Winners and Losers: Titans 26, Eagles 23

The Titans came up with a huge win over the defending champion Eagles on Sunday. Here are the winners and losers (winners) from the game.

Winners

Corey Davis

Corey Davis had his breakout game at the best possible time. Rishard Matthews quit on the team this week and Davis responded with a 9 catch, 161-yard, 1-touchdown performance that announced his status as a star receiver in the NFL. He had already put together a big game when he hauled in the game winning pass on 3rd and goal at the 10-yard line, but the catch he made to take the win was legendary and it evoked this reaction from my friends at the game.

This is Davis’ team now and for the foreseeable future. He took over this game and continues to develop as a true number one receiver. That’s something the Titans haven’t had in quite some time and it feels pretty surreal to even talk about it now.

Harold Landry

Landry had been very close to a sack for two straight games, but he finally broke through against the Eagles with a strip sack that resulted in a Titans turnover.

Landry beat Lane Johnson here which is impressive in its own right. Johnson is coming off an All-Pro season and is one of the better tackles in the league. Landry beat him like a drum and turned it in to a huge play for the Titans. He’s well on his way to becoming one of the most important players on the team.

Marcus Mariota

Mariota went 30 of 43 for 344 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He was outstanding against a good defense despite having less than a full complement of receivers. If Mariota was limited, he sure didn’t show it. He was accurate all over the field and should have had even better numbers if it weren’t for a couple horrific drops from his receivers.

On the biggest drive of the season, Mariota came up with three 4th down conversions before giving Davis a chance to win the game on 3rd and goal. He was fantastic.

Dion Lewis

Lewis was playing against one of his former teams and he had a big day through the air, catching 9 passes for 66 yards, including one of the 4th down conversions on the final drive in overtime.

Jurrell Casey

Casey somehow didn’t end up with a sack during the game, but he was a wrecking ball in the interior of the Titans defense all game. He’s playing at an All-Pro level right now.

Mike Vrabel

What more is there to say about this guy? The Titans were down 17-3 in the 3rd quarter against the defending champs and they found a way to come back. Even bigger, Vrabel had the guts to go for it on 4th and 2 at the Eagles 32-yard line during the game winning drive, eschewing a 49-yard field goal attempt for a chance to tie the game. That was a huge call and more than just giving them the chance to win this game, it showed an aggressive mentality that can infect a football team.

Jayon Brown

Brown just keeps getting better and better. Wesley Woodyard went down with an injury early in the game which led to a heavy workload for Brown. He appeared to be making the defensive calls on the field and came up with 10 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 QB hits in an outstanding performance.

Losers

Malcolm Butler

There shouldn’t be many losers in a game like this so I won’t linger here, but Butler was picked on today and gave up entirely too much.

Derrick Henry

It was a bad day for Henry. He finished with just 24 yards rushing on 8 carries to go along with a really bad drop on a toss play that nearly resulted in a turnover. He will have better days, but this wasn’t one of them.

Jonnu Smith

On a day when Mariota completed 30 passes, none of them were to a tight end. Worse, Smith dropped what should have been a 3rd down conversion on the first drive of the game after a beautiful escape in the pocket by Mariota. Get well soon, Delanie.

Darius Jennings

If the Titans had not gone on to score on that final drive, we would have been talking about Jennings’ drop of a perfect deep Mariota pass as a major “what if” moment for the game and the season potentially. However, he’s off the hook thanks to his teammates.

Eagles Fans

They turned out in big numbers, but went home sad, just like 13 of the last 15 opponents to enter Nissan Stadium. The Titans are starting to have a real home field advantage.

WE WIN!!!