Closer look

Titans receiver makes all the big plays ... except the last one

By John Donovan, SI.com

On the Titans' last gasp, the ball bounced off Drew Bennett's hands and fell harmlessly to the turf. Rick Stewart/Getty Images

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The first ball that Drew Bennett caught on the last drive of Tennessee's season probably shouldn't have been caught at all. In fact, it probably shouldn't have been thrown at all.

But Steve McNair threaded it in, and Bennett somehow caught it, and he somehow kept both feet inbounds, and the Titans continued their march to what surely looked like a tying field goal. Maybe even a winning touchdown.

The second ball that Bennett caught in the fateful drive -- man, it was almost as good. Textbook stuff. Snagged with the hands, toes touching just inside the sideline. First the left foot down, then the right. It was a thing of beauty.

The third ball was probably the easiest catch of all.

"Yeah," Bennett said. "Probably."

Only ...

Only Bennett didn't catch it. And, so, the Titans' drive ended, and so did their season, in a 17-14 loss to the New England Patriots on a frigid night at Gillette Stadium. The Titans go home. The Patriots, winners of their past 13 games, host either the Kansas City Chiefs or Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game next Sunday.

"Somebody needed to make a play," a downcast Bennett said after the game. "And I couldn't make it."

No, Bennett didn't make it. On fourth-and-12 from the New England 43, with Tennessee quarterback McNair under a heavy blitz from Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, Bennett couldn't save the Titans' season. McNair lofted the pass into the air right before Harrison leveled him from the right side of the Titans' line, and Bennett saw the whole thing, coming back for the jump ball.

He jumped for it and ...

Ah, but before that, Bennett was a hero. He was about to write his name into Tennessee lore, right beside Frank Wycheck and Kevin Dyson and Home Run Throwback. That first catch of that final drive was unbelievable. New England cornerback Tyrone Poole was in front of him, and safety Eugene Wilson behind him, but McNair somehow snuck the ball past Poole and Bennett, a third-year wideout from UCLA who caught 32 passes this season, grabbed it as he was falling out of bounds. The Patriots challenged the call, but replay upheld the decision on the field. It was a catch, and a doozy.

"He's a tough player. When he comes up, he's clutch," said Wycheck. "He's always stepping up and making big plays. That's just the way he is."

As big as that play was, though, the Titans were still found themselves in trouble later in the drive. An intentional grounding call, followed by a hold, put them in a third-and-23 from their 47-yard line.

That's when Bennett made his second catch, a toe dragging, fingertip grab good for 11 yards that set up the last throw from McNair. That, too, was so close it was reviewed. That catch, too, was upheld.

"It's a shame," Wycheck said, "that it didn't work out at the end."

In the end, with Harrison bearing down on McNair, Bennett came back for the jump ball, went up ... and the ball hit him in one hand, then the other, and fell to the turf. It could have been caught. Given the two amazing catches that Bennett had just made, it probably should have.

And no one knew that more than Bennett.

"It's tough to end a game like that," he said. "That's definitely one that will stick with me throughout the offseason.

"I didn't get my hands clean on it. It's too bad. They gave me a chance and I didn't catch it."

Bennett ended the game with three catches for 48 yards. McNair completed 18 of his 26 passes for 210 yards, with one touchdown pass and one interception.

On the sidelines, as the clock ran out on the game, the quarterback was seen consoling the young wideout who let the Titans' season slip off his fingertips. Afterward, though, there was no consoling Bennett. He made huge plays when it counted.

But the one that will be remembered is the one he didn't make.