2-pointer no good — L.A. wins 4th in row
LONDON — The Chargers’ Adrian Phillips believes the Titans made the right decision to go for a potential go-ahead two-pointer with 31 seconds remaining — and not just because it failed.
Phillips broke up Marcus Mariota’s pass attempt, the Titans’ second after a defensive penalty on the first attempt, and the Chargers pulled out a 20-19 victory Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Chargers (5-2), who weathered the absence of running back Melvin Gordon to a hamstring injury and relied upon their defense to pull out the win.
“It was a great decision,” Phillips said. “That’s the game right there. If I’m the head coach, I go for it, too. You have the momentum. You just (went) 70 yards. You’ve got one of the biggest running backs in the game, one of the best running quarterbacks in the game and one of the best third-down running backs in the game — and a receiver corps that had been doing good all game — so why not?”
The Titans (3-4) drove 89 yards over the final 4:55 before Mariota’s 1-yard pass to tight end Luke Stocker cut their deficit to one point.
Mariota, who went 24-for-32 for 237 yards with an interception, thought he had scored the touchdown himself.
With 40 seconds left, he ran 3 yards on a draw and stretched for the end zone, but the replay showed that he was down inches shy of the goal line.
After Stocker scored, Mariota’s first attempt was a pass intended for Tajae Sharp, an incompletion negated by a defensive-holding call on Casey Hayward, and his second, toward Taywan Taylor, was tipped by Phillips.
“I loved the call,” Mariota said. “I love that he has confidence in us to go make that. We just didn’t execute.”
Gordon entered the game third in the NFL in rushing with 466 yards and had scored a total of nine touchdowns this season, but was ruled out after an unsuccessful pregame workout.
Austin Ekeler, in his second season, earned his first start in Gordon’s place and ran for 42 yards on 12 carries, but quarterback Philip Rivers shouldered the burden for the Chargers.
Rivers, who completed 19 of 26 passes for 306 yards, threw two touchdown passes — one that went 75 yards to Tyrell Williams on Los Angeles’ first play from scrimmage, and one that traveled 55 yards to Mike Williams to cap the first drive of the second half.
The Titans trailed 10-6 at halftime after two field goals by Ryan Succop.
After Mike Williams scored, the Titans ended their 10-quarter skid without a touchdown when Derrick Henry ran 1 yard into the end zone with 9:43 left in the third quarter to trim the margin to 17-13.
Michael Badgley made his second of two field goals, Succop missed from 51 yards and after holding Los Angeles, the Titans prepared their final charge.