Resilience shown again in close win
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans know how to fight and not quit, no matter how ugly a game might be.
That’s the biggest reason why the Titans are a win, or an Indianapolis loss, from clinching their second straight AFC South title with two games remaining. A team that has had 88 different players on the field in a season, the most ever in a nonstrike season, never gives up — even when down 10-0 at halftime.
The Titans turned in their latest comeback Thursday night, beating the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in a game where the left half of their offensive line was sidelined.
Rookie Dillon Radunz became the 52nd different starter when left tackle Taylor Lewan was scratched with a back injury and Kendall Lamm tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning. Radunz played every snap of his first career start in prime time, and was part of a makeshift line that gave Ryan Tannehill the time to rally the Titans and post his 13th game-winning drive since arriving in Nashville.
Tennessee is 7-1 against 2020 playoff teams. Better yet, the Titans are 6-2 against teams currently in the upcoming playoff field.
Coach Mike Vrabel certainly hopes Thursday’s victory can be pivotal beyond just clinching a fourth playoff berth in five seasons for this franchise. And playing good football is a must this time of year.
“I think this certainly can help us in the nature in which we won it, the grittiness in which it was won with,” Vrabel said Friday. “Hopefully we can do some of those things and continue to carry that over into the next week.”
A.J. Brown, the 2020 Pro Bowler, turned in one of the best games of his young career hours after coming off injured reserve for a chest injury. He caught a career-high 11 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Better yet, he was responsible for 69.4 percent of the Titans’ receiving yards — most by any NFL player in a game this season with a minimum of 200 total team yards.
The Titans and Brown were at their best on third down: Eight of his catches came on third down, the most by any NFL player since at least 1978.
“I have so much fun throwing the ball to him,” Tannehill said. “He finds a way to get open. He is big, he is physical, he’s good with the ball in his hands and he makes plays on the ball. He is everything you look for in a wide receiver, and I have a ton of confidence throwing him the football.”
But despite Brown’s big night and Radunz’s serviceable start, the offense will need to clean up some things as Tennessee looks toward the playoffs. Even with keeping a tight end in to help protect Tannehill, the Titans gave up four more sacks. Tannehill has been sacked a league-high 45 times, just one ahead of Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow.