Derrick Henry runs and passes for TD as Titans send Packers deeper into trouble
Ryan Tannehill threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns to outduel Aaron Rodgers as the Tennessee Titans beat the Green Bay Packers 27-17 on Thursday night.
Tannehill looked much sharper in his second game back after missing two games with an injured ankle. He went 22 of 27 and had one interception as the Titans (7-3) won for the seventh time in eight games. Green Bay (4-7) have lost six of seven.
Rodgers went 24 of 39 for 227 yards with two touchdown passes to rookie Christian Watson, a 14yarder to close the first quarter and an eight-yarder in the third quarter. That followed Watson’s three-touchdown performance in a 31-28 overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Watson became the first Packers rookie since Max McGee in 1954 to have multiple touchdown catches in consecutive games.
The Packers limited Tennessee’s Derrick Henry to 87 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries – a 3.1-yard average – but the Titans still posted season highs in points and yards (408) thanks to a strong passing game. Henry even got into the act by throwing a three-yard jump pass to Austin Hooper for a touchdown. Treylon Burks, the Titans’ rookie first-round pick, had the best game of his young career with seven catches for 111 yards.
Tennessee led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter and then dominated the second, running 27 plays to the Packers’ six and outgaining Green Bay 91 yards to 17.
Tennessee started the quarter with a drive that lasted over 10 minutes but didn’t result in any points because Quay Walker stuffed Henry for a two-yard loss on fourth-and-one. Tennessee had the ball for 18 plays, the Titans’ longest scoreless drive since at least 2000.
But the Titans forced a punt, got the ball back on Green Bay’s 41 and extended their lead to 14-6 on Henry’s four-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds left in the half. That was the first of three straight touchdown drives for the Titans.
Henry’s rushing TD was his 10th of the season, the fifth straight season he’s reached that mark. The only other players to have at least 10 touchdown runs in five straight seasons are LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Shaun Alexander and Michael Turner.
Watson’s second touchdown of the night helped Green Bay narrow Tennessee’s advantage to 20-17 late in the third quarter, but the Packers’ offense did nothing the rest of the game.
The Titans extended the lead and scored their first fourth-quarter touchdown of the season when Hooper opened the period with his 16-yard catch from Tannehill. The play was originally ruled an incompletion but was overturned on replay.