Titans' best moments: Before Derrick Henry's famous stiff-arm, there was Marcus Mariota's version
Most of my memories of the 2017 NFL season revolve around the elaborate lengths I had to go so as not to wake up my friend Alex.
I was covering LSU football at the time, which often meant spending Sundays driving eight, nine, 10 hours back to Baton Rouge. I’d volunteer to drive while Alex napped in the back seat, listening to whatever NFL games our radio could scan zigzagging across the South. I tried my best not to cheer or get wrapped up in the moment out of respect for my snoozing pal. But driving through the South meant a lot of Titans Radio, and as such, a lot of moments where Mike Keith jarred Alex awake with a blood-curdling “SAAAAAAAACK” scream.
So. New Year’s Eve 2017. Alex and I are in Orlando for the Citrus Bowl. I’m watching the Titans and the Jaguars in the hotel room.
Alex is asleep in the bed closest to the TV. Which is a problem for him because Marcus Mariota is about to do something that’ll push my limits when it comes to staying quiet out of respect.
Welcome to The Tennessean's countdown of Tennessee Titans' best moments. Here is No. 6 on the list.
It’s third-and-5.
The Titans lead 15-10 with 2:13 left. The Jags are down to one timeout. With a win, the 8-7 Titans are headed back to the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Mariota feels pressure off his blindside and scrambles forward, then to the left. Eyes downfield, he reaches up to throw. Derrick Henry was open with room to run, but defensive tackle Calais Campbell was in the throwing lane, and linebacker Telvin Smith was crashing hard in Henry’s direction.
So Mariota tucked. He stopped. He hitched. He sidestepped Campbell. Now his only choice is to run. Smith and safety Barry Church are converging. Mariota dekes toward the sideline, setting up a one-on-one matchup with Church. Church lunges toward Mariota right around the line of scrimmage. Mariota sticks out his right hand and viciously stiff-arms Church into the turf.
Guard Quinton Spain disentangles from Campbell just in time to shove Smith out of the way. Mariota races forward across the 50 and for another 10 yards, securing the first down and allowing the Titans to salt the game away en route to a long-awaited playoff berth.
Somehow, some way, I kept quiet enough as to not wake up Alex. I can’t say the same about the more than 65,000 fans at Nissan Stadium that afternoon. They roared their team straight into the postseason.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.