It looked like the Tennessee Titans’ clash with the Houston Texans Sunday was headed to overtime after Houston kicker Ka’imi Fairbarn connected on a 51-yard field goal to tie the game at 38 with 18 seconds left (which came less than two minutes after Tennessee took the lead with a Ryan Tannehill rushing touchdown). However, there was still more to come. After the kickoff, the Titans opted not just to kneel down and send the game to overtime. Instead, Tannehill threw deep, and connected with A.J. Brown for a 52-yard gain:
WOWWW….AJ BROWN!! pic.twitter.com/0wRPafvHhM
(via @NFL)— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 4, 2021
Following a four-yard run from Derrick Henry (who had 250 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the day, making him just the eighth NFL player to ever rush for 2,000 yards in a season), Titans’ kicker Sam Sloman had a 37-yard field goal attempt for the win. He made it easily at first, but that was nullified thanks to a late Houston timeout. On Sloman’s second try, his kick hit the upright, but bounced through, leading to the celebration seen above.
Can't believe the Titans just won a division title ON A DOINK #titans #Colts #Texans #Cradlekickers pic.twitter.com/x9jENrlto5
— John Breech (@johnbreech) January 4, 2021
As Breech notes there, that kick gave the Titans the division title. If they had lost this game, they would have been the AFC’s seventh seed (thanks to the Indianapolis Colts’ 28-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars) and would have faced the second-seeded Buffalo Bills in the first round. Instead, Tennessee is now seeded fourth, and hosting Baltimore:
The AFC Playoff teams are locked in. 🔒 pic.twitter.com/7jzio5nHTt
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 4, 2021
So that was a pretty significant doink.
[John Breech on Twitter]
