Titans Pick Up First Victory

The Tennessee Titans made their first win of the season much more exciting than they wanted.

Joe Nedney kicked a 49-yard field goal in overtime as the Titans beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-28, after blowing a 14-point lead in the final 7:53 of regulation.

The victory ended a three-game losing streak, and the Titans (1-3) avoided matching the franchise’s worst start since going 0-4 in 1984.

“It’s a great sense of relief,” Titan defensive end Jevon Kearse said. “We were out there playing our hearts out. The fans stayed behind us the whole game. We wanted to pull it out for them.”

Brad Johnson rallied the Bucs by tossing two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including a five-yarder with 54 seconds left that tied it at 28.

In overtime, the Titans forced the Bucs (2-2) to punt. Joe Walker returned Mark Royals’ 45-yard punt to the Tampa Bay 46 to set up the winning drive.

Steve McNair, who threw for a touchdown and ran for another, hit rookie Drew Bennett with a 14-yard completion. They then left it to Nedney, who had missed a 47-yard try in the fourth quarter, but connected on his third field goal of the game for the win.

“I knew I wasn’t going to miss two,” said Nedney, signed this season to replace Al Del Greco. “I learned from the first one I needed to play it a little further to the left and let the wind draw it in.”

Maybe it was playing their first home game since Sept. 8 before a crowd that spent much of the game on its feet, or the fact they were playing on consecutive weeks for the first time this season. But the Titans looked more like the team that won an NFL-high 13 games in 2000 than the group that stumbled into this season.

McNair, who missed one game with a sore shoulder, got the Titans rolling, completing 15 of 23 passes for 230 yards and adding 54 yards in nine carries.

He ended an eight-quarter Titan scoring drought with a one-yard touchdown pass to Dyson on their opening drive. McNair bought time with his feet repeatedly by threatening to scramble only to pull up and pass at the last second.

The Bucs were unable to find the end zone until the fourth quarter without help from the Titans.

Josh Evans jumped offside as Martin Gramatica was lined up for a 27-yard field goal, giving Tampa Bay a first down. Warrick Dunn ran around the right side for a five-yard touchdown on the next play to tie it, 7-7.