Turnovers help Titans win a wild one over the Colts in overtime
INDIANAPOLIS
Tennessee safety Kevin Byard promised to do everything he could to redeem himself after a late pass interference call in the end zone Sunday.
The veteran delivered on the third series of overtime.
Byard picked off Carson Wentz in Colts territory, setting up Randy Bullock for a 44-yard field goal and capping a frantic final 7 1⁄2 minutes with a critical 34-31 victory at Indianapolis.
“I was actually on the sideline preparing my speech if the game would have gone the other way,” he said. “We’re resilient. We’re going to keep swinging, and I was able to make a play at the end and I’m just happy we won the game.”
Byard thought he blew it when he was called for a 42-yard penalty that allowed the Colts to tie the score with 22 seconds left in regulation. Turns out, everyone forgot just a few minutes later when he came up with a gameturning interception that may prove to be the biggest play all season for the Titans (6-2).
Tennessee has won four straight overall, three straight in the series and now has a commanding lead over the Colts (3-5) in the AFC South courtesy of the third season sweep in this series in franchise history for Tennessee.
Those two plays typified a day when the teams combined for five turnovers, a plethora of hard hits and wild swings, two touchdowns in the final 86 seconds of regulation, and 20 penalties.
“They need to blow the whistle. It’s a player safety issue. Jeff [Simmons] is coached and has been taught to run to the football until the whistle, and there were far too many guys on that tackle not to blow the whistle sooner,” coach Mike Vrabel said, referring to one defensive penalty before turning his attention to a replay challenge. “I think it’s mind boggling I have to challenge a catch that A.J. Brown makes in the middle of the field. There’s seven officials and there’s a replay official and I have to pull the flag out and throw it at that point in time?”
But on the first play, quarterback Carson Wentz was flushed from the pocket and tried to flick the ball away left-handed from the end zone. Instead, rookie Elijah Molden snatched the fluttering ball out of midair and scored on a 2-yard interception return for a 31-24 lead — the first picksix for Tennessee in 38 games.
“Terrible play, terrible play,” Wentz said. “I was about to go down and was thinking just throw it, don’t force it. That one
I’m so mad at myself for, I’m beating myself up.”
Wentz shook it off quickly, though.
On the ensuing series, he found Michael Pittman Jr. for 38 yards on third down to get the ball across midfield. Then Byard was called for the penalty and Jonathan Taylor walked in for the tying 1-yard score. Byard didn’t fret long. When Wentz tried to throw a pass across his body on the third overtime series, Byard sprinted in front of Pittman, made the play on the ball and took it to the Colts 32. Four plays later, the game ended.
“I’ve been in a lot of wild games, but this is definitely a memorable one,” Byard said.