EditorsNote: Fixed time of scoring in 7th and 9th graf
Jurrell Casey recovered Melvin Gordon's fumble in the end zone with 19 seconds left Sunday, capping a bizarre ending that gave the Tennessee Titans a 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Nashville, Tenn.
Los Angeles (2-5) appeared to have taken the lead with 44 seconds left when Austin Ekeler caught what looked to be a 16-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers, but a replay review ruled Ekeler was down at the 1. After a false-start penalty on left guard Dan Feeney, a pass-interference call against Tennessee's Malcolm Butler moved the ball back to the 1.
But Gordon, who gained only 32 yards on 16 carries, was stopped on the next two plays, fumbling the game away on the second one to seal the Chargers' third straight loss.
Overshadowed by the wild finish was an excellent game by Ryan Tannehill, making his first start as Tennessee's quarterback after the benching of Marcus Mariota. Tannehill completed 23 of 29 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns, including a 5-yard strike to Tajae Sharpe with 13:11 left to snap a 10-10 tie. He threw one interception.
The Titans (3-4) also got 90 yards on 22 carries from Derrick Henry, including an 11-yard touchdown run with 6:39 left that increased Tennessee's lead to 23-13.
Rivers was 24 of 38 for 329 yards and two touchdowns. He hit Ekeler on a 41-yard scoring strike with 5:09 remaining to cut the deficit to three.
The teams exchanged field goals in the first quarter. Tennessee's Cody Parkey converted a 45-yarder on his first field-goal attempt since missing a 43-yarder on the last play of Chicago's NFC wild-card loss to Philadelphia in January, while Chase McLaughlin hit from 29 with two seconds left in the period for Los Angeles.
Gordon caught a 1-yard touchdown pass with 3:38 left in the first half, giving the Chargers a 10-3 lead. It was his first score since ending his holdout in late September, and it capped a 14-play, 94-yard drive that lasted more than 7 1/2 minutes.
But the Titans needed just 3:15 to respond. Tannehill led an 86-yard drive, finishing it when he found Corey Davis with an 8-yard touchdown strike to equalize at 10-10 in the final seconds of the half.
--Field Level Media
