Tennessee Titans: Ryan Tannehill earned his stripes in Week 10 win

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill earned his stripes in the Week 10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Tennessee Titans pulled out a magical win in an action-packed Week 10 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, thanks in large part to the clutch play of quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Even with the Chiefs returning quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who put on a show in Nashville, the Titans fought back to seal a 35-32 victory. While the Titans needed a lot of key players to step up, Tannehill showed his mettle and earned his stripes this week.

The stats won’t show Tannehill’s true impact today, as he completed 13-of-19 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns, while also adding three carries for 37 yards. Of course, that’s paltry compared to Mahomes’ 446 yards and three touchdowns, however Tannehill’s impact was immense, particularly on the last drive.

Tannehill got the ball with a little over a minute left at the Titans’ 39-yard line. With no timeouts left, Tannehill strung together three critical plays in leading the Titans to the go-ahead touchdown.

On the first play, Tannehill got pressured heavily but showed his athleticism for a huge 18-yard scramble. Next play, Tannehill threw a beautiful pass down the left sideline to A.J. Brown, however, the ball was knocked out by the Chiefs to force an incompletion.

Facing a second down with just under a minute left, Tannehill spiraled the ball to a well-defended Anthony Firkser for 20 yards. Tannehill then hurried up the offense to the line, and with the Chiefs playing man coverage, Tannehill saw and hit a wide open Adam Humphries in the middle of the field for the go-ahead touchdown.

Tannehill displayed amazing poise and athleticism today, but also grit and toughness when he lowered his shoulder on multiple occasions to gain extra yardage, and particularly on the two-point conversion at the end of the game to give the Titans a three-point lead.

The Titans benched Marcus Mariota four weeks ago and Tannehill has made it so the Titans won’t look back. He is sitting on a 3-1 record as a starter going into the bye week. His accuracy, toughness and clutch play has given life to the Titans’ offense and season.

In beating one of the best teams in the league this year, Tannehill earned a newfound respect from fans and now the Titans are alive to make a playoff push.