth overall pick out of Florida. But both are tied with six interceptions this season — most in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes has been picked off six times, but the Chiefs have played five games. Levis has finished only three of his four starts this season after hurting his throwing shoulder trying to run for a first down against Miami.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson (hip) and Pro Bowl C Ryan Kelly (neck) both practiced. The NFL's 2021 rushing champ Jonathan Taylor (ankle) didn't in a similar scenario to last week when all three sat out. The Colts also must decide on starting DE Kwity Paye (quadricep) and Pro Bowl CB Kenny Moore II (hip), who also sat out last week. If Richardson misses another game, Joe Flacco will make his second straight start. If Kelly is out, the Colts may starting two rookies — center Tanor Bortolini and right guard Dalton Tucker — with Will Fries on injured reserve following surgery on his injured lower right leg. WR Michael Pittman Jr. has a back injury that may force the Colts to put him on injured reserve. ... Titans QB Will Levis will start after working his way back from an injury to his throwing shoulder that knocked him out of their previous game. ... Two-time Pro Bowl DL Jeffery Simmons said he'll be back after two weeks because of an injury to his left elbow. The Titans, who declared S Jamal Adams out for this game with an injured hip, put the three-time Pro Bowler on reserve with a non-football injury Saturday. DL Keondre Coburn (knee) will not play.

Indy swept the Titans last season after losing the previous five in the series. ... Indy is 15-7 on the road against the Titans since they relocated to Nashville. ... The teams have only met once in the postseason with Tennessee handing Peyton Manning a 19-16 loss in his first playoff game in Indy. ... The Colts and Titans only met six times when the franchises were located in Baltimore and Houston and eight times when Houston squared off with Indianapolis. They became division rivals in 2002.

The Colts are 0-2 in division play this season, have lost three straight AFC South games and are 4-9-1 against division foes since 2021. They trail defending division champ Houston by two games. ... This is the Titans' AFC South opener. ... Indy ranks third in the NFL with 24 plays of 20 or more yards this season. It also has scored 20 or more points in 17 of the past 21 games. ... With Richardson out last week, Flacco made his starting debut with the Colts. Richardson is 4-4 as a starter. The 39-year-old Flacco is 103-85. ... With 78 scrimmage yards, Taylor would pass Moore (6,040) for No. 4 for a Colts player in their first five seasons. ... LB E.J. Speed had his eight-game streak with 10 or more tackles end last week in Jacksonville. It was the league's longest streak since 1987. ... Speed is tied for the NFL lead with 54 tackles. Colts CB Nick Cross is tied for third in tackles (52). ... Indy is tied for eighth with eight takeaways. It also has allowed the fourth-fewest points after a turnover this season (six). ... The Titans have won the game coming off their bye each of the past eight seasons. Only Buffalo (nine) has a longer active streak, which is second to Philadelphia's streak of 13 consecutive such wins between 1999 and 2011. ... The Titans have allowed a league-low 243.8 yards per game and also lead the NFL in passing defense giving up just 124 yards per game. They held Miami to 184 yards before their bye. ... The Titans have used the same starting offensive line for the first four games, matching the most games Tennessee used any of 11 different starting combinations in 2023. ... K Nick Folk made five field goals, including three at least 50 yards, in the Titans' first win of the season.

Titans RB Tony Pollard is coming off a season-high 108 yards from scrimmage. He is even better after contact at picking up yards and going up against a banged-up Colts defense that is among the worst in the NFL at stopping the run.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Joe Flacco (15) fumbles as he is hit by Jacksonville Jaguars' Travon Walker (44) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Tennessee Titans place kicker Nick Folk (6) kicks the extra point during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce reacts during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tennessee Titans running back Tyjae Spears (2), right, celebrates his touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Joe Flacco throws during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis (8) warms up before an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Brennan Asplen)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson, right, watches during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

The Israeli military on Saturday renewed its orders for Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters as troops continue a weeklong offensive against militants.

Most of the fighting has centered in and around Jabaliya, which has been pounded by Israeli war jets and artillery. Residents said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters.

Israel also has been escalating its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border after a year of exchanges of fire. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hamas' ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

It's been a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here is the latest:

Israeli airstrikes on Saturday hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing more than a dozen people and causing damage to hospitals, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, as fighting with the Hezbollah militant group continued.

Nine people were killed in Maisra village in the northeast, with 15 wounded, the ministry said. Four people were killed and 18 wounded in an apartment building on the edge of Barja south of Beirut.

The ministry said Rayak and Tal Chiha hospitals in the Bekaa Valley were damaged, while seven people were wounded in strikes on Brital and Temnine in Baalbek-Hermel province. In Nabatieh, eight people were wounded.

Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have previously faced heavy bombardment, have not been struck in the past 48 hours. Hezbollah functions as a state within a state there.

The total toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed and over 10,000 wounded, according to the ministry. More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It isn’t clear how many were fighters.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is considering sending one of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems to Israel, U.S. officials said Saturday. A defense official said no final decision has been made.

A U.S. official said there were ongoing discussions late last week about deploying a THAAD to Israel. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The U.S. has a wide range of missile defense systems arrayed across the Middle East and Europe, including Patriot systems. Officials have been discussing for months what types of air defense systems to deploy to the region and where to put them. Any move of a THAAD to Israel would involve the deployment of soldiers to operate the complex system.

A year ago, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of a THAAD battery and additional Patriot battalions to locations around the Middle East to increase protection of U.S. forces and to aid in the defense of Israel. According to an April report by the Congressional Research Service, the Army has seven THAAD batteries. Generally each consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, radio and radar equipment and it requires 95 soldiers to operate.

The THAAD is considered a complimentary system to the Patriot, but it can defend a wider area. It can hit targets at ranges of 150-200 kilometers (93-124 miles).

— Lolita Baldor

NEW YORK — The Israeli army has eased restrictions in parts of the country’s north even as it continued to trade fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The changes allow for schools to reopen in parts of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and parts of the Western Galilee if they have quickly accessible shelters. Some restrictions on gatherings were eased as well.

In other parts of the north, educational activity is still prohibited.

The announcement comes despite a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah into Israel Friday night and Saturday, celebrated in Israel as Yom Kippur, or the Jewish Day of Atonement. The military says some of the approximately 320 projectiles were intercepted, and no injuries have been reported.

The military also says it has struck 280 military targets in Lebanon and Gaza over the weekend, and that it killed 50 Hezbollah militants. It has provided no evidence for the latter claim.

Separately, Hezbollah says it launched an attack with explosive drones on the suburbs of Tel Aviv on Friday night. One drone directly hit a nursing home in Herzliya, a city north of Tel Aviv, Israeli media said. No casualties have been reported.

CAIRO — Israeli airstrikes flattened a residential area and killed at least 22 people including women and children in an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said Saturday.

In an area where Israel’s military launched a major ground operation last week, one of the strikes late Friday destroyed an entire building, killing at least 20 people and severely damaging several nearby buildings in the center of Jabaliya camp, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service.

A different strike killed a mother, father and injured their baby in another part of Jabaliya, medical officials said.

First responders who rushed to the area before the strikes had ceased found a 20-meter (65-foot) deep hole within a house in the area.

At least 20 bodies had been recovered from the area as of Saturday morning, with many others said to be missing under the rubble, emergency service officials said, adding that at least six women and seven children were killed.

Gaza’s health ministry on Saturday said hospitals across Gaza received the bodies of 49 people killed over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 219 wounded. The deaths brought the death tally to 42,175 since the war began on Oct. 7 last year, with 98,339 wounded, according to the ministry.

Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The strikes late Friday are part of Israel’s latest broadening offensive in northern Gaza.

The U.S. military said it conducted a series of airstrikes against multiple camps in Syria belonging to the Islamic State group.

The U.S. Central Command said the strikes on Friday will “disrupt the ability of ISIS to plan, organize and conduct attacks against the United States, its allies and partners, and civilians throughout the region and beyond.”

It said battle damage assessments were underway and did not include civilian casualties.

There are some 900 U.S. forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors, mostly trying to prevent any comeback by the extremist IS group, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking control of large swaths of territory.

BEIRUT — The speaker of Iran’s parliament on Saturday toured the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that killed and wounded dozens, vowing that Tehran would keep supporting Lebanese and Palestinians in fighting against Israel.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf visited the bombed area after holding talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who said that Lebanon’s priority now was working toward a cease-fire.

His office said that Lebanon’s government still abides by a 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution approved at the end of a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah and was prepared to boost Lebanese army presence along the country’s border with Israel.

“We will keep standing with the Lebanese people during these difficult circumstances and also with the Palestinian people,” Qalibaf said during the tour, during which he was escorted by several Hezbollah officials.

Qalibaf added that Iran will aid the Lebanese people and “we hope that they will be victorious.”

It was the second recent visit by an Iranian official to Beirut after the foreign minister visited rarlier this month. Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah that has suffered major setbacks in recent weeks, including the killing of it leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah started attacking Israeli army posts in October last year in solidarity with the militant Hamas group in Gaza. Since Sept. 23, Israel has intensified its airstrikes and forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese. Last week, Israel began a ground invasion of Lebanon, leading to clashes along the border with Hezbollah fighters.

CAIRO — The United Nations food agency said on Saturday that no food aid had entered northern Gaza since Oct. 1.

The World Food Program said that the primary border crossing into the war-ravaged area had been closed for about two weeks, warning that Israel’s ongoing ground operation has a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinians families there.

“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, the WFP country director of Palestinian territories.

Concerns of a hunger crisis have risen in Gaza roughly a month after the U.N.’s independent investigator on the right to food accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians.

Israel has denied such allegations and insisted that it has allowed food and other aid into Gaza in significant quantities.

“Israel has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip. As evidence, humanitarian aid coordinated by COGAT and international organizations will continue to enter the northern Gaza Strip in the coming day as well,” COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing aid distribution, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The WFP said its food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza, have been forced to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders. It said that the only functioning bakery in North Gaza, supported by WFP, caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition.

The WFP said its last remaining food supplies in the north -- including canned food, wheat flour, high-energy biscuits, and nutrition supplements -- have been distributed to shelters, health facilities and kitchens in Gaza City and three shelters in the northern areas. It is unclear how long these limited food supplies will last, warning that the consequences for fleeing families will be dire if the escalation continues.

JERUSALEM — The European Union said Saturday it was deeply concerned about draft Israeli legislation that would ban the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and likely scale back aid distribution across war-ravaged Gaza.

Earlier this week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved a pair of bills this week that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and end all contact between the government and the U.N. agency. The bill needs final approval from the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

“If adopted, (the bill) would have disastrous consequences, preventing the U.N. agency from continuing to provide its services and protection to Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and Gaza,” the EU said in an online statement.

Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.N. has since fired more than a dozen staffers after internal investigations found they may have taken part in the attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel.

The U.N. agency has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to Palestinian civilians during the 12 month conflict in Gaza.

Concern about the Israeli bill was echoed by UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, on Wednesday, who said all humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank could “disintegrate” if the bill was implemented.

When UNRWA was created by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949, it was meant to provide health care, education and welfare services to about 700,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 conflict with Israel.

CAIRO — The Israeli military on Saturday renewed orders for Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and shelters amid a week of intense fighting with militants there.

Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, told people that the area includes parts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and other parts in and around Jabaliya, the urban refugee camp.

In a post on X, Adraee asked people living there to head south to Muwasi, a packed area in southern Gaza designed by the military as a humanitarian zone.

Most of past week fighting centered in and around Jabaliya with Israeli war jets and artillery pounding the area. People there said they have been trapped inside their homes and shelters. The military also ordered the three main hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate patients and medical staff.

Residents sit on the roof of a building and have dinner as Dahiyeh suburb, background, remains in darkness after Israeli airstrikes, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf waves to residents as visit the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, center, visits the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, right, meets with Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, left, waves to residents as visit the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents sit on the roof of a building and have dinner as Dahiyeh suburb, background, remains in darkness after Israeli airstrikes, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescue workers keep searching for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Residents of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike return to collect their family's belongings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Cyclists ride on a car-free highway during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Kamal Khatib, a volunteer with the Animals Lebanon rescue group, kisses kittens after rescuing them from debris of destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanese women pass near destroyed cars, at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Women react in front of their destroyed apartment at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)