NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the Tennessee Titans' 16-11 loss to the Jets:
Nice try: The Titans had a good play ready for a desperate situation, it just came up 9 yards short.
On third-and-10 from their own 42-yard line and in need of a touchdown on the game’s final play, the Titans put players who can catch and run at four of their five offensive line spots. Only center Chris Spencer remained.
Charlie Whitehurst took the shotgun snap and threw a 6-yard pass to Dexter McCluster, who lateraled to Nate Washington, who went backward 10 yards and threw a lateral to Whitehurst, who ran for 20 yards and pitched it to Delanie Walker. Walker got to full speed and went 33 yards, but Dawan Landry forced him out of bounds at the Jets' 9-yard line to end the game.
"A lot of times when you run that play, you don’t even get within striking distance,” Whitehurst said. “We had a chance with a lateral play to make something happen and we got pretty close.”
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said he wished Walker had pitched it back one last time, but Walker said going full speed it would have been tough to find someone. He peeked up at the video board and saw Whitehurst, who he felt like was 10 yards behind him. It would have been quite a pitch to have hit him while going full speed, Walker said.
On an afternoon when the Titans actually won third down, and had a 342-277 advantage in net yards, they shouldn’t have needed some sort of mini-Music City Miracle to win.
Walker said he thought he was scoring and the Titans were winning.
Like with so much this season, the Titans came up short.
Why not McCluster: Leon Washington fielded the Jets' free kick after a safety rather than Dexter McCluster, who fields punts, because it’s a kick-return situation, Ken Whisenhunt said. Washington wound up averaging 29 yards on his four other kick returns and had a 46-yarder.
He muffed Ryan Quigley's short free kick early in the second quarter, but the Jets didn’t wind up getting any points off the takeaway.
First time: The game was the first in NFL history to end with a 16-11 score, per ESPN Stats & Information.
You need to see: Find pictures of Titans alumni who were part of a pregame ceremony and video with Jake Locker talking about his injuries and Wesley Woodyard talking about his costly penalty at my Instagram account.
