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Fuller, Titans turn tables on Falcons

Oct 7, 2007 - 11:10 PM By Chip Cirillo PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) - Last year, the Tennessee Titans' defense lost a lot of games. On Sunday, the defense won one.

Surviving five turnovers, the Titans held off the Atlanta Falcons, 20-13, on Sunday as defensive back Vincent Fuller scored the winning touchdown on a 76-yard interception return with one minute left in the third quarter.

Joey Harrington's pass bounced off Michael Jenkins' arm before Fuller picked it off and raced down the right sideline.

"I was right there to gather it in my arms," Fuller said. "Go, get to the end zone as quick as possible. Our pass rush is incredible right now. That's our best pass coverage, and it's been that way the first four games of the season."

Atlanta (1-4) got the ball inside the Tennessee 22-yard line twice during the final 4:15, but Tennessee's defense held both times.

"We don't like being the 32nd defense in the league like we were last year," Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "Last year, I think people ran all over us, and we had a huge chip on our shoulder maybe even a boulder on our shoulder that we were going to stop the run and get after the quarterback."

Haynesworth made one of the game's biggest plays after Atlanta drove to the Tennessee 1-yard line on an 18-yard run by Warrick Dunn with two minutes left. He leapfrogged over Falcons center Todd McClure on the next play, causing Byron Leftwich to fumble and make a bad pitch to Dunn, who was tackled by Kyle Vanden Bosch at the Titans 9.

Three plays later, Atlanta turned over the ball on downs, and Tennessee (3-1) ran out the clock to seal the victory. Vanden Bosch prevented the Falcons from sending the game into overtime twice when he tackled Dunn at the 1 and again when he sacked Leftwich on fourth down with one minute left.

"I'm a high-motor guy, and I'm going to chase down plays regardless of where they go," Vanden Bosch said. "That's the second game this year I had a sack on the very last play of the game. When our defense needs a huge play, I feel like the playmakers have to step up."

Demorrio Williams gave the Falcons two golden opportunities to send the game into overtime, but Atlanta didn't capitalize on either scoring chance late in the fourth quarter.

First, he intercepted a pass by Vince Young and returned it eight yards to the Titans 21 with 4:15 left. Three plays later, David Thornton intercepted a pass by Leftwich to spoil the scoring chance.

Tennessee was forced to punt, but Williams charged through the middle and tackled Craig Hentrich for an 8-yard loss at the Titans 19 with 2:24 left.

"We didn't execute on a number of occasions today, but we still found a way to win it," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "Again, a win like this carries you along."

Atlanta coach Bobby Petrino replaced Harrington with Leftwich with the Falcons trailing, 20-13, and 10:43 remaining in the fourth quarter. Leftwich finished 2-of-8 for 28 yards and an interception.

"I thought Joey got hit a lot, and I thought there were some plays there that he didn't make late in the third quarter and that maybe a change would give us a spark and give us some energy (so) I made the decision to put Byron in," Petrino said.

"That's a tough loss for us. Our defense, I thought, played extremely well."

Harrington completed 16 of 31 for just 87 yards. Young completed 20 of 33 for 157 yards, but he threw three interceptions.

"Myself, I played real bad, but it happens as a quarterback," Young said. "I was just making bad decisions, forcing things instead of just taking what the defense will give me. That's basically it. Our defense saved this game for us."

Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall recovered LenDale White's fumble and raced 56 yards to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead just under five minutes into the game.

Tennessee answered on the ensuing possession when Chris Brown scored on a 3-yard run, tying the game 7-7 with 6:15 left in the first quarter. Young completed 4-of-4 passes for 42 yards on the six-play, 58-yard drive.

Morten Anderson and Rob Bironas traded a pair of field goals to tie the game at 13-13.