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Titans Win In Dramatic Fashion Once Again
By Evan Dennison December 10, 2006

The Titans started the day in Reliant Stadium down in Houston with some what of a shaky start but ended it off with a bang.

The Texans tied the game up at 20 with 2:09 left to go in the fourth quarter. The Titans could not get in field goal position in the final two minutes and the game went into overtime.

Tennessee won the coin toss in overtime and used a 36 yard kickoff return by Pacman Jones to get the ball to their own 43 yard line.

“We got a contribution from everybody today, Chris Brown, Pac in the return game, Drew, they all hung in there and trusted that we were going to find a way to win,” Fisher said.

After a defensive holding penalty and a couple of Chris Brown runs, the Titans were then faced with a third and fourteen at the Houston 39 setback by a holding penalty.

“We wanted to pick up eight to ten, kick the field goal and go home,” Fisher said.

On the third down, Vince Young was in the shotgun and could not find anybody open in the pocket, he slipped through the middle of the pocket and scampered 39 yards to the Texans endzone to win the game 26-20.

“Once again, seems like the last month every Sunday afternoon I stand up here and say wow,” Fisher said.

In Young's first game down in Houston as a pro, he went 19-of-29 passing for 218 yards. He had seven carries for 86 yards with the game winning rushing touchdown. That's an average of 12.1 yards per rush, his quarterback rating was 73.6.

“He kept a couple of drives alive with his legs, I guess it’s only fitting he would win an overtime game here like that.”

Before the dramatics, the Titans started the day off with a rough beginning.

A dropped Drew Bennett pass and a Ahmard Hall fumble stalled the Titans first two posessions.

The Texans had no answer on offense in the first quarter as they picked up just two first downs. The Texans had just 52 total yards in the first quarter.

The Titans used a 41 yard Rob Bironas field goal on a ten play 46 yard drive with 3:06 left in the quarter to take the lead 3-0. Key play in the drive was on a third and two where the Titans tried to run an apparent flea-flicker play. The play was broken by the Texans defensive line and quarterback Vince Young took the pitch from Travis Henry and created his own play with a 24 yard run to the Texans 27.

Tennessee added another Bironas field goal from 33 yards out in the second quarter to take the lead 6-0. The drive went five plays for 66 yards.

The Texans responded with a one yard Ron Dayne touchdown run to make the score 7-6. Dayne converted a key fourth and one at the Titans 45 yard line to extend the drive. The score remained that way at the half.

The Texans opened up the second half with a ten play 73 yard drive that resulted in a two yard Ron Dayne touchdown run to put the Texans up 14-6. Dayne had six carries for 35 yards on the drive.

The Titans answered offensively near the end of the third quarter with a nine yard Travis Henry touchdown run. They drove the ball 63 yards in five plays. Drew Bennett made up for his dropped pass in the first with a tough catch for 39 yards. The score at the end of three was 14-13 Texans.

Over the last two weeks against the Giants and Colts, the Titans outscored opponents in the fourth quarter 34-3.

The Texans took advantage of a Vince Young interception early in the fourth with a 49 yard Kris Brown field goal to make the score 17-13. Young slipped on the play and tried to force a pass to Drew Bennett. The pass was intercepted by Demarcus Faggins.

The Titans answered with a huge drive that totaled 15 plays for 88 yards capped off by a two yard Travis Henry touchdown run to make the score 20-17 with 3:53 left. There were several key third down conversions on the drive as the Titans went 3-for-3 on third downs.

Before that drive, the Titans were 1-of-8 on third downs.

Houston responded quickly to tie the score up at 20 with a 46 yard Kris Brown field goal with 2:09 left in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, Kris Brown kicked the ball short to alleviate a return, but the kick went out of bounds and the Titans got to start at their own 40 yard line.

The Titans could not take advantage of the field position and went three and out and had to punt with under a minute left. Craig Hentrich pinned Houston inside the 20 yard line for the fifth time on the day and Houston kneeled the ball down the next two downs.

They then went to overtime and the Titans took advantage of winning the coin toss.

"We found another way to do it, it was a great win for us," Fisher said. "That’s a good football team over there and we were very concerned going into this seeing the amount of improvement that they’ve had in the first time we played them.”

GAME NOTES

Wide receiver Drew Bennett had six receptions for 113 yards. It is his ninth career 100 yard receiving game and third this season.

Running back Travis Henry had 20 rushes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. He is now 63 yards away from 1,000 on the season.

Cornerback Pacman Jones had his first career sack in the first quarter. Jones returned four punts for 16 yards and had the big 36 yard kickoff return in overtime.

Running back Chris Brown had four carries for 44 yards filling in for the injured Lendale White.

Linebacker Keith Bulluck lead the team with 9 tackles. Linebacker Peter Sirmon and defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch had seven solo tackles.

Drew Bennett recorded his third 100-yard receiving game of the season and the ninth of his career.

Drew Bennett moved into 8th place on the Titans’ all-time receiving yardage list, passing Curtis Duncan.

Drew Bennett caught a season-long 39-yard pass from Vince Young in the third quarter, Young's longest completion as a pro.

Vince Young is now 58-for-89 passing his last three games, completing 65 percent of his passes.

The Titans are now 1-19 when losing the turnover battle spanning over the last three seasons.

The Titans averaged 6.6 yards per carry on the ground.