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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald moved into third place on the NFL's all-time receiving yards list, passing childhood idol Randy Moss when he hauled in a 23-yard catch in the third quarter of Sunday's 12-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans. That doesn't mean Fitzgerald will play long enough to move up to No. 2, however. With 15,311 yards, Fitzgerald is 623 yards behind Terrell Owens, in second place.
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Asked if plans to catch Owens, Fitzgerald said: "I don't know. That would require me to play another year, I think. I hope to catch him this year.
"It's been a fun ride and I hope it doesn't come to an end right now," Fitzgerald added. "There are some more things I want to do. We've got three games left and it would be wonderful to win those next three and finish the season on a strong note."
Catching Owens would require Fitzgerald to average more than 200 yards a game to finish the season. Fitzgerald is signed through the 2018 season, but he has not committed to playing beyond this year.
Passing Moss has special significance because Fitzgerald was a Minnesota Vikings ball boy when Moss played there. Moss was one of Fitzgerald's mentors and the two remain close friends, although Fitzgerald said he didn't hear from Moss last week.
"Nobody wants to see their records die," Fitzgerald said. "You have to toe the line and say the right things: 'Oh, man, he's passing me. That's wonderful.' That's not real. You have to be honest with it.
"If anybody would say anything, I know Randy would. If he does or he doesn't, I love him regardless."
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Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered a knee injury in the first quarter, but remained in the game.
Mariota completed 16-of-31 attempts for 159 yards and two interceptions. Mariota has more interceptions (14) than touchdown passes (10) this season.
"Frustration is an understatement," Mariota said. "Defense played lights out. Special teams did their job. And I've been hurting out team. I've got to find ways to get better."
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Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson is probably lucky he didn't get penalized for berating an official, but he might get fined for criticizing one after Sunday's game.
Late in the third quarter, Peterson got shoved by a Tennessee receiver while shadowing him and the result was a 29-yard completion from Marcus Mariota to Eric Decker. Peterson was livid and let up while the play was still going on, turning his back to Decker to yell at the game official.
"If you want the game to be clean on both sides," Peterson said, "you've got to add another ref because I'm tired of hearing the same response when you go to the ref about someone pushing you off. 'Well, we don't see it.' That's not the response I'm looking for. If the game is going to be called both ways, we need to have eyes on both DBs and receivers.
"That was a B.S. call. ... We've got to add another referee to the field to where they can see both sides of the ball. You've got a back judge and you've got an umpire watching defensive linemen and offensive linemen. Why don't we have somebody watching the receivers and the defensive backs? They have to find a way to even it up, for sure. ... I'm tired of hearing that same response, 'I didn't see it.' Why are you on the field then if you didn't see it?"
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Titans head coach Mike Mularkey made a questionable decision in the third quarter when he called a fake punt on fourth-and-1 from the Tennessee 35.
The Titans led 7-3 and the Cardinals had done little on offense to that point. But the fake appeared to work when officials signaled a first down.
Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians challenged the spot of the ball. Officials ruled the Titans were short of the first down, and Arizona took over at the 35.
The Cardinals ended up with a field goal to pull within a point.
"Both officials had the mark as a first down," Mularkey said. "I was standing right behind them. I don't know how it got overturned. Most of those times that play, with all those bodies, I don't know how they saw that. I still don't. I question that immensely, that overturn."
Arians, not surprisingly, had a different view.
"I knew the whistle had blown, and the referee on our side knew the whistle had blown. He came in with his hand up and he was still at the 35. That means the play stopped. So, we had to challenge that."
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No opposing running back has rushed for 100 or more yards against the Cardinals at home the past two seasons -- with one home game remaining in two weeks against the New York Giants.
The Cardinals have only allowed an opposing 100-yard rusher twice overall since the start of the 2016 season. Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams gashed them for 106 yards and a touchdown during a 33-0 rout in London. The only other one to get 100 came a year ago in Week 3 when Buffalo's LeSean McCoy ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
"If you want to try and come in here and run the ball, go ahead," Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said. "Your quarterback is going to have to beat us."
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With Sunday's victory, the Cardinals improved to 7-1 against teams from the AFC South under head coach Bruce Arians.
"I wish we played them every week," Arians said.
