NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans rebounded from the franchise's worst offensive performance to rout the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 on Sunday.
The Titans (2-2) made a complete turn around after managing only 94 yards in their loss last week to Cleveland. After Cincinnati took an early 3-0 lead, the Titans rattled off 27 unanswered points and held a 24-3 lead at halftime, giving coach Mike Vrabel his first win in four tries against Cincinnati.
Ryan Tannehill, who threw for just 104 yards last week, completed 18 of 25 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown.
Derrick Henry would run for a 29-yard touchdown to push the Titans lead to 17-3, and he would also hit rookie tight end Josh Whyle for a 2-yard score on a jump pass from the wildcat with ten seconds left before halftime.
Henry, who also had terrible outing last week with just 20 yards rushing, finished with 122 yards on 22 carries. The Titans outgained Cincinnati 400-211 with 173 coming on the ground.
The Bengals had trouble protecting Burrow again, as Tennessee sacked him three times and stripped him of the ball. Burrow finished the game with just 165 yards passing.
“We’ve just got to be better,” Taylor said. "Play calls have got to be better. We’ve got to put ourselves in better positions, that starts with me. And, you know, when a number’s called, guys have got to step up and make some plays.”
Cincinnati won the coin toss and took the ball. Burrow and the offense moved down field with ease, as the All-Pro quarterback worked mostly out of the shotgun throwing lots of quick, short passes.
But the drive stalled out and the Bengals settled for a 21-yard field goal by Evan McPherson after having first-and-goal from the Titans 10.
Cincinnati's offensive woes could be summed up with a sequence of plays in the third quarter.
Titans linebacker Trevis Gipson stripped Burrow of the ball and safety Kevin Byard recovered. The defense went to the end zone and celebrated while officials switched and announced Tennessee recovered the ball and not the Bengals.
The Titans delivered the knock out punch to open the third quarter, with a 15-play drive that ended in Folk's second field goal of the game.
The score wasn't the most important thing in the drive, it was the fact that the Titans held the ball for 10 minutes, 22 seconds — making that the franchise's longest scoring drive since Oct. 26, 2003, against Jacksonville.
The Bengals will be on the road again next week, as they visit Arizona.
Comments