Steelers slip past turnover-prone Titans
Joe Haden spent a month watching the Pittsburgh Steelers defense flail without him.
The veteran defensive back’s return provided a spark. And all his off-season lifting provided the difference.
Haden stuffed Tennessee wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine inches short of a first down at the Pittsburgh 10 in the final seconds, sealing a 19-13 victory that resuscitated — for the time being anyway — the Steelers’ playoff hopes.
Facing fourth-and-7 at the Pittsburgh 16, Ryan Tannehill found Westbrook-Ikhine at the 10. Haden, who missed four games with a sprained foot, closed immediately and shoved Westbrook-Ihkine backward. When the official measurement confirmed what Haden already knew — that the game was over — Pittsburgh’s defense celebrated a win that marked another abrupt momentum shift in their topsy-turvy season.
“He’s Joe Money,” Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt said. “He’s just a vet. He makes a lot of those really smart, veteran plays.”
Pittsburgh (7-6-1) needed every one of them on an afternoon in which the offense managed all of 168 yards. It ultimately didn’t matter.
The defense forced four turnovers — three on consecutive Tennessee possessions in the second half — just 10 days after getting mauled in a loss to Minnesota. Chris Boswell drilled four field goals and Ben Roethlisberger’s first rushing touchdown in three years gave the Steelers their second win over a division leader in three weeks.
“When you’ve got teams like this and environments like this, every game is a playoff,” Roethlisberger said. “It had the feel of a playoff game, physically, emotionally.”
If not optically.
The Titans couldn’t hold onto the ball. The Steelers couldn’t move it. The result was three hours of push-pull in which Tennessee kept flirting with taking full command only to hand momentum right back to Pittsburgh with careless turnover after careless turnover.
“We have to hold the ball in much more regard,” Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel said. “We obviously can’t do that and think you’re going to win.”
The Titans ran for 202 yards, including 108 by D’Onta Foreman, controlled possession for more than 39 minutes and converted eight of 18 third downs. Yet Tannehill struggled to find any rhythm in the passing game. He needed 23 completions to throw for 153 yards and was sacked four times, including 1½ by T.J. Watt, whose 17½ sacks on the season is a franchise record.
Lions 30, Cardinals 12: Kyler Murray’s shaky performance against the team with the worst record in the NFL led to Arizona’s first road loss of the season.
The Cardinals started the day tied for the NFL’s best record, but were coming off a loss to the Rams.
The Lions were mired at the bottom of the league standings before the first snap.
Arizona missed its chance to get in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 with a win over a team it was favored to beat by nearly two touchdowns. The Cardinals can still earn a postseason berth during Week 15, but they’ll need some other playoff contenders to lose.
And in any scenario, Murray will have to play better. The third-year quarterback was 23 of 41 for 257 yards with a touchdown and an interception, adding up to a 72.9 passer rating. Murray couldn’t get away from the scrappy Lions when he tried to run, and finished with 3 yards rushing on four carries.
Texans 30, Jaguars 16: Tremon Smith returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, ending the longest drought in the NFL, and then Texans beat woeful Jacksonville to end a three-game skid and extend their dominance in the series.
Smith somehow escaped five defenders near the 30-yard line — Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins broke his right ankle trying to make the tackle — before coasting the rest of the way. It was Houston’s first kickoff return for a score since Oct. 4, 2009. Every other NFL team had enjoyed at least one since.
Rookie quarterback Davis Mills won for the first time in eight starts. He connected with Brandin Cooks twice for touchdowns, once early and again late. The second one was a 43-yarder that sealed yet another Houston victory against Jacksonville.
The Texans won their eighth straight against the Jaguars, sweeping their rivals for the ninth time in the last 11 years.
49ers 31, Falcons 13: Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 235 yards and a TD, San Francisco ran for three more scores and the 49ers won for the fifth time in six games, beating the Atlanta Falcons 31-13 on Sunday.
The Niners scored touchdowns on four straight drives to make easy work of the Falcons to remain in wild-card position as the sixth-place team in the NFC.
Atlanta got stopped at the goal line on its first possession of the game and lost a fumble on a strip sack by Nick Bosa on the opening drive of the second half.
That helped the Niners take control as they took advantage of the good field position to drive 38 yards to take a 24-10 lead on Jeff Wilson Jr.’s 5-yard run.