Replays on goal-line stand go Titans’ way
The Tennessee Titans came up with an amazing goal-line stand stopping the Los Angeles Chargers in Nashville, Tenn.
Not once, twice but thrice.
Each time, they needed the replay official to overturn the call on the field turning what the Chargers thought were a pair of goahead touchdowns and a final ruling that gave the ball — and the game — to the Titans.
Jurrell Casey recovered a fumble by Melvin Gordon at the goal line with 15 seconds left, and Tennessee pulled out a 23-20 victory Sunday over the Chargers after a frantic final minute.
Gordon initially was ruled down shy of the goal line at the 1. Casey came out of the pile with the ball, and the Titans started celebrating. The play was reviewed and overturned the on-field ruling that Gordon was short of the goal line.
The call was a fumble forced by Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard that was recovered by Casey for a touchback. Ryan Tannehill knelt down to run out the clock as the Titans (3-4) snapped a two-game skid.
“Once I felt the ball come out, I’m like ‘I got to recover it. I got to recover it,’ ” Casey said. “And shoot. Sure enough the ball sat in my hands. Kind of popped out for a quick second, and I thought I was about to lose it. Kind of panicked for a moment. If I let them recover it, that’s a TD.”
The Chargers thought they had scored the goahead touchdown not once but twice in the final 44 seconds only to lose both on review by the replay official. That official also overturned Gordon being stopped on the Chargers’ final play.
“You don’t get 1 yard, you don’t deserve to win the damn game, and that’s the way it is,” Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said. “We had 1 yard to win this game, and we let it slip out of our hands.”
First, Philip Rivers’ pass that Austin Ekeler took 16 yards was ruled a touchdown only to be reversed by the replay official for not breaking the plane as he was tackled by Kenny Vaccaro and Logan Ryan at the 1.
Gordon went over right tackle with 34 seconds left for what officials ruled a 1-yard TD, and the replay official then reversed the call for the second time in what became a run for no gain. COLTS 30, TEXANS 23 >> Jacoby Brissett threw a career-high four touchdown passes and host Indianapolis sealed a victory over Houston with Darius Leonard’s late interception. Indy has won three straight in the series and took over the early-season lead in the AFC South. Brissett was 26 of 39 for 326 yards, and in a game the Colts only produced 62 yards rushing, they needed Brissett to be at his best — and he was. VIKINGS 42, LIONS 30 >> Kirk Cousins matched a career high with four TD passes, leading surging Minnesota over slumping Detroit. The Vikings have won three consecutive games in part because their quarterback is making plays to complement one of the NFL’s top defenses. Matthew Stafford also threw four TD passes, all to Marvin Jones, and became the fastest to reach 40,000 yards passing in NFL history.
RAMS 37, FALCONS 10 >> Jared Goff threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and visiting Los Angeles returned to the site of last season’s Super Bowl loss to beat Atlanta. The Rams snapped a three-game losing streak in the debut of cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The Falcons suffered their fifth straight loss and had quarterback Matt Ryan leave the game with an ankle injury. Ryan’s right leg bent awkwardly as he was sacked by Aaron Donald and fumbled early in the fourth quarter. Ryan walked to the locker room, still favoring the ankle, with 7:36 remaining in the game. CARDINALS 27, GIANTS 21 >> Chase Edmonds rushed for career highs of 126 yards and three touchdowns, overshadowing the return of New York star running back Saquon Barkley, in Arizona’s road victory. The game was billed as a matchup of rookie quarterbacks Kyler Murray of the Cardinals and Daniel Jones of the Giants, and both gave glimpses why they were the first and sixth overall choices in the draft, respectively. But, Edmonds stole the show, scoring on runs of 20, 20 and 22 yards. BILLS 31, DOLPHINS 21 >> Tre’Davious White forced two second-half turnovers, Micah Hyde returned an onside kick for a touchdown, and Buffalo rallied to beat winless Miami. JAGUARS 27, BENGALS 17 >> Gardner Minshew led a fourth-quarter TD drive that put Jacksonville ahead to stay, and Yannick Ngakoue returned an interception 23 yards to clinch a win over winless Cincinnati. The Jaguars managed only field goals by still-perfect Josh Lambo until their rookie quarterback and their depleted defense made gameturning plays at the end. COWBOYS 37, EAGLES 10 >> Ezekiel Elliott and Dallas are back in control of the NFC East after beating visiting Philadelphia. Elliott ran over safety Malcolm Jenkins on his way to 111 yards and a touchdown, Dak Prescott threw an easy scoring pass on a great fake to his star running back before a TD run and the Cowboys ended a three-game losing streak.