The Titans had a trick up their sleeve, and they waited for the perfect time to use it.
But had it not been for some quick thinking by one Tennessee coach, the gadget play might have gone by the wayside.
The Titans opened the floodgates Saturday night when Derrick Henry caught the Baltimore Ravens off guard by throwing a jump-pass touchdown in the third quarter. As we learned Sunday via NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the play actually was installed for Tennessee’s wild-card game against the New England Patriots and reportedly was going to be used for the Titans’ 2-point conversation attempt following Logan Ryan’s late-game pick-six. Luckily for Mike Vrabel’s team, a change of plans opened the door for the play to be used in a more impactful moment.
“This play actually was originally put in against the Patriots,” Rapoport said on NFL Network’s “NFL GameDay Morning.” “This was the original play call late in that game when it was already no longer in doubt — the 2-point conversion — until someone came on the headset and said, ‘You know what? We might want to save this for next week.’ So they canceled it, made another play call. Almost blew it, and then it was right there when they needed it to seal the game.”
From the @NFLGameDay Notebook with @MikeGarafolo, Part 1: How the #Titans jump pass nearly didn't happen and how their D got it done against the #Ravens. pic.twitter.com/9bONYE3ec4
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2020
We wouldn’t be surprised if we some more trickeration from the surging Titans next Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
