Jake Locker returned to the lineup, his defense forced four turnovers and the Tennessee Titans (4-6) picked up a road win in a 37-3 pummeling of the Miami Dolphins (4-5).

“Our defense put us in some good situations all day,” said Locker. “It wasn’t pretty at times, but we found ways to move the chains.”

A dislocation to his non-throwing shoulder had sidelined Locker for the previous five games. In his first game back, the second year quarterback threw for just 122 yards on nine completions. Two of the nine completions, however, were touchdowns.

Chris Johnson’s 17 yard touchdown run late in the first quarter put Tennessee ahead 14-0 following a nine yard touchdown catch made by rookie receiver Kendall Wright. That drive needed only four plays to reach the end zone following a fumble by Reggie Bush that Tennessee recovered at the Miami 28 yard line.

Johnson ran all over the Dolphins defense with 126 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.

Tennessee extended its lead to a three touchdown margin when linebacker Colin McCarthy intercepted Ryan Tannehill and returned it 49 yards to paydirt. Only three plays earlier, McCarthy was forced to leave the game due to a re-aggravation of an ankle injury he was battling.

“I just needed to settle down a little bit,” said McCarthy. “I got turned a little bit. I just had to take a couple plays off, but I got back in there.”

McCarthy’s pick was the first thrown by Tannehill in six weeks. He went on to throw two more, which resulted in field goals.

Tannehill completed more than twice as many passes as Locker, 23-9, and threw for nearly 100 yards more, 217-122, but it was Locker’s ability to preserve possessions by not turning the ball over that made all the difference in the final score.

Jared Cook’s 26 yard touchdown reception capped off an 85 yard drive to open the second half and gave the Titans a 31-3 advantage.

Dolphins coach Joe Philbin’s impatience grew thin, and he benched Bush and offensive lineman Richie Incognito for stretches following a fumble and a personal foul penalty, respectively.

“It was embarrassing, to say the least,” Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake said of his team’s performance. “There’s no explanation, no excuse.”

Tennesse now enters its bye week, while the Dolphins will look to rebound up in Buffalo on a short week, as they face one of their AFC East rivals on Thursday night.

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Sunday night the Indianapolis Colts (4-3) had lost 10 consecutive road games dating back to last season, and they were ready to take a win any way they could get it.

For Andrew Luck and the Colts it took two 80 yard touchdown drives in the fourth quarter and overtime combined to seal the team’s first victory away from Lucas Oil Stadium in more than half a season on Sunday against their division rival, the Tennessee Titans (3-5).

Indianapolis running back, Vick Ballard, went airborne and semi-back-flipped toward the end zone on a 16 yard catch and run on the first and only possession of overtime to end the contest.

It was Luck’s only touchdown pass of the afternoon, but the timing was impeccable.

“I threw it and I saw a Titans uniform flash and I thought, ‘Oh, God, this may be the end of the game in the wrong way,’” said Luck, who threw for 297 yards. “What a wonderful individual effort by Vick Ballard to get it in there.”

Both teams put up field goals in the first quarter. Titans quarterback Matthew Hasselbeck, who threw for 236 yards and a touchdown, connected with rookie wide receiver Kendall Wright for a touchdown on a 23 yard pass toward the left sideline of the end zone with only a minute remaining in the first half.

The two sides traded field goals the rest of the way until late in the fourth quarter when Indianapolis trailed 13-6 and was in need of a touchdown to tie the game.

With 10:56 to go in regulation and at his own 20 yard line, Luck took what the defense gave him. He relied on safe throws to open targets, and with 3:24 left on the clock, running back, Delone Carter, made his way into the end zone from one yard out to tie the score.

Running the football was very much a success for Indianapolis. They totaled 171 yards on the ground. In fact, Luck was responsible for 28 of those yards on 6 rushes.

Titans running back Chris Johnson had 99 rushing yards of his own on 21 carries.

The Titans had their opportunity to win the game following Carter’s touchdown, but were forced to punt after moving the ball all the way down to the Indianapolis 41 yard line.

After winning the coin toss and choosing to receive, the Colts allowed running back, Donald Brown, to do most of the heavy lifting in overtime.

But it was a 3rd and 8 conversion that put Indianapolis in position to end the game with a touchdown. Luck found veteran receiver, Reggie Wayne, in the middle of the field for a 20 yard gain down to the Tennessee 16.

Two plays later, Ballard was sprinting toward the end zone on a short pass from Luck, doing all he could to make sure he could get the ball inside the left pylon as he flew around it with his face pointing toward the sky.

The play was ruled a touchdown on the field, and after review the call remained the same. The game was over and the Titans were left shell-shocked at how quickly things appeared to make a complete 180.

“I don’t really understand how we lost the game,” said Hasselbeck.

Tennessee’s hoping that this won’t be the start of a trend, given that they’ll be seeing a lot of Luck for years to come.

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With 195 rushing yards and two touchdowns, Chris Johnson carried the Tennessee Titans (3-4) on his back all day long.

But it was Matthew Hasselbeck’s heroic, lone touchdown pass– a 15 yarder to Nate Washington on 4^th and 9– while approaching the game’s final minute, which put Tennessee in a position to escape Buffalo with a 35-34 victory over the Bills (3-4) on Sunday.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hasselbeck said. “To pull through once again in a close game for our third win in a game that came down basically to the last play was a great feeling.”

The veteran Hasselbeck has led the Titans to two consecutive dramatic victories since replacing Jake Locker, who has been out with a dislocated non-throwing shoulder since Week 4 at Houston.

Each of the first three quarters saw at least three combined scores between the teams.

That theme made its way out the door in the fourth, however. There would be only a single occasion where either side made it on the board, and those points were just enough for Tennessee to squeak by yet again. Their three victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills have totaled a mere seven points.

“All of us, we really feel like a team,” said Hasselbeck. “It’s kind of an all hands on deck, whatever it takes to win is what we’re going to do.”

Buffalo trailed most of the game, but one wouldn’t get that sense after hearing the rather interesting comments of frustration made by Bills linebacker Nick Barnett.

“I’m really disappointed,” said Barnett. “They shouldn’t even be in the game with us. I mean I hate to sit here and say this because we lost, but they shouldn’t have been in this game. We should’ve beat them— bad.”

The Bills will be entering their bye week, while the Titans will host the 3-3 Indianapolis Colts.

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For all the talk this year about Chris Johnson losing his step and not being worth his new contract that made him one of the highest paid players in the league, he’s recently found his legs and just in time as the Titans make a push for the playoffs.

After a two month hiatus Johnson has comeback in a huge way rushing for 190 yards last week, and this time rushing for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, as the Titans gave the slumping Bills another loss 23-17. The Titans now sit at 7-5 and are in a tie for the final wild card spot with four other teams.

The Bills, who started the season on fire, now find themselves at 5-7 and out of the playoff race losing their fifth straight on Sunday. The Bills are now in a battle for the bottom of the AFC East as Miami beat Oakland on Sunday and pulled to within one game of the Bills. For the Titans, next up is the red hot New Orleans Saints who are coming off a big win over the Detroit Lions.

“In the beginning of the season, the passing game carried us, and now it’s time for the running game to step it up,” Johnson said. “The offensive line and everything is hitting on all cylinders right now, and hopefully we can continue to keep this momentum going.”

The Titans moved ahead when Johnson broke a run 48 yards for the score and they never looked back. On the Titans next possession he ran another in from four yards out which put Tennessee up 17-7. Rob Bironas added three field goals along with two fumbles the Titans won an easy one over the Bills.

Buffalo which looked like an early team to contend for a playoff spot, rushing out to a 5-2 record, has gone into a tailspin. The Bills are currently  looking more like the team that was 0-8 last year, and that no one expected to do anything this year. ”Extremely shocked and disappointed: All those words,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “The way we’ve played lately hasn’t been good enough.”

C.J. Spiller who has been filling in for the injured Fred Jackson had a career high 83 yard performance and a touchdown. His touchdown came on a 35 yard run. Stevie Johnson, who was under fire for his antics during last weekends’ game when he mocked Plaxico Burress by pretending to shoot himself in the leg after he scored a touchdown, had 5 catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.

“Last week was last week,” said Johnson, “We moved on to the Titans and we tried to get this W and we came up short.” The Bills looked like they might mount a comeback, but ran out of time at the end of the game. The Bills try to snap their losing skid next week when they travel to the West coast for a showdown with the San Diego Chargers, who snapped their own losing streak with a win Monday night over the Jaguars.

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Tennessee will head to Buffalo on Sunday looking to keep pace with the rest of the teams in the wild card hunt. Tennessee is seeking its first back to back wins in almost two months and will need to make a run in the last few weeks in order to have a shot at making the playoffs. The Bills on the other side will probably have to win out the rest of their games just to have a shot at making it.

Tennessee is in a position where it could maybe catch up to the first place Houston Texans with the Texans down to their third-string quarterback T.J. Yates, a rookie from North Carolina, and the recently signed Jake Delhomme. With the teams finishing out the season against each other a few wins and Tennessee could be playing for the division in that final game.

“We’re aware of where we are in the standings every week and what our situation is, and that’s why we have to realize how important this game is for us,” coach Mike Munchak said. “We’ve got to win if we’re going to have a chance to play more than 16 games.” The Bills suffered their fifth straight road loss and fourth loss on the road last Sunday when they fell 28-24 to the New York Jets.

“We have to win out, and we probably have to get some help — and that’s what I told the team,” coach Chan Gailey said. While the offense, which had been lacking in the previous three losses, bounced back against the Jets, too many penalties doomed the Bills in MetLife Stadium. They committed a season high 9 penalties and gave up 138 yards on just 23 carries to a running game that had been struggling.

The Bills are giving up 123.8 yards on the ground per game which is ranked 21^st in the league, and it won’t be easier for them this week as they face running back Chris Johnson who is coming off his best performance this season rushing for 190 yards. Another problem for the Bills could be if they let the Titans get to the red zone as they rank second to last in TD efficiency inside the 20 and the Titans hold the NFL’s highest mark scoring a TD over 70 percent of the time they get there.

With leading rusher Fred Jackson out for the year, and C.J. Spiller not filling the role effectively so far the Bills will have to rely on Ryan Fitzpatrick and the passing attack to put up points. That plays right into Tennessee’s strength as they have the 13^th ranked passing attack giving up only 229.1 yards per game.

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