Nashville, TN – With 6:10 left to play, the Tennessee Titans (5-6) found themselves behind 19-16 to the Oakland Raiders (4-7) with the ball at the Tennessee 20. Titans’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick took the team down to the Oakland 10 yard line with time winding down.
With 10 seconds left, Fitzpatrick hits Kendall Wright for a 10 yard touchdown pass to secure a 23-19 win over the Raiders. The win also put the Titans at the top of the list for the last AFC Wildcard berth with five weeks left to play.
“I thought ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) did a great job. I think all day long he made a lot of really good decisions,” said Titans head coach Mike Munchak. “On that drive again, he had a lot of great throws. He ran a couple of times. Finding (Justin) Hunter, finding Kendall (Wright), this guy is making plays.”“That’s what it’s all about in this league, so great. Again, we didn’t want to settle for a field goal. We were trying to be aggressive. We wanted to try to find a way to get the seven right there, and obviously we did,” stated Munchak.
In the first half, both teams were able to move the ball but unable to punch it into the endzone, settling instead for field goals. At the end of the half, the score was 9-6 in favor of the Raiders.
The Titans came out and scored a touchdown on the first drive of the second half. Fitzpatrick connected with Justin Hunter on a 17 yard pass who then juked defenders and took it to the house for a 54 yard TD.
In the fourth quarter, Raiders’ quarterback Matt McGloin took Oakland down the field and capped the drive with a 27 yard touchdown pass to Marcel Reece. The score put the Raiders up 19-16 with 6:10 remaining.
“Yeah, I thought Matt played well. And for him to lead us back when we needed a touchdown, he got us the touchdown we needed to give us the lead; we just couldn’t hold it defensively. So yeah, I thought Matt played well,” stated Raiders head coach Dennis Allen.
The Titans netted 426 yards against Oakland, reaching the 400-yard total for the second time this season (September 22nd against San Diego). Tennessee also possessed the ball for a total of 35:48. It was their highest time of possession of the season.
The Titans had two receivers go over the 100 yard mark. Kendall Wright had 103 yards on 6 receptions and a touchdown. Justin Hunter caught 6 balls for 109 yards and a touchdown. It was also Hunter’s first career 100-yard game.
Matt McGloin was 19 of 32 for 260 yards, a touchdown and one interception for Oakland. Rashad Jennings ran for 73 yards on 16 tries. Jennings also grabbed 4 balls for 49 yards.
Rod Streater led the Raiders with 93 yards on 5 catches. Marcel Reece had 3 receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown.
When asked whether this was a season-saving win, Munchak said “Definitely, and we knew going in that, in our world, it’s a playoff game. We couldn’t fall to 4-and-7. I’m sure they felt the same way, so yeah that was a huge drive when we were sloppy throughout the game with penalties and things like that. We blew some opportunities that could of made this game different, we think anyway. I’m sure they feel the same way. But again when we had to, it’s nice to see that this time we finished and came up with a big win.”
With the win, the Titans find themselves in a six-way tie for the sixth and final playoff spot in the AFC. If the season ended today, Tennessee would get the last wildcard spot due to conference record and division tie breaks.
AFC Playoff Picture
- Denver Broncos 9-1 (AFC West Leader)
- New England Patriots 7-3 (AFC East Leader)
- Indianapolis Colts 7-4 (AFC South Leader, better conference record than Bengals)
- Cincinnati Bengals 7-4 (AFC North Leader)
- Kansas City Chiefs 9-2 (Wild Card)
- Tennessee Titans 5-6 (Wild Card, conference record and divisional tie-breakers)
Also in the Picture: Pittsburgh Steelers 5-6, Baltimore Ravens 5-6, New York Jets 5-6, San Diego Chargers 5-6 and the Miami Dolphins 5-6.
The Tennessee Titans are on the road Sunday, December 1st to take on division rival Indianapolis Colts. Kickoff is at 12:00pm CT.
Box Score
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Tennessee Titans | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 23 |
Oakland Raiders | 3 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 19 |
Tennessee Titans (5-6-0) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Passing | CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT |
R. Fitzpatrick | 30/42 | 320 | 2 | 0 |
Rushing | ATT | YDS | TD | LG |
C. Johnson | 20 | 73 | 0 | 12 |
R. Fitzpatrick | 5 | 26 | 0 | 10 |
S. Greene | 4 | 15 | 0 | 6 |
Receiving | REC | YDS | TD | LG |
J. Hunter | 6 | 109 | 1 | 54T |
K. Wright | 6 | 103 | 1 | 31 |
D. Walker | 5 | 46 | 0 | 14 |
N. Washington | 5 | 45 | 0 | 16 |
C. Johnson | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
C. Mooney | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 |
T. Thompson | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
C. Stevens | 1 | -1 | 0 | -1 |
Fumbles | FUM | LOST | REC | YDS |
R. Fitzpatrick | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
D. Wylie | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
J. Casey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
D. Stafford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
B. Wreh-Wilson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking | FG | LG | XP | PTS |
R. Bironas | 3/3 | 33 | 2/2 | 11 |
Punting | NO | AVG | I20 | LG |
B. Kern | 4 | 29.0 | 1 | 49 |
Kickoff Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
D. Wylie | 2 | 15 | 0 | 20 |
Punt Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
D. Wylie | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Oakland Raiders (4-7-0) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Passing | CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT |
M. McGloin | 19/32 | 260 | 1 | 1 |
Rushing | ATT | YDS | TD | LG |
R. Jennings | 16 | 73 | 0 | 15 |
M. Reece | 5 | 14 | 0 | 5 |
M. McGloin | 2 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
Receiving | REC | YDS | TD | LG |
R. Streater | 5 | 93 | 0 | 23 |
R. Jennings | 4 | 49 | 0 | 21 |
M. Reece | 4 | 44 | 1 | 27T |
A. Holmes | 2 | 32 | 0 | 16 |
J. Olawale | 2 | 27 | 0 | 25 |
M. Rivera | 1 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
J. Mastrud | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Fumbles | FUM | LOST | REC | YDS |
J. Ford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
R. Streater | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
B. Butler | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
N. Roach | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking | FG | LG | XP | PTS |
S. Janikowski | 4/6 | 52 | 1/1 | 13 |
Punting | NO | AVG | I20 | LG |
M. King | 2 | 47.5 | 0 | 54 |
Kickoff Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
T. Jones | 3 | 26 | 0 | 31 |
J. Stewart | 2 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
Punt Returns | NO | AVG | TD | LG |
J. Ford | 2 | 9 | 0 | 12 |