The Tennessee Titans got three first-half touchdown passes from Marcus Mariota and let their defense dominate the second half in Sunday’s 24-10 road win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Mariota found rookie receiver A.J. Brown for a 55-yard scoring pass on the first play of Tennessee’s second series for a quick 7-0 lead.
After the Falcons answered with a six-play, 53-yard TD drive, the Titans regained the lead for good when Mariota capped a 13-play, 70-yard march with a perfect 11-yard touchdown pass to Brown.
The Titans made it a two-score game when kicker Cairo Santos connected on a 45-yard field goal, the same distance he missed from two weeks earlier when his kick could have possibly iced a game against the Colts.
The Titans added their final points of the game when Corey Davis caught a pass, shook off a defender and tip-toed down the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown.
Tennessee’s defense allowed only a field goal on the Falcons’ first possession of the second half.
Tennessee was mostly conservative in the second half on offense, save for one questionable call by Mike Vrabel, who shunned a 28-yard field goal that would have given the Titans a 17-point lead with just over 13 minutes to play.
Dean Pees’ defense bailed the team out, though, getting a fourth down sack of Matt Ryan from Jayon Brown.
Mariota finished the day 18 of 27 for 227 yards and the three scores. Brown had 94 yards and two scores on three receptions, while Davis had 91 yards and a TD on five catches,
Derrick Henry had an even 100 yards on 27 rushes.
The road win not only gets the Titans back to .500 at 2-2, but also moved back into a tie for the AFC South lead as Houston and Indianapolis both lost Sunday.
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