A week after giving away a game, the Tennessee Titans were handed one by the New York Giants.
Chris Johnson ran for 125 yards and two touchdowns, Vince Young threw a touchdown, and the Tennessee defense forced three turnovers in beating the error-prone and undisciplined New York Giants 29-10 on Sunday.
The victory was the 10th straight against an NFC opponent for the Titans (2-1) and their fifth straight over the Giants (1-2), who have now lost two in a row.
The Giants missed two field goals; had two drives inside the Titans 6-yard line end in turnovers; gave Tennessee a safety with a chop block in the end zone; and committed five personal fouls, including two by offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie that led to him being yanked from the game.
New York got a 50-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes and a 10-yard touchdown run by Ahmad Bradshaw in a game in which it outgained the Titans 471-271.
The mistakes, however, made the one-sided yardage figures meaningless.
After turning over the ball seven times in a loss to Pittsburgh last week, the Titans didn’t lose it once against New York and were more than happy to take advantage of Giants errors.
The go-ahead score came early in the third quarter with the game tied at 10. On a third-and-10 from the Giants 1, Manning found Mario Manningham for a 44-yard pass down the sideline.
The play was nullified when Bradshaw was flagged for a chop block in the end zone, which resulted in a safety.
Rookie Matt Dodge sent a line-drive 53-yard punt downfield on the ensuing kickoff and Marc Mariani returned it 22 yards to the Titans 49. Six plays later Young, who was lifted in the loss to the Steelers, hit Kenny Britt on a 13-yard touchdown pass for a 19-10 lead.
The Giants had a chance to get back in the game on the next possession, but Bradshaw, who had runs of 22 and 20 yards, fumbled at the Titans 5 after being hit by Michael Griffin and Alterraun Verner recovered.
That play ended with Giants tackle David Diehl being called for a personal foul for ripping the helmet off the head of safety Cortland Finnegan.
Tynes, who missed from 53 yards in the first half, missed on a 44-yarder early in the third quarter. The wide-right kick came after New York was called for a delay of game, then a miffed McKenzie got his first personal foul after the play.
Rod Bironas added a short field goal after the miss and Johnson, who scored on a 1-yard run in the first half, iced the game with an 8-yard run to the pylon.
Johnson had his streak of 12 straight 100-yard rushing games snapped last week, but he got back on track this week.
Tennessee jumped to a 10-0 lead on a 48-yard field goal after lineman Sen’Derrick Marks picked off a deflected pass on the opening series. After Tynes missed his 53-yarder, Johnson carried nine times for 35-yards on a 10-play drive that ended with his 1-yard run.
The Giants tied the game on Tynes’ long field goal and an impressive nine-play, 63-yard drive late in the first half capped by Bradshaw’s run that followed a 20-yard pass from Manning (33 of 47 for 385 yards) to Manningham.