Nothing short of playing the Miami Dolphins these days seems a lock, but the hunch is the Indianapolis Colts will walk out of Nissan Stadium on Sunday with a road win over the Tennessee Titans.

Don’t bet the ranch on it. The Colts are three-point road underdogs.

But here are some reasons why, as well as some other thoughts rattling around in the noggin lately.

— Why the optimism about Colts-Titans? We only have one game as a sample size and the Colts lost in overtime on the road to the Los Angeles Chargers whole the Titans blew out the Browns in Cleveland, but the suspicion is that the Colts are better at their strengths than the Titans.

Specifically, the Colts are stronger on the O-line and running back Marlon Mack should have another decent day against a Titans defense that allowed 5.1 yards per rush in the opener. That’s not saying that Titans running back Derrick Henry won’t make his plays, too, but his 84 yards rushing were less than half of Mack’s career-high 174 yards. And the Titans are without three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan, who is serving a four-game suspension for PEDs.

Some are thinking, “Yeah, but the Colts run defense was lousy against the Chargers.” True, they allowed 6 yards per rush and seemed powerless to prevent the overtime TD rush that decided their opener. But don’t count on Colts weakside linebacker Darius Leonard to have another “terrible” game. His word, not mine. He’s going to be fired up. Tacklers often bounce off the physical Henry, don’t expect that from “The Maniac.”

Both teams get after the passer, too. The Colts had four sacks, which should have been five if not for an offside penalty, and the Titans had five. Difference is, the Colts protect better. They allowed two sacks to a decent pass rush while the Titans allowed four. And the Colts, minus injured wide receiver Devin Funchess, still have better pass catchers, which favors quarterback Jacoby Brissett.

Now the fact that this outcome has been suggested, it probably won’t happen. But, hey, it won’t surprise me if it does. And it shouldn’t surprise many of you, either. Yeah, the Colts lost at L.A., but the O-line and Mack were quite impressive in the second half.

— On the subject of Colts wide receivers, Pro Bowl star T.Y. Hilton got off to a solid start with eight catches for 87 yards and two TDs. What stood out, though, is that Hilton scored on two well-designed, short-range pass plays, something head coach Frank Reich recently said the team has been working on. They wanted to get their best receiver opportunities in the red zone, which hasn’t always been the case.

The first score was just a simple 4-yard slant in which the Chargers didn’t react quick enough. It was surprisingly easy.

The second score was the speedy Hilton showing how elusive he can be. He caught the short pass after running a crossing pattern. Two Chargers tacklers over-ran trying to bring him down and he cut down the sideline, finishing off a 19-yard score with a nifty lunge of the ball to the end zone pylon.

While the Colts flourished last year by throwing to tight end Eric Ebron near the end zone, expect Hilton to continue to get his chances in the red zone. He’s too talented not to get those looks.

— On the subject of Ebron, the Colts will try to get him more involved against the Titans. He had only one 8-yard reception against the Chargers, although he should have caught an 11-yard TD pass early in the fourth quarter that was bobbled when he hit the ground and correctly ruled incomplete because the ball wasn’t secure until he was touching the end line of the end zone.

Ebron is in a contract year and has added motivation to show last year’s first Pro Bowl nod wasn’t a fluke. Yeah, he has some drops now and then that drive everyone including himself crazy, but Ebron is needed even more now that Funchess is on injured reserve. He just needs to hang onto the ball and the big plays will come.

— If the Titans win to go 2-0 and the Colts fall to 0-2, don’t award the AFC South Division title to Tennessee just yet. The Houston Texans started 0-2 last year, yet won the division. And that didn’t amount to anything because the Colts went on the road and bounced the Texans in the first round of the playoffs.

The Colts’ schedule looked to be tougher this season, even before we were stunned by quarterback Andrew Luck’s retirement. But the Colts play four of the next five at home after Sunday. Atlanta visits in Week 3 and Oakland in Week 4. They’ll be favored in both of those.

After a tough road test at Kansas City, the Colts get an early bye before returning to Lucas Oil Stadium to host the Texans and Denver Broncos. Again, they’ll be favored in those, too.

These Colts aren’t going to duplicate last year’s 1-5 start. If they play well and shore up some of the early shortcomings, they realistically could be 4-3 or even 5-2 (if they win Sunday) by the end of October.