Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans fought hard to turn a 14-0 deficit into a 27-14 lead over the Colts. Then they did some not-so-great things to turn that lead into a 35-27 deficit. Then they scored a TD to make the score 35-33. They needed a two-point conversion to force overtime.
Titans game-tying 2-point conversion attempt goes backwards, and backwards, and backwards
NO THAT’S THE WRONG DIRECTION
This was that two-point conversion attempt:
The Titans had already tried a two-point conversion, but there was a pass interference, so this attempt was from the one-yard line. So they gave it to rookie fullback Jalston Fowler, only his second career rushing attempt.
But Fowler got stuffed at the line of scrimmage. So Fowler decided — rather than trying to bowl over four Colts — he would run backwards and try to find another lane.
And he kept running backwards...
and he kept running backwards...
and he kept... running... backwards...
Eventually Marcus Mariota tried to wildly gesticulate for a lateral ... but Fowler wasn’t interested. It ended up being a rare loss of 15 yards on a two-point conversion.
On the one hand, this was kinda smart. Unlike on other plays, you don’t risk anything by running as far backwards as you can on a 2-point conversion -- you’re not gonna face, like, 2nd-and-37 or something. Might as well keep the play alive and see if anything happens.
On the other hand, THE END ZONE IS OVER THERE! IT’S OVER THERE! DUDE! STOP!
And this is why teams don’t hand off to fullbacks a lot.
