New Titans coach helps Marcus Mariota look good

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Maybe it was the return of Marcus Mariota. Maybe it was the firing of Ken Whisenhunt and the elevation of Mike Mularkey to interim coach. Maybe it was just a team tired of losing six straight. But whatever it was, the Tennessee Titans need to find it a little more often.

The Titans battled their way to a 34-28 overtime win over the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome Sunday to make a winner of Mularkey in his Titans debut. It ended a tumultuous week that began with a listless loss in Houston in which backup quarterback Zach Mettenberger was sacked seven times.

Two days later, the Titans sacked Ken Whisenhunt as head coach, handing things to Mularkey for the balance of the season.

The Titans then went about making changes on the offensive line, moving Joe Looney in at left guard and moving Byron Bell back to right tackle. They also used more chips and max protect schemes. The result was not only zero sacks of Mariota on Sunday, but also four touchdown passes, including the game winner in overtime.

"It was an (absolutely) great win for this team. They are so competitive. They want to win so bad," Mularkey said. "They have come up short so many times. To keep the resilience throughout the game (says a lot). It could've got bad early. At times, that has happened with us. Never once did they ever flinch. And (they) just kind of kept coming back and making it a close game. (I said), 'Find a way to win this game. We have to find a way.' "

The Titans' other big change was to make more of a commitment to run the football, as they had 28 rushes in the game, and lead back Antonio Andrews ran 19 times for 88 yards on a vulnerable Saints defense.

Mariota said the revamped offensive line deserved all the credit for his four TD passes and the improved play overall.

"I have to give the credit to all of the guys up front. Throughout the entire game they held their blocks and gave me time. All the credit goes to them. It's incredible. Throughout this hectic week of ours, to pull out this win, was huge," Mariota said.

--The play the Titans used to win the game in overtime was a throwback pass where Marcus Mariota rolled to his right and threw back to the left to tight end Anthony Fasano, who had slipped out the back side of the formation and was wide open for the TD. Interim coach Mike Mularkey went to Fasano a few weeks ago and asked to install the play, after Fasano had run the play against Mularkey's Jaguars back in 2012.

"It's about four weeks now we've had the play in and it looked exactly like it looked in practice," Mularkey said. "I've seen that ball sailing in the air to Fasano. I just happened to be the head coach of the Jaguars when he caught that ball for the Dolphins. So it was the exact same play. I actually brought him in and called that play up, because I wanted to put it in. This was about a month ago. I have seen it, and it was not a good feeling then, but it was a great feeling yesterday."

--The Titans got a big lift from an unusual source in Sunday's win over the Saints. B.W. Webb, a 2013 draft pick of the Cowboys, who was waived by the Steelers in preseason, was promoted by the Titans from their practice squad and had a huge interception that thwarted a Saints scoring threat.

In picking off Drew Brees, Webb became Exhibit A for a task Mularkey imposed of having practice squad players preparing as if they are going to play in the game the same as the 53-man roster players do.

"The practice squad guys have to prepare like they're gonna play in the game, and they know that," Mularkey said. "On Friday I took all their notes. I took all the practice squad guys notes and made them make a copy, and I was very pleased with the attention to detail. Usually, you take them up the first time and they're not very detailed, and you take them up a second time and they're very detailed. But I was very impressed with our guys. They were ready to play. B.W. was ready to play."

NOTES: Rookie Jeremiah Poutasi has been bumped from the starting lineup and also is taking on a new position -- left guard. For the time being, he will be a backup there. ... Quarterback Marcus Mariota set a Titans rookie record with his 13th touchdown pass, Sunday's game-winner, breaking the previous mark of 12 set by Vince Young in 2006. ...Cornerback Jason McCourty (groin) is getting a second opinion on his injured groin and is hoping to avoid a second surgery. McCourty underwent surgery on the groin in August and missed the first three games of the regular season. ... Wide receiver Kendall Wright (knee) is progressing from his sprained MCL in his left knee, but probably won't be able to practice at least early in the week. He would appear to be a long shot at best for Sunday. ... Running back Dexter McCluster (ankle) had a mild ankle sprain from Sunday's game that might keep him out of practice for a few days. ... Cornerback Perrish Cox (hamstring) was taken out of the game Sunday when his balky hamstring acted up again. ... Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson (hamstring) might be able to get back to the practice field this week. ... Running back David Cobb (calf) will have to be activated onto the 53-man roster by Thursday. The Titans would then have to make a corresponding move to make room by either releasing a player or putting one on injured reserve.