Titans Grind Out OT Win: "Needed This Bad Man," Brian Callahan Says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans are good enough to beat another bad team – just barely.

But a team that showed little resiliency before Week 9 rode the rollercoaster, feeding the Patriots with penalties, passing on two manageable fourth-down chances for touchdowns instead of field goals and allowing their guests to move 50 yards in the final 105 seconds for a touchdown that forced overtime.

Arden Key and Jeffery Simmons
Arden Key prepares to strip Drake Maye with Jeffery Simmons poised to recover/ Angie Flatt

The Titans get credit, however, for consistently finding their balance and grinding it out, dominating overtime and collecting win No. 2 in a miserable season, 20-17 in extra time.

“I feel like this is the win that we needed,” said Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, who caught a touchdown pass for the fourth game in a row. “To come back from being down a little bit during the game, coming back, taking the lead, it doesn’t

go our way, we feel like we have the game in our hands, should have won it, didn’t happen, didn’t matter. And I feel like that was huge for us, to have a game like that fight through it and then just show that resiliency.”

As he turned to face reporters, a smiling Jeffery Simmons said, “Man I’m happy I’m not going to have to say the same shit to y’all today.”

It was a messy game, with the Titans allowing 44- and 25-yard yard punt return a week after a return-game fiasco and the Patriots’ Bruce Baringer shanking a punt of 15 yards (with another getting a favorable bounce for him). Calvin Ridley grabbed a couple of important passes but dropped two others. The Titans committed 10 penalties for 67 yards, with three of them converting crucial downs on a Patriots’ touchdown drive that opened the third quarter:

  • Arden Key with an illegal hands to the face on third-and-15
  • Jarvis Brownlee with a defensive holding on second-and-16
  • Roger McCreary with a facemask on third-and-6, from the Titans’ 6 

And the defense could have ended it all with a stop in that last 1:45. After Marcus Jones’ 25-yard punt return put the Pats at midfield with 1:45 left and no timeouts, the defense let them move to the 5-yard line with 4 seconds left. Drake Maye ran around and ran around and ultimately found Rhamondre Stevenson with a scoring throw, and with the extra point the Titans were back at even with zeros on the clock.

Then they showed an identity, turning to the guy who’s been their best offensive player and the guy who should be right there with him.

Tony Pollard accounted for 36 yards on seven carries and Ridley corralled to throws for 30. 

The Titans were milking clock and tired New England burned both of its timeouts. A touchdown would have won it but they had to settle for a 25-yarder from Nick Folk, his second field goal.

The Patriots needed a field goal to tie or a TD to win and had just 2:32. Amani Hooker ended it on the third play, picking off Maye for the second time and the Titans' third takeaway and letting the defense seal up a win.

Pollard finished with 28 carries for 128 yards with the Titans finishing at 39 for 167.

“He’s amazing,” JC Latham said, going on to laud Pollard’s work without the ball, which we will get into another time. “…With the ball in his hands he can do a lot of magical things.”

“He’s a hell of a back,” Peter Skoronski said. “Finally he’s got the stats to show it. We weren’t in pass situations the whole second half, which we have been, so he deserved that. Great back and he kind of carries us to victory.”

The Titans will quickly go back into work mode. But the locker room was, for a change, a light, fun place, filled with smiles, relief and reassurance.

Media and fans had gotten to a point where they wondered if the Titans might not win again, even with the Patriots, two games against the Jaguars and a rematch with the mystifying Colts on the schedule.

“This time was different, because I didn’t see no wavering,” Arden Key said of the defensive stand to finish it. “It was like, ‘OK, we’ve got it, let’s get off the field, let’s get a win.’…It feels good to get a win, it feels good to come in here, party, dance, turn up. We haven’t done that in a long time here.”

Brian Callahan’s voice cracked early in his press conference. 

“I mean, look at me,” he said. “I needed it bad man. It was a -- yeah, we needed it.”

Cron Job Starts