NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Titans are very happy their stingy defense came up with four takeaways and another late-game stop.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers left town ticked off over a call that cost them a fumble return after sniffing out Tennessee's fake punt in the final minutes.
Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and the Titans rallied to beat the Bucs 27-23 Sunday at Nissan Stadium for their second straight win.
"Without that, it'd obviously be a different story," Titans coach Mike Vrabel said of Tampa Bay's turnovers.
Bucs coach Bruce Arians was upset with losing a touchdown with 3:41 left after linebacker Devin White stopped Brett Kern short on a fake punt, knocking the ball out. Andrew Adams grabbed the ball and ran toward the end zone only for the play to be whistled dead. He also defended quarterback Jameis Winston, who threw two interceptions, fumbled three times and lost two of those.
Winston now has 10 turnovers during his past eight quarters.
"To have a fumble, pick it up and run it for a touchdown and (have) an inadvertent whistle, that's tough," Arians said. "Everybody's going to want to say, 'OK, Jameis threw interceptions.' Jameis didn't throw one damn interception that was his fault. His receivers let him down today. Guys stopped on routes they were supposed to be going down the middle. He played his tail off."
Kern wasn't sure if he lost the ball.
"The Red Sea closed up pretty darn quick," Kern said. "That guy made a great play."
Referee Adrian Hill told a pool reporter Kern was ruled down by contact, which is why the whistle was blown. Officials saw the ball come out after the whistle blew, with the only reviewable part of the play if the runner was down by contact. Even if reviewed, Hill said the Bucs only could have been given the ball at the spot where Adams recovered.
Tennessee came in with the NFL's No. 4 scoring defense, having not allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. The Bucs entered with the league's fourth-best offense, averaging 28.8 points a game, and they became the first to top the mark.
The Titans (4-4) led 14-3 after turning a pair of first-quarter takeaways into two touchdown passes by Tannehill, who made his second straight start in place of the benched Marcus Mariota.
The Bucs (2-6) lost their third straight and fourth in five games despite Winston and wide receiver Mike Evans putting them up 23-17 by connecting at the end of the first half and again for another touchdown in the third quarter. Tampa Bay failed to score again despite outgaining Tennessee 389-246 in total yards.
Tampa Bay couldn't overcome its turnovers and was held to three field goals in the first half, twice when inside the Tennessee 5-yard line.
After Harold Landry III sacked and stripped Winston of the ball with 6:03 left, the Titans had a chance to pad their lead when Vrabel called for a fake field-goal attempt.
The Bucs drove to the Titans' 32 and had the 2-minute warning to think over a play for fourth-and-1. Winston handed off to Peyton Barber out of the shotgun, but Jayon Brown and Jurrell Casey stopped him short. Casey said he heard the protection call and knew the Bucs would run.
"My whole objective was to get lower than him, shoot off the ball make sure I win that battle," said Casey, who recovered a fumble at the goal line to preserve a 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Chargers a week earlier.
Tampa Bay had a final chance, getting the ball back with 42 seconds to go, but Logan Ryan intercepted Winston with 18 seconds left to seal the win.
Jason Pierre-Paul sacked Tannehill on his first snap in his first game after being activated from a neck injury sustained in an offseason car accident, Shaq Barrett posted his 10th sack of the season and Carl Nassib also had a sack for the Bucs.
Titans rookie defensive lineman Isaiah Mack, the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Northwest Whitfield High School standout, recovered a quick shotgun snap to Winston to set up Tannehill's 5-yard touchdown pass to Jonnu Smith, and Malcolm Butler caught Winston's overthrown pass to Chris Godwin and ran to the Titans 10. Tannehill made it 14-3 with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Tajae Sharpe.
Winston finished with 301 passing yards and Evans had 11 catches for 198 yards. Arians was asked about the offense seeming to be on different pages, and he made clear where he wants improvement.
"It's the receivers, not the quarterback," Arians said. "The receivers totally screwed it up."
Winston said the Bucs had the game in the bag: "I've got to play better, but we all have to play better."
Titans left guard Rodger Saffold went to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion after going down on a pass play in the first quarter. He did not return, with Jamil Douglas replacing him. Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan went to the sideline with 1:42 left.