Marcus Mariota did everything to help the Titans advance in the playoffs Andre Reed Jersey , throwing a crazy touchdown pass to himself, running for crucial first downs and providing the kind of spark that Tennessee needed to rally from an 18-point halftime hole. He even threw a crucial block on the run that clinched the game.
It all added up to a heart-stopping 22-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, the first postseason win for the Titans in 14 years and one that will provide some relief – for the week, at least – for embattled coach Mike Mularkey and his underdog squad.
Mariota had 205 yards passing and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead 22-yard strike to Eric Decker with six minutes left. The Titans will find out Sunday whether they’re headed to New England or Pittsburgh next.
Derrick Henry added a career-high 156 yards rushing and another score for Tennessee (10-7), while a defense fileted by Alex Smith and the Chiefs (10-7) in the first half pitched a shutout in the second half – dooming the Kansas City franchise to another humiliating postseason defeat.
Smith threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs, who haven’t won a home playoff game since January 1994.
FALCONS 26, RAMS 13
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Matt Ryan passed for 218 yards and hit Julio Jones for an 8-yard touchdown with 5:48 to play, and the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons advanced from the wild-card round with a methodical victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Devonta Freeman rushed for an early score and Matt Bryant kicked four field goals for the Falcons (11-6), who spoiled the Rams’ first playoff game in 13 years while showing off the postseason poise they earned from last season’s journey to the Super Bowl.
Atlanta never trailed at the Coliseum while winning playoff games in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history, jumping to an early 13-0 lead while capitalizing on two early mistakes by Pharoh Cooper, the Rams’ Pro Bowl kick returner.
The Falcons’ defense did more than enough to slow down the NFL’s highest-scoring offense, harassing Jared Goff into a 24-for-45 performance in his playoff debut. Robert Woods caught nine passes for 142 yards for the NFC West champion Rams (11-6), but rookie Cooper Kupp scored the Rams’ only touchdown late in the first half. Atlanta held MVP candidate Todd Gurley to 101 yards rushing – just 43 in the first three quarters – and four receptions for a mere 10 yards.
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DAVIE, Fla. (AP) Ryan Tannehill’s pass traveled 2 yards before landing in the hands of a young receiver, who dropped it.
Tannehill laughed. He doesn’t mind when a throw to his 2-year-old son, Steel Oren Burks Jersey , falls incomplete.
Their easygoing post-practice game of catch contrasted with what preceded it Monday – two hours of spirited work by the Miami Dolphins.
With players in full pads for the first time in training camp, there was a fight or two, plenty of trash-talking and one high-stakes play at the end of a passing drill, with the losing unit required to do pushups.
”It’s a competitive sport,” Tannehill said. ”I like what I see from our guys as far as the fire.”
Increasing intensity is understandable with the clock ticking toward another season, and it’s a little louder now for Tannehill because he turned 30 Friday.
After missing the end of the 2016 season and all 16 games last year due to knee injuries, he says he’s fully recovered and healthy. Five days into camp, he’s pleasantly surprised his arm isn’t even sore.
”I feel great,” Tannehill said. ”I was telling somebody the other day, I feel like I’m 25. Thirty just sounds old.”
Thirty is a little old to still be without a playoff appearance, as Tannehill is. But given the way such peers as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning aged so gracefully in recent years, Tannehill might have a decade or so left to play.
”He seems to keep getting better,” coach Adam Gase said. ”I guess I look at 30 now, and for quarterbacks it doesn’t seem – how many guys do we have that are 39 or 40 and MVPs of the league?”
The best hope for the Dolphins’ future would be that Tannehill becomes a late-bloomer. He has been a starter since his first training camp in 2012, and his best season came two years ago, when he was leading Miami toward a wild-card berth until sidelined by his first knee injury.
He hasn’t played since, and these days he’s not thinking about the arc of his career.
”I’m just trying to get better Womens Marian Hossa Jersey ,” he said. ”I feel like I have a lot of good football left in front of me, and just want to be the best I can this year.”
It helps that the offensive line could be the best Tannehill has played behind, easing a perennial problem with pass protection.
And while favorite receiver Jarvis Landry departed last offseason, Tannehill is delighted about several newcomers, led by veteran running back Frank Gore.
”It really surprises me how hard he hits the hole,” Tannehill said. ”That has probably been the most fun thing for me – just seeing him put his foot on the ground and go downhill and find a way to get through a crease where it looks like a human being can’t fit.”
Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson give Tannehill two experienced new targets at receiver, and he has been impressed with rookie tight end Mike Gesicki, a second-round draft pick from Penn State.
”He has incredible range,” Tannehill said. ”If you put a ball anywhere near him, he has the ability to either jump and get it or reach out and get it. One way or the other, he’s going to get his hands on it.”
And then there’s Steel Tannehill, who’s only 3 feet tall and a little inexperienced, and Dad hasn’t figured out yet whether he should be a receiver or quarterback. But he’s the camp newcomer who gets Tannehill gushing the most.
”I don’t know what position he is,” Tannehill said with a grin. ”Right now he’s the fun assistant.”
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12.10.2018 05:41
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