New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Levis rallies Titans for 2 late TDs, win over Dolphins
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Will Levis knew he couldn’t get too caught up on his mistake. The Tennessee Titans’ rookie made a bad pitch to running back Derrick Henry in the fourth quarter against the Miami Dolphins, resulting in a fumble that eventually allowed Miami to take a 14point lead.
But Levis put the play behind him and directed two touchdown drives in the final 4 minutes, and Tennessee rallied to stun Miami 28-27 on Monday night, knocking the Dolphins out of the top spot in the AFC.
“That was a nightmare,” Levis said of the turnover. “No one wanted to look at me. No one wanted to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk to anybody after that. I just wanted to move on — be ready to attack that next two-minute drive that I knew we’d be able to get.”
The Titans (5-8) held Tua Tagovailoa and Miami’s explosive offense in check for most of the game but still fell behind by two touchdowns in the fourth thanks to critical mistakes that gave short fields to the Dolphins (9-4). Raheem Mostert ran for TDs of 3 yards and 5 yards to put Miami ahead 27-13.
Levis, a second-round draft pick making his sixth career start, led a nine-play, 75-yard drive that took 1:54, capping it with a 3-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins and a 2-point conversion throw to Nick WestbrookIkhine.
The Titans got a stop and Levis hit Hopkins for 28 yards and Chigoziem Okonkwo for 16 yards to get into scoring position.
Derrick Henry scored on a 3-yard rush and the extra point gave the Titans a one-point lead.
Levis ripped off his helmet, screamed for joy and embraced coach Mike Vrabel on the sideline.
The Dolphins took over with no timeouts left and got to their own 45, but Harold Landry III sacked Tagovailoa to put the game away. Miami lost at home for the first time this season, and its threegame winning streak was snapped. Baltimore now has a one-game lead for the best record in the conference.
It was the first win by a team down 14 with under three minutes left since 2016.
“Everybody thought this was going to be another Miami-Broncos 70 points put on us,” said Titans linebcker Arden Key. “But we don’t care about the outside noise.”
Miami played much the game without star receiver Tyreek Hill, who sat out the second quarter and majority of the third after injuring his ankle in the first quarter. He returned and caught passes of 23 and 25 yards to set up Jason Sanders’ 31-yard field goal that tied it at 13 at the beginning of the
fourth. Hill, who leads the NFL in receiving yards, was in and out of the game from there and finished with 61 yards.
Tagovailoa was 23 of 33 for 240 yards and had his streak of 21 consecutive games with a touchdown pass snapped.
Levis went 23 of 38 with a touchdown pass and an interception. Hopkins had seven catches for 124 yards, and Henry ran for two scores.
A grind-it-out game took a wild turn in the fourth quarter, beginning when Tennessee’s Eric Garror tried to field a bouncing punt with the game tied at 13-all with 6:16 remaining. The ball caromed off his hands and Elijah Campbell recovered for the Dolphins at the 7.
Mostert punched it in, then scored again after the Titans fumbled on their next possession on a botched pitch by Levis to Henry. Mostert leads the NFL with 16 touchdowns rushing.
Henry, who finished with 34 yards, moved to 15th in NFL history in rushing yards when he scored his 87th career rushing TD in the first quarter that tied the game at 7 going into the half.