Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill had several big plays during the Week 18 win over the Houston Texans, but his Houdini-like escape out of a sack in the fourth quarter might have been the biggest.
With the Titans clinging to a 21-18 fourth-quarter lead and the Texans having all of the momentum after 18 unanswered points, Tannehill and Co. were facing a third-and-5 from their own 30.
After the ball was snapped, Tannehill looked dead in the water and was about to take a sack, but was able to shed the would-be tackler and find wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for a huge 36-yard play.
Houdini 🕴🏻
📺: Watch #TENvsHOU on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/JAulJ1fbfZ
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) January 9, 2022
Had Tannehill been sacked, the Titans would have been giving the Texans the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Instead, Tennessee went on to score five plays later to take a 28-18 lead, which proved to be the difference.
“Yeah, they played Tampa,” Tannehill explained. “Thought I was going to have a shot to A.J. (Brown) sitting in the middle. He ended up beating the guy with speed, so the guy was a couple yards behind him, didn’t like the look of it. Tried to come back to Firk (Anthony Firkser). 51 did a good job of widening back to him and had to pull it back down as I was getting wrapped up. Then just twisted away, got away from it, and saw Nick (Westbrook-Ikhine) waving his arms doing the Billy Whiteshoes over there on the sideline, so was able to find him and get him the ball.”
As you’d expect, Tannehill’s teammates were stunned that he was able to get away from what was a sticky situation to say the least.
“Yeah, a lot of, ‘how the heck did you do that?’ Tannehill said. “Just kept playing. The guy, felt the guy kind of wrapping me up, but I felt a little bit of space, a little bit of air, it wasn’t a strong hold, so just kept fighting and twisted out of there and was able to make a play.”
Now, a look at what other Titans had to say about the incredible play Tannehill pulled off, as well as the signal-caller’s thoughts on his team clinching the No. 1 seed, the Julio Jones touchdown, and more.
