NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Through nine games this season the Titans have been outscored by two points. Yet more than halfway through the year they sit 6-3 and well on the way to a third straight AFC South title after Sunday’s come-from-behind 17-10 win over the Broncos at Nissan Stadium.
It hasn’t been pretty – in fact, it’s often been pretty ugly – but this team keeps finding new players to step up and new ways to win.
On Sunday it was the return of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who completed 19 of 36 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns while feeling “not the best I’ve felt” on the bum ankle that sidelined him the last two games. Tannehill provided a passing presence to an offense that completed 11 total passes in the two games with Malik Willis as quarterback and led the Titans to the game’s final 17 points.
Denver jumped to a 10-0 lead courtesy of a 66-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Jalen Virgil against a blown defensive coverage. But Tennessee never panicked and Tannehill directed a 13-play, 75-yard drive in the closing minutes of the first half for a huge touchdown after punting on the game’s first six possessions.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine caught three passes on that drive after just seven receptions in the season’s first seven games. The final one was a beautiful toe-drag snag in the corner of the endzone for a nine-yard touchdown that brought the Titans within 10-7 at the half.
It was Westbrook-Ikhine that was wide open on a well-timed flea flicker in the third quarter for a 63-yard go-ahead touchdown that will go down as the Titans longest play of the season so far. In all, Westbrook-Ikhine had a career-high five catches for 119 yards, becoming the first Titans receiver to top the century mark this season.
It was needed on a day that the Broncos sold out to stop the run and bottled Derrick Henry up, holding the superstar below 100 yards for the first time in six games with just 53 yards on 19 carries. But it didn’t matter because Tannehill hit Austin Hooper for two big third down conversions in the fourth quarter, and a 41-yard strike to Chig Okonkwo to set up a Randy Bullock field goal to set the final margin.
The Titans’ 10 points after halftime were a season-high – as crazy as that is to type – and it was just enough as the defense stepped up big once again.
Despite missing starts Jeffery Simmons, Bud Dupree, Kristian Fulton and Amani Hooker, the Titans defense continued to play at an elite level. The defense harassed Russell Wilson all afternoon, sacking the Broncos QB six times despite missing guys like Simmons, Dupree and Harold Landry. Former Bronco DeMarcus Walker and Rashad Weaver both had a sack-and-a-half, and Dylan Cole, Naquan Jones and Mario Edwards got to Wilson as well.
The secondary missed two opportunities to pick Wilson off in the first half, but sealed the game when Josh Kalu tipped Wilson’s desperation pass on fourth down in the final minute into the waiting arms of Terrence Mitchell.
The Titans take their next man up mantra seriously, and it was an unheralded cast that rose to the occasion Sunday, along with the return of Tannehill, to help them win for the sixth time in seven games.
Up next is a trip to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field to take on the Packers just four days from now on Thursday Night Football, likely with several key guys out again. But the expectation of winning will remain for a team that’s become accustomed of finding unheralded players to do the job and help them win against all odds and circumstances.
