Titans absolutely botch this forward pass-type play in loss

Eric Edholm

The Tennessee Titans fell to 2-9, clinching their third straight sub-.500 season, in a 43-24 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — and they did it in appropriate style.

Consider this play in the third quarter with the Titans down 27-17 but driving. Rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger threw a pass that should have been picked by Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who had dropped into short coverage. But Cox batted the pass back, and the carom was caught by the man who snapped the ball initially to Mettenberger — center Brian Schwenke.

On a strange-looking play, Schwenke actually looked natural with the ball (he does touch it on every play, after all) and ran like a tight end in an effort to scratch out a few extra yards on what was tantamount to a slop shot in basement billiards.

But Schwenke hasn't been running the gauntlet drills lately, clearly. He coughed up the ball after a hit by Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks, which was recovered by safety Nate Allen.

The refs met and talked about this one for, oh, about 13 real-time minutes before they sorted it out, upheld the call after replay and rewarded the Eagles the ball. Mark Sanchez would lead a TD drive on the ensuing possession, and the Eagles would never look back up 17 points.

Schwenke had a busy game. He totaled one reception (on one target) for six yards, coughed up one fumble and made one tackle, taking down Eagles corner Bradley Fletcher after a Bishop Sankey fumble later. Naturally, Schwenke suffered a knee injury, too.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!