Nashville, Tenn. ? The Tennessee Titans aren’t just beating opponents these days. The AFC’s hottest team is running over them.

The biggest change in the Titans’ turnaround from a 1-4 start to a 10-5 record with victories in nine of their last 10 games is their ability to run. In their first five games, they couldn’t rush for more than 98 yards and didn’t top 51 in three.

But they have averaged 147 yards during the past 10 games and now lead the NFL in time of possession at 33 minutes, 5 seconds per game. Coach Jeff Fisher said Thursday it’s best when they can hand the game over to the offense and play keepaway.

“At this time of the year and at least the last four or five weeks, we’ve played some very dangerous offenses with very good quarterbacks and offenses moving the ball pretty well. The best way of eliminating that is keeping them off the field,” he said.

That has been the Titans’ preferred approach under Fisher, but they couldn’t do it as they stumbled during the first month.

Injuries to all three tight ends hampered run schemes. The offensive line needed time to jell around new center Gennaro DiNapoli, who replaced the retired Bruce Matthews. Receivers also had to block better, Eddie George struggled to find holes and they fell behind in several games and were forced to throw.

That combined to drop the Titans to last in the NFL in rushing through five games.

To fix their problems, Fisher put the Titans back in pads for Wednesday practices starting the week they played Jacksonville on Oct. 13. The physical approach worked as George had 113 yards, his first 100-yard performance of the season, and they totaled 152 yards rushing in a 23-14 victory.

Tennessee running back Eddie George runs the ball against Jacksonville. After struggling early in the season, the Titans' running game has helped them win nine of their last 10 games.

Tennessee has gained no worse than 119 yards rushing since then and now ranks 12th in rushing. The Titans had 238 yards rushing against New England on Dec. 16, the franchise’s highest such total since Aug. 31, 1997, when it had 255.

Not even losing the left side of their line hurt. Left guard Tom Ackerman and left tackle Jason Mathews replaced starters Zach Piller (left calf) and Brad Hopkins (right knee) against Jacksonville, and the Titans rushed for 175 yards in a 28-10 victory.

“One would expect that when you lose two starters on one side of the line that you run the ball opposite,” Fisher said. “We did not. We continued to run the ball balanced on both sides and both Jason and Tom did a good job for us last week.”

Everyone is running well for the Titans.

George is 35 yards short of 1,100, which would give him that mark for the sixth time in seven years. Robert Holcombe, who missed eight games because of a broken hip, has 39 carries for 203 yards in the past six weeks.

Quarterback Steve McNair has 79 carries for 437 yards.