Titans vs Texans key moments: How Tennessee Titans won against Houston Texans
The Tennessee Titans finally earned a win in a close game against a quality opponent.
Sunday's 32-27 win over the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium was a complete change in fortune for the Titans in a tight game that featured Titans special teams errors, eight Houston sacks and a pick-six.
Despite all of that, the Titans defense got consecutive stops to secure the victory with the help of a missed field goal and penalties by the Texans offense. Sound familiar?
Here are three key moments from the Titans' Week 12 game:
Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans key moments
Chig Okonkwo rumbles for go-ahead TD
Scenario: Titans take 30-27 lead with 9:35 left
The Titans needed to change the momentum, vibes and the scoreboard in the fourth quarter after the Texans took a 27-23 lead following a Will Levis pick-six and a Jha'Quan Jackson fumble.
It took Levis and Chig Okonkwo just one play to do so. Levis found a wide-open Okonkwo across the middle of the field, and the Titans tight end kept running to the end zone for a stunning 70-yard touchdown catch and a 30-27 Titans lead with 9:35 to play.
TD wiped away by penalty, Ka'imi Fairbairn's FG shank allows Titans to hold on
Scenario: Titans hold on to 30-27 lead with 1:53 left after Ka'imi Fairbairn misses 28-yard field goal
Houston drove inside the red zone, even with a TD wiped away via an illegal shift after a Nico Collins' 33-yard touchdown catch, but the Titans' defense forced a field goal try. And Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn, the best kicker in the AFC this season, pulled the chip-shot attempt wide left in a stunning change of fortune.
Tennessee held on to a 30-27 lead with 1:53 left, but the game was not over.
C.J. Stroud safety ends it
Scenario: Titans 32, Texans 27 after C.J. Stroud is sacked (or runs out of the end zone?) for a safety with 1:13 left
C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense got the ball back after a Titans' three-and-out, but almost immediately went backward. Stroud was sacked at the Texans' 1-yard line by Jeffery Simmons, then was sacked by Harold Landry in the back of the end zone while scrambling for more time with 1:13 left. If Stroud hadn't been sacked, he would have been ruled out of bounds in the back of the end zone for the safety anyway.
The Texans were forced to try for an onside kick, which rolled out of bounds. The Titans could relax and enjoy the victory formation and a key win in Brian Callahan's first season.