Young's 39-yard romp in OT lifts Titans past Texans

HOUSTON (AP) -- So much for the Texans proving they made the right decision by not drafting Vince Young.

Young ran for a 39-yard touchdown in overtime Sunday to give Tennessee a 26-20 win over the Houston Texans for a third straight comeback victory and fourth win in a row.

Scouts Inc.'s take ...

Tennessee was too strong for the Texans, who accounted for traditional ball carriers but had no answer for Young (86 yards rushing). Runners other than Young (above) had 132 yards. Young rushed 39 yards for the winning score in OT. The Texans could not sustain drives -- they were 2-for-11 on third down (18 percent). Of Houston's 12 possessions, only four lasted more than five plays. Houston must find a way to keep its defense off the field longer.

He dashed into the end zone virtually untouched and then jumped into the stands to the open arms of a throng of burnt orange-clad fans. He then blew kisses and waved to a crowd that had cheered the Texans most of the game, but went wild when he scored.

"I felt like it was in slow motion -- the whole thing," cornerback Dunta Robinson said of the winning score. "It took forever to unfold. Like a bad dream. It is a sick feeling. It is a bitter feeling and you will probably think about this until you see them next year."

Young, who led the Titans to a 28-22 win over Houston earlier this year, once again showed up the team that passed him over in the draft. Houston chose defensive end Mario Williams with the No. 1 overall pick because it already had David Carr.

"You don't say it's personal, but this was kind of personal because the team went out and went against everyone and got the defensive player (in the draft)," said Texans defensive end N.D. Kalu. "This was our chance to prove to the city that we made the right choice."

But once again they weren't able to do it.

"It was a hard-fought, great football game that we did not make the plays to finish," said Texans coach Gary Kubiak. "When we start making those plays we will win our share of games."

Two weeks ago, the Titans (6-7) rallied from a 21-0 deficit in the final 9½ minutes to beat the Giants. Last week, Rob Bironas' 60-yard field goal in the final seconds beat Indianapolis.

This time they only had to rally from an eight-point deficit.

"Once again, like in the last month, every Sunday, I stand up here and say: 'Wow, we found another way to do it,' " said Titans coach Jeff Fisher.

Young's winning score came on third-and-14; the Titans' great field position came thanks to a 36-yard kickoff return by Adam "Pacman" Jones.

Young was 19-of-29 for 218 yards passing and he ran for another 86 yards.

Carr and the Texans (4-9) had a chance to regain the lead late in regulation, but stalled and settled for a 46-yard field goal by Kris Brown that tied it at 20 with 2:09 remaining. The Texans got the ball back in the final moments of the fourth quarter, but chose to run out the clock.

"It's an empty feeling," Carr said. "It's a loss. It hurts us ... but we've got to move on. We can't just hang our heads."

The Titans trailed 14-13 before Young engineered a 15-play, 88-yard drive ending with a 2-yard run by Travis Henry to give Tennessee its first lead of the second half, 20-17.

Young and Drew Bennett earlier connected on a 39-yard pass that got the Titans to the Houston 21. Henry cut to the outside and ran for the 9-yard touchdown three plays later to cut Houston's lead to 14-13.

Young was solid most of the game, with his only big mistake coming with the Titans down by one point early in the fourth quarter. He slipped and fell to the ground, but got up and threw the ball as he was being hit by C.C. Brown. Demarcus Faggins intercepted, but the Texans got only a field goal that made it 17-13 after the offense stalled once again.

Houston's offense didn't do much until Ron Dayne entered in the second quarter. He handled the ball on eight of Houston's nine plays and scored his first touchdown as a Texan on a 1-yard run to give Houston a 7-6 lead.

Dayne helped the Texans extend their lead on a 2-yard touchdown on the first drive after halftime. He finished with 21 carries for 87 yards and his first multi-touchdown game since 2002, when he was with the Giants. Dayne ran for 95 yards against Oakland last week to help the Texans win in a game the team had negative yards passing.

Carr was 17-of-23 for 140 yards, but was unable to come through when the Texans needed a touchdown.

He refused to acknowledge the loss was any more painful because it came at the hands of Young.

"It's a loss man," he said sounding slightly agitated. "It's going to be great for you all writing some stories ... and congratulations to the Titans and their team and Vince."

The Titans' only points of the first half were field goals of 41 and 33 yards.

Game notes
The crowd of 70,769 was the second largest in Texans history. ... Titans right guard Benji Olson missed his first game since 2004 with back spasms. ... Titans WR Bennett had six receptions for 113 yards. ... Texans rookie DeMeco Ryans, who leads the team in tackles this season, had 14 on Sunday. ... Texans DE Antwan Peek got his first sack of the season. ... Sunday marked the first time that Faggins had an interception and a fumble recovery in the same game. ... Texans rookie RB Chris Taylor made his NFL debut against the Titans.