??Phil Dawson hasn’t had the greatest season and missed another field goal on Sunday.He made the other
four
Walter Payton
Jersey Youth , though, all the offense the Arizona Cardinals needed in a
12-7 victory that knocked the Tennessee Titans out of first place in the AFC
South.Dawson connected from 47, 23, 32 and 35 yards and missed from 40 for the
Cardinals (6-7), whose victory came two weeks after they beat then-AFC South
leader Jacksonville on the same field.“It wasn’t our most fancy or nifty
offensive performance I’ve ever been a part of,” Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald
said. “But it’s a win and we’ll take them.”The Cardinals intercepted Marcus
Mariota twice in the second half after the Titans (8-5) nursed a 7-0 lead at
halftime.Mariota completed 16 of 31 passes for 159 yards. Tennessee managed 65
yards rushing against the Cardinals after gaining 198 on the ground in a win
over Houston a week ago.Mariota was 6 of 16 for 60 yards with two picks in the
second half.“Frustration is an understatement,” Mariota said. “Defense played
lights-out, special teams did their job and I’ve been hurting our team. I’ve got
to find ways to be better.”Mariota said he hurt his knee in the first half when
he didn’t slide soon enough to protect himself, but he wouldn’t use that as an
excuse for his performance.The Cardinals gained 64 yards in the first half and
197 in the second.Blaine Gabbert completed 17 of 26 for 178 yards for Arizona
with no interceptions, but was sacked eight times, most by a Cardinals
quarterback this season. Kerwynn Williams rushed for 73 yards as
Arizona
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the ground 136-65.Cardinals coach Bruce Arians improved to 7-1 against the AFC
South.“I know what everybody is going to say. ‘It’s an ugly win,'” Arians said.
“There is no such thing.”The game’s lone TD came after Andy Lee’s 33-yard punt
gave Tennessee the ball at the 50. The Titans needed nine plays, Derrick Henry
sweeping right and diving at the pylon on the 6-yard touchdown play in the
second quarter.Mariota directed the Titans on a drive from their 26-yard line to
the Arizona 40 in the final 49 seconds of the half, but Ryan Succop’s 58-yard
field-goal try bounced off the crossbar.Arizona took the second-half kickoff
and, despite Tennessee getting two sacks, got a 47-yard field goal from Dawson
to cut the lead to 7-3.Then came a big Tennessee gamble.After the subsequent
kickoff, the Titans faked a punt on fourth-and-1 from their 35. Initially,
officials ruled that Eric Weems had made the first down. But Arians challenged
the spot and, after a review, it was determined the runner came up a few inches
short.Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey said he probably got “a little
over-aggressive” with the fake punt
call.But
Taven
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Both officials had the mark as a first down. I was standing right behind them. I
don’t know how it got overturned.”The Cardinals took over and Dawson’s 23-yard
field goal cut the lead to 7-6.Dawson missed a 40 yarder that would have given
the Cardinals the lead with 12:04 to play. But the 42-year-old kicker would get
another chance.Rookie Chad Williams ran 33 yards on an end-around to ignite an
eight-play, 71-yard drive that culminated in Dawson’s 32-yard field goal to put
Arizona ahead 9-7 with 5:59 to play.Josh Bynes intercepted Mariota over the
middle on the next possession and returned it 25 yards. A late-hit penalty
against the Titans play moved the ball to the Tennessee 7. Jurrell Casey’s
second sack of the game forced yet another field goal by Dawson, good from 35
yards to finish the scoring.The Titans will stay in the desert and practice next
week at Arizona State University to prepare for next Sunday’s game at San
Francisco.FITZ MOVES UPWith his 23-yard catch on the Cardinals’ first possession
of the second half, Fitzgerald moved past his boyhood idol Randy Moss into third
place on the NFL career yards receiving list, trailing only Terrell Owens and
Jerry Rice.Fitzgerald was a ball boy for the Vikings and used to wash Moss’ cars
for cash, and even borrowed his BMW to go to the high school prom.INJURIESThe
Titans lost starting left tackle Taylor Lewan in the second quarter with a lower
back injury. Arizona outside linebacker Gabe Martin left in the first quarter
with a hamstring injury.UP NEXTTitans: at San Francisco next Sunday.Cardinals:
at Washington next Sunday. Tennessee’s new coordinators each saw opportunities
by joining Mike Vrabel’s first Titans staff – though they looked at the
situation from completely different vantage points.
For offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur, 38, coming to the Titans from the Los Angeles Rams marks the next step in his coaching career.
Meanwhile, 68-year-old defensive coordinator Dean Pees actually ended a two-week retirement from coaching to head up the Titans’ defense.
”This is something when you get into the coaching profession, you’re always looking for the next
step
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coordinator in 2017, as Los Angeles went from the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense
in 2016 to the highest-scoring last season. ”In L.A., I think Sean McVey is one
of the best play callers there is in the NFL, and I don’t see him giving that up
anytime soon. To get this opportunity, I couldn’t be more excited.”
LaFleur was allowed out of his Rams’ contract in part because he will get the chance to be a play-caller with the Titans. Head coach Sean McVey handled the
play-calling duties in Los Angeles.
LaFleur plans on opening up the Titans’ offense and trying to accentuate what quarterback Marcus Mariota does well as part of that.
”He’s as coachable as they come,” LaFleur said. ”That really stood out to me. We’re still kind of going through and trying to evaluate what each one of these
guys does well, and we’re going to try and tailor our offense to our guys’
abilities.”
LaFleur said Mariota, who struggled with 13 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions last year, has what he looks for in a quarterback.
”You can see the talent he possesses. . Some of things that we’ll be working on with him – and you never know what a guy has been taught in the past – but
we’re going to be extremely detailed with his fundamentals and his footwork,
because I think that leads to more consistent quarterback
play
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Pees, a 45-year coaching veteran, had retired at season’s end as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. But he said he began to second-guess the
decision and was encouraged by his family after Vrabel called and asked him to
become his defensive coordinator. Pees was Vrabel’s linebackers coach and later
his defensive coordinator when Vrabel played for New England.
”When Mike called, it kind of got us reassessing where we were and did we really want to stay retired, and to be honest with you, my kids and my wife were
super excited about it,” Pees said.
Joining the Titans marks the second time Pees will now work under a player he previously coached. Ravens coach John Harbaugh played for Pees in college
”Mike convinced me. I felt very humbled that a guy that I coached would ask me to come back be persistent on me coming here,” Pees said. ”The other part of
it was it was Nashville. We love this city. Whenever we’ve been here, we’ve
loved this place. And also looking at the Titans and how they’ve been playing.
The arrow is pointed very much up.”
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