Titans top Saints in overtime thriller, 34-28

Mike Mularkey begins his third head coaching gig with a victory, as the Tennessee Titans fell down early, tied it up, had a chance to take the lead late, almost lost the game even later, and then scored a touchdown in overtime for a 34-28 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

The game started mostly inauspiciously. It took Tennessee’s new-look offense until their fourth drive to get a first down of their own. On the other side of the ball, Drew Brees was manhandling a Titans pass defense that was missing two of their top four cornerbacks and had another one whose injury seemed to be bothering him more than expected. The first three times the Saints had the ball they ended in the end zone.

Tennessee trailed just 21-17 midway through the second quarter, though. A Saints punt muff gave them 3 points even when the offense didn’t do anything. Marcus Mariota enjoyed the benefits of clean living, as a back-footed throw that could have been intercepted by two Saints defensive backs bounced off them and instead fell to Delanie Walker, who raced 61 yards for a score. And the offense started clicking, as Antonio Andrews, who saw the majority of the snaps at running back (no formal count during the game for me, but I’d bet on it) had a 23-yard reception and a 38-yard run (final line 19-88), another pass deflected by a Saints defender went to Delanie Walker, and then Mariota found Walker for a score. A Dexter McCluster fumble in the red zone meant a solid performance in the two minute drill went for naught, but after 21 points in three possessions, 21-17 at the half felt pretty good.

The defense got another stop, this on a third-and-1 run, to start the second half, and Ryan Succop’s second kick made it 21-20. New Orleans moved the ball the next drive, but Drew Brees eschewed field goal range for a go route to running back Mark Ingram against new-to-the-53 corner B.W. Webb, and the ball ended up in Webb’s hands in the end zone. New Orleans would find paydirt the next drive, thanks in part to three personal fouls against the Titans in one sequence, a roughing the passer on a “it’s 2015, and like it or not, this is a penalty” call against Davis Bass to negate a sack that would’ve made it third-and-20 in field goal territory and a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct flags against an extremely unhappy Brian Orakpo. With the run game starting to struggle, Marcus Mariota bailed the Titans out. Three Harry Douglas receptions (really!), Justin Hunter from 8 yards out made it 28-26, and after Delanie Walker again, it was 28-all with just over 7 minutes to play.

Both teams had field goal attempts that would have broken the deadlock late. The Titans moved the ball through the air from their 11 to the New Orleans 32. There ensued four consecutive run plays, one negated by a hold against Phillip Supernaw, and Ryan Succop’s 55-yard attempt hit the crossbar. The Saints were just 25 yards from good field goal range, but Coty Sensabaugh came around the edge to deflect Kai Forbath’s try from 46 and leave it short of the goalposts. After a couple more plays, we were in overtime.

The Titans won the toss, which meant they could finish the game with a touchdown. They got it. A slant to Dorial Green-Beckham for 14 started the drive. Antonio Andrews found some room for the first time since it was 21-17 and got 15. A Saints defender tried to jump a short pass for Craig Stevens, but whiffed and the veteran tight end got up after falling down and rumbled 18 more yards to the Saints 24. A slant to Dorial Green-Beckham, who beat the oft-penalized Brandon Browner, converted third down. Two plays later, Mariota rolled right, got the defense rolling right, and then Anthony Fasano leaked out left from his blocking position and was all alone. Mariota saw him, got it in the area, Fasano came down with it, and that was that.

Notes and whatnot:

• Drew Brees: 28-39, 389 passing yards, 4 total touchdowns, 1 interception. Marcus Mariota: 28-39, 371 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
• New Orleans was 32nd in defensive DVOA, including passing defense DVOA. Tennessee was 5th. Those numbers aren’t quite as similar as they look, but Mariota got to play with the Tennessee defense and Brees had to play with the New Orleans defense.
• Tight ends, tight ends, and more tight ends. The Titans ran two plays of 11 (three receivers) personnel in the first half before the two-minute drill. They ended the game with just 14, compared to 31 plays of 12 personnel (two tight ends), 10 plays of 13 personnel (three tight ends), and 9 of 21 (fullback). All those numbers are unofficial, by me while watching (and pausing), and I don’t guarantee they’re precisely accurate, but they give you an idea.
• Marcus Mariota: 0 sacks and just 2 quarterback hits, one of which was kind of weak and late and drew a roughing the passer penalty. After last week, or his last game against Miami, that was a very pleasant change.
• Delanie Walker: 7 catches, 95 yards, 2 touchdowns. See my pregame post re the Saints ranking 32nd in DVOA against tight ends. Yes, three of his catches were deflected, but they still count.
• Dorial Green-Beckham: 10 targets, 5 catches, 77 yards. The full package, from the inexperience to the potential, was on display this game.
• Brett Kern averaged 50.6 yards per punt. The Saints’ best starting field position of the game was their own 45, after the missed field goal.
• Brian Orakpo had 2 sacks, including one on the New Orleans possession before the field goal attempt; without that, they might convert for more yardage or the kick might have been good even with the deflection. He also had a good tackle in space in C.J. Spiller to force a punt with the Saints on the edge of field goal range.
• Angelo Blackson had a sack in the next to last Saints possession that put them in third-and-very long.
• Mike Mularkey could have cost the Titans the game. He sent Succop out from 51 yards on fourth-and-1 with the Saints up 7-0. I hate that call. He went run-happy when the Titans were having no success running before Succop’s 55-yard attempt. I hated that. He sent Succop out from 55 yards, knowing the Saints would have 2 minutes to tie or take the lead and would be at the 45 under no time pressure if he missed. I did not like that either. I asked for Mularkey to be intelligently aggressive; I would characterize all three of those calls as stupidly conservative. But Sensabaugh got his hand on Forbath’s kick and Mariota found Fasano, so this is in the notes section instead of the first paragraph. I won’t even go into the “are we trying or are we not trying” drive after Forbath’s kick was no good.
• I don’t think Perrish Cox played after halftime with the hamstring injury.
• B.W. Webb had 5 tackles in about two quarters of work, which might saw Drew Brees was looking in his direction often. I’ll have a better handle on that after watching the all-22.
• For the first time in weeks, maybe since the Colts game, or maybe since Week 1, the Tennessee Titans were mostly highly enjoyable to watch. The result and ending intensified that feeling, but I was more into this game than I was any of the others this season. I missed that feeling.

Snap report Monday, during the week maybe a midseason-type post or maybe something about the defense, the schemes, the personnel groupings, the protection… a lot that could be said about an eventful game.