RECAP: Tennessee Titans win OT thriller over reigning Super Bowl champs
In a back-and-forth affair featuring plenty of twists and turns, the Tennessee Titans fought back and pulled out their third-straight victory.
As the Tennessee Titans welcomed in the Philadelphia Eagles to Nashville on Sunday, the Titans were as healthy as they’ve ever been. QB Marcus Mariota was improving every day from his elbow injury and RT Jack Conklin was ready to make his season debut. The Titans had their preferred starting 11 on both sides of the ball suited up for the game. While the Titans didn’t leave this game as healthy as they started, they needed contributions from just about every player to come away with a win; and that’s exactly what happened.
Mariota completed 30-of-43 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns (and an interception), while adding 46 yards and a touchdown on the ground. WR Corey Davis exploded in a breakout performance, reeling in nine balls for 161 yards and the game-winning touchdown. The Titans defense sacked Eagle QB Carson Wentz four times and hit him 11 times.
The Titans received the ball to open the game and wasted no time moving down the field, using a 13-yard screen pass to RB Derrick Henry and a 28-yard Davis reception to get into field goal range. The drive stalled at the Eagles’ 24-yard line, when on 3rd and 7, TE Jonnu Smith dropped an easy reception that would’ve given the Titans a first down. K Ryan Succop drilled the short field goal to give the Titans an early lead.
After six-consecutive drives that ended with punts by both teams, the Eagles struck gold on a deep pass play from Wentz to WR Jordan Matthews, who just scooted past CB Malcolm Butler and was smoothly hit in stride for a 56-yard touchdown.
The Titans couldn’t respond before halftime, and a Mariota interception with just 41 seconds remaining in the half allowed the Eagles to get a cheap three points and take a 10-3 lead into the break.
Chaos and scoring ensued in the second half. The two teams exchanged 75-yard touchdown drives, the second of which was sorely needed by the Titans, as they had put themselves in a 17-3 hole in the premature stages of the second half.
With the score at 17-10 and the clock winding down in the third quarter, rookie OLB Harold Landry picked up the first sack of his career and knocked the ball loose from Wentz’s hands. OLB Derrick Morgan jumped on the live ball and put the Titans in field goal range, which they used to pick up three points and cut the lead to four.
The Titans defense forced a punt on the Eagles’ next possession and the offense rewarded their effort, going 75 yards on just five plays and taking a 20-17 lead with five minutes left in the game. Mariota hooked up with Davis for a huge 51-yard gain on the drive, and Mariota capped off the drive with an accurate throw to Tajae Sharpe — who had shook CB Sidney Jones with a nasty route — for six.
The defense continued to do its job, but the offense was unable to pick up a first down to put the game away and the Eagles got a massive 42-yard punt return with under two minutes left. Wentz and the Eagles were unable to put the ball in the end zone, though, and had to settle for a game-tying field goal that sprung overtime.
The Eagles got the ball first and zoomed down the field, picking up chunk gains through the air and ground, but — as has been the case for most of this season — the Titans were unwilling to give up anything more than a field goal. K Jake Elliott hit a 37-yarder that put the Eagles up three and demanded the Titans to respond.
Respond would be an understatement for what the Titans did. Mariota and the offense embarked on a 16-play drive that spanned 75 yards. Mariota converted a 4th and 15, a 4th and 2 and had a 4th and 4 defensive pass interference extend the drive. Mariota had racked up 40 yards through the air and 24 on the ground before he faced a 3rd and goal from the 10-yard line. With 17 seconds on the clock and a field goal looming on the next down if the Titans didn’t score, Mariota dropped back and lofted a jump ball to Davis, which Davis jumped high for and brought down with authority as two defenders converged on him. The play was eerily similar to the Vince Young-to-Kenny Britt game-winner back in November of 2009.
For the third straight week, the Titans won a game nearly everyone expected them to lose. Now at 3-1 and in control of the division, the Titans will head to Buffalo to take on a Bills team that has been nothing short of underwhelming through four weeks.