LANDOVER, Md. — A teammate yelled at David Long Jr. from a corner of the visitors’ locker room at FedEx Field: “Keep that game ball!”
The linebacker wasn’t letting it out of his grasp.
Long intercepted Carson Wentz at the 1-yard line with six seconds left to preserve the Tennessee Titans’ third win in a row, 21-17 over the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Two-time NFL rushing champion Derrick Henry again got his team rolling, and Long’s pick concluded a goal-line stand that vaulted the Titans (3-2) into first place in the AFC South standings.
Ahead for Tennessee is an open date, then an Oct. 23 visit from a big division rival: the Indianapolis Colts, who lost 24-17 to the Titans early this month and will be trying to avoid being swept in the season series for the second year in a row.
Tennessee can rest a little more easily this week thanks to another round of heroics.
“We never panic,” Long said of a defense that has made two game-saving plays in three weeks. “This is what we do it for. This is what you dream of. Don’t panic. Somebody made a play, and we walk off the field. It just ended up being me.”
The interception, Wentz’s sixth of the season, sealed a fourth consecutive loss for the Commanders (1-4) and overshadowed his two touchdown passes to Dyami Brown.
“Guy made a heck of a play,” said Wentz, who was 25-of-38 for 359 yards, including 76 on the final drive. “I just tried to squeeze it in there to J.D. (McKissic). Heck of a play. That was an emotional roller coaster. I thought we had six points when it left my hand, and then the result. That was unfortunate.”
Well before Long was the hero, Henry racked up 102 yards on 28 carries and had two catches for 30 yards, one of them a screen pass that set up Dontrell Hilliard’s 13-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Henry surpassed 100 yards on the ground for the second consecutive game, and the Titans improved to 24-3 when Henry reaches that mark.
“I’m going to be me each and every Sunday,” Henry said.
When Henry got into the end zone in the third quarter, it was Tennessee’s first second-half touchdown since the season opener. It also tied him with Earl Campbell for second on the franchise touchdowns list with 73, one back of Eddie George.
Leaning on Henry allowed the Titans to compensate for Ryan Tannehill getting sacked five times. It helps that they’re a league-best 10-of-11 in the red zone.
“These games are going to be tight,” said Tannehill, who was 15-of-25 for 181 yards and the touchdown to Hilliard. “There’s a lot of belief when we get down there we’re going to score.”
The Commanders were 1-of-11 on third down, including the interception, and are now last in the NFC East. Their chance to bounce back comes quickly as they hit the road to face the Chicago Bears (2-3) on Thursday night.
“We have dug a hole, but at the same time there’s a lot of games left, a lot of football,” said Wentz, who lost twice to the Titans last season while with the Colts. “The NFL is crazy. We try not to look at what happened the last couple games and what’s ahead. We’ve just got to go 1-0 each week. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. We did it to ourselves.”
Wentz made arguably his best pass of the season to connect with Brown for a 75-yard score. It’s the longest first career touchdown catch for a Washington player since running back Matt Jones in 2015.
Tannehill went deep, too, finding Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on a 61-yard completion that was the Titans’ longest offensive play of the season.
“I knew it was 1-on-1, so it basically was just a trust throw, giving my guy a chance to go up and make a play on the football,” Tannehill said.
Commanders rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. made his NFL debut six weeks to the day he was shot twice in the right leg in an attempted robbery in Washington. The former Alabama standout got a rousing ovation when he was the last player to be introduced and finished with 22 yards on nine carries as the team’s leading rusher.
Robinson returned to practice Wednesday after spending the first four games of the season on the nonfootball injury list. The team activated the third-round draft pick Saturday.
“I really can’t explain the feeling of getting back out on the field,” Robinson said. “Today everything finally came to the light, and I’m just so blessed to be back out there.”