NFL Old School Game of the Week: Bironas' 8 Field Goals Thwart Texans' Miracle 4th Quarter Comeback

Titans kicker Rob Bironas set the NFL record for most field goals in one game in Tennessee's 2007 win over the Houston Texans.

Usually, when a kicker has to kick eight field goals in a game, a team's coaching staff would look at that as perhaps a problem or an indication that they need to get their red zone offense meant.
But for the Tennessee Titans, they were happy to get eight field goals in their week 7 matchup with the Houston Texans as they needed all eight of their field goals to pull out a win against their division rival.
The Titans entered the game with a 3-2 record, hoping to build off an 8-8 season which saw former Texas quarterback Vince Young be named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after leading the Titans to four 4th quarter comeback wins while he threw for 2,199 yards and ran for 552 yards while accounting for 19 touchdowns(12 passing, 7 rushing).
Young has helped in his comeback wins by kicker Rob Bironas who kicked the game-winning field goal in three of those comeback victories, including a 60-yarder to beat the Indianapolis Colts.
But for the first time since he became the starting quarterback in Tennessee, Young would not play as a strained right quadriceps muscle kept him on the sidelines, forcing the Titans to go to veteran quarterback Kerry Collins as the starter for their Week 7 game in Houston.
The Texans entered the game with a 3-3 record as they hoped to earn their first winning season since their inception into the NFL in 2002.
In hopes of reaching that milestone, the Texans traded two second-round picks to acquire Matt Schaub from the Atlanta Falcons in hopes he would lead the Texans to over .500.
Schaub led the Texans to their first ever 2-0 start, before losing three of their next four games before their meeting with the Titans.
If the Texans were to get back on the winning track, they would have to do without their star wide receiver Andre Johnson, who was missing his fifth game in a row because of a sprained left knee.
The Titans got the ball to start the game and come out throwing as Collins threw two passes on the first two plays of the game, which were both complete and went for 31 yards to give Tennessee a 1st down at the Texans' 38-yard-line.
The Titans would only pick up four more yards on the next three games forcing them to settle for a 52-yard field goal attempt by Bironas which he made to put Tennessee on the scoreboard first.
The Texans would get the ball at their 24-yard-line for their opening possession of the game but on 2nd & 11 from the 23-yard-line, Jacoby Jones fumbled the ball after catching a pass from Schaub, when Jones was hit by Titans linebacker David Thornton.

Titans quarterback Kerry Collins would complete 25 of 42 passes for 280 yards in relief of starter Vince Young.

Titans cornerback Nick Harper recovered the fumble at the Houston 23-yard-line, only to have the Titans give the ball right back to the Texans when on 3rd & 7 from the 20-yard-line as Titans tight end Bo Scaife fumbled the football after a six-yard catch when he was hit by Texans cornerback Demarcus Faggins to give Houston the ball back at its 14-yard-line.
The Texans would go three-and-out on their ensuing possession, but would force a second straight turnover which this time resulted in a touchdown as linebacker DeMarco Ryans knocked the ball loose when he sacked Collins, then picked up the loose football and ran 26 yards for the touchdown to give Houston a 7-3 lead with 9:35 left in the first quarter.
After forcing the Titans to go three-and-out on their next possession, the Texans got the ball at their 42-yard-line and drove to the Titans' 40-yard-line until Schaub was knocked out of the game when a sack Titans cornerback Cortland Finnigan injured his hip and ankle, forcing the Texans to send in backup Sage Rosenfels.
Rosenfels' first pass was intercepted by Harper whose 30-yard return set the Titans offense up at the Texans' 38-yard-line.
From there, the Titans would drive 31 yards in nine plays before calling on Bironas to kick a 25-yard field goal which trimmed the Houston lead to 7-6 with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Titans would get the ball back at the Texans' 49-yard-line for their next possession early in the second quarter where it took them one play to set up a 1st & goal as Collins hit Roydell Williams for a 39-yard completion to the Houston 10-yard-line.
However, the Titans would pick up only six more yards on the next three plays, forcing them to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Bironas to give Tennessee a 9-7 lead with 11:49 left in the second quarter.
The Tennessee defense would force the Texans to go three-and-out on their next drive to give their offense the ball at their 23-yard-line when Collins got hot as he completed a 24-yard pass to Justin Gage on 3rd & 5 from the Titans' 28-yard-line, which was immediately followed by a 15-yard completion to Scaife to give Tennesee a 1st down at the Texans' 33-yard-line.
Five plays later, Collins handed the ball off to White, who punched it in for the one-yard touchdown for the Titans' first touchdown which increased their lead to 16-7 with 5:49 left in the first half.
The Titans would force another three-and-out to get the ball back at their 49-yard-line where White carried the ball five times for 24 yards on nine-play, 38-yard drive which culminated with a 30-yard field goal by Bironas to increase the Tennessee lead to 19-7 with 69 seconds left before halftime.
It seemed like the Texans would have the ball for the rest of the first half as they would attempt to drive for some points but would give the ball back to the Titans when Rosenfels fumbled the football at the end of a two-yard run which was recovered by Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck, giving Tennessee the ball at the Houston 32-yard-line with 45 seconds and all three timeouts in their pocket.
Collins would complete four passes in a row for a total of 22 yards before Fisher called on Bironas again to attempt a 28-yard field goal with four seconds left in the half.
For the fifth time in the first half, Bironas would tack on three points on the board for the Titans as they went into the halftime break with a 22-7 lead.
The Texans would get the ball to start the second half but on the third play of their opening possession of the half, Rosenfels would be intercepted agian by Harper, who gave the Titans the ball at the Houston 30-yard-line.
But once again the Titans could not get into the end zone and had to settle for another field goal as Bironas kicked a 43-yard field goal to increase the Tennessee lead to 25-7 with 10:58 left in the third quarter.
After forcing another three-and-out, the Titans would put together their longest drive of the game: a 12-play, 73-yard drive which took over six minutes off the clock and ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Chris Henry to make it 32-7 in favor of the Titans with 3:05 to go in the third quarter.

Titans running back Lendale White carried the ball 27 times for 104 yards and scored a touchdown.

It seemed at this point that the Titans had this game in the bag with a 25-point lead and the fact that they had held the Texans to just 42 yards of total offense.
But to paraphrase Han Solo, that was when the fun began.
The Texans would begin its next possession at their 30-yard-line and drive 70 yards in nine plays as Rosenfels completed five of six passes for 50 yards on the drive, with the last completion being a seven-yard touchdown to David Anderson, which was followed by a two-point pass to Davis to make it a 32-15 game with 13:48 left in the fourth quarter.
The Titans took over at their 20-yard-line and immediately picked up a 1st down as White ran for 28 yards to the Tennessee 48-yard-line, but a three-yard run by Henry and two straight incomplete passes forced the Titans to punt the ball back to the Texans who took over at their two-yard-line.
On the first play of the drive, Rosenfels dropped back into his end zone and fired a deep pass for Davis, who made a 53-yard catch, only to have it nullified because of offsetting penalties.
But two plays later on 3rd & 9 from the three-yard-line, Rosenfels would go deep again, this time with Kevin Walter making the catch for 40 yards to give Houston a 1st down at their 43-yard-line.
After an offsides penalty on Titans defensive tackle Randy Starks gave the Texans five extra yards, Rosenfels would complete four consecutive passes for 52 yards, three of those going to Walter for 37 yards, with the last one being a six-yard touchdown that cut the Titans' lead to 10 points at 32-22 with 8:20 to go in the fourth quarter.
It looked like the Texans were going to get the ball back as they forced the Titans to go three-and-out again on their ensuing possession, only to have Anderson muff the punt, which was recovered by Titans cornerback Reynaldo Hill to give Tennessee the ball at the Houston 33-yard-line.
But the Titans ended up going backwards as they lost six yards on three plays, forcing them to punt the ball again to the Texans, where they would take over at their 12-yard-line.
Any chance of a Houston comeback seem to go out the window on the first play of the drive as Rosenfels was intercepted by Bulluck, whose 12-yard return set up shop for the Titans at the Texans' 17-yard-line with 4:14 left in the game.
The Titans would run the ball three straight times, gaining six yards as the Texans spent two of their three timeouts in order to save as much time as possible.
Bironas would come on to kick a 29-yard field goal which not only tied the record for most field goals in a NFL game, but increased the Titans' lead to 35-22 with 3:49 remaining.
With the ball at their 25-yard-line and needing two touchdowns to win, the Texans went to their no-huddle offense as Rosenfels threw a pass on all 12 plays of the Texans' ensuing possession, completing seven of them for 75 yards with the last one being a seven-yard touchdown Jeb Putzier to bring the Texans to within a touchdown at 35-29 with 1:41 to go.
Both teams knew what was coming next: an onside kick which would be the Texans' last hope if they were to have any chance at pulling off the miracle comeback.
Kris Brown' onside kick looked to be successful as it was recovered by Anderson only to have the recovery nullified because the Texans were offsides, pushing them back five yards and trying the onside kick for a second time.
Lightning would strike twice as Brown's kick bounced off the Titans' Ben Hartsock and into the arms of the Texans' Zach Diles giving Houston the ball at their 34-yard-line with 1:32 to go and a chance to drive for the go-ahead touchdown.
After an offsides penalty on Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth gave the Texans five free yards, Rosenfels connected with Anderson and a 1st down at the Houston 47-yard-line, which was followed by an incomplete pass setting up 2nd down.
That is when Rosenfels decided to go deep and found Davis for a 53-yard touchdown that with Brown's extra point gave the Texans their first lead of the game at 36-35 with 1:06 to play.

In the 4th quarter alone, Texans quarterback Sage Rosenfels completed 17 of 24 passes for 252 yards and threw four touchdown passes.

Having their 25-point lead evaporated, the Titans would get the ball at their 20-yard-line with 56 seconds left and a chance to drive into field goal range to give Bironas a chance to save Tennessee and allow them to escape with the win.
Collins hit Roydell Williams for 17 yards to begin the drive, then fired two straight incomplete passes to set up 3rd & 10 from the Titans' 37-yard-line.
That is when Collins went deep and hit Williams for a 46-yard completion to put the Titans at the Texans' 17-yard-line.
White would run for six more yards before Fisher called timeout with two seconds left as he sent Bironas and the field goal unit onto the field for the game-winning field goal.
If Bironas made the kick, not only would he give the Titans the win, but he would break the record for most field goals in a NFL game.
The Texans called timeout in an attempt to ice Bironas but to no avail as Bironas calmly made the 29-yard field goal as time expired to give Tennessee a 38-36 win and Bironas the record for most field goals in a NFL game with 8.
The Texans would go on to finish the season 8-8, their first non-losing season in franchise history, but it would take them until 2011 to finally make the playoffs as they finished that season with a 10-6 record and the AFC South division title.
As for the Titans, Young would return to the lineup the following week and help lead Tennessee to a 10-6 record as they grabbed the last Wild Card spot in the AFC, only to be eliminated by the San Diego Chargers 17-6 in their AFC Wild Card game.
As for Bironas' record he would remain the Titans' kicker through the 2013 season until his release in March of 2014.
Six months later, Bironas would be killed in a car crash at the age of 36.