The Tennessee Titans finally got a huge performance from one of their wide receivers in Week 10, as Nick Westbrook-Ikhine came up with two game-changing catches en route to finishing with five for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
Westbrook-Ikhine’s first touchdown catch on his career day came in the second quarter when the Titans orchestrated a two-minute drive to come away with points to end a first half that was awful otherwise.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill hit Westbrook-Ikhine near the sideline, and NWI was able to get his feet down to secure the touchdown grab.
“We had a rep just like that [in practice],” Westbrook-Ikhine said, per John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “I was able to run a route to the back pylon. Ryan delivered the exact same ball he did in practice, so I had full confidence in making that play.”
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine 🙌
📺: Watch #DENvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/SiATxFCKcf
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) November 13, 2022
The biggest play of the game for the offense came in the third quarter when the Titans called a flea-flicker that worked to perfection. NWI was running all alone down the field, and Tannehill hit him with a strike.
Making the play even more impressive was the fact that Westbrook-Ikhine had to make a move in the open field to complete it.
FLEA FLICKER ALERT
📺: Watch #DENvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/LObJZf9dd6
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) November 13, 2022
“Sometimes the wide-open ones you think a little bit too much,” Westbrook-Ikhine said. “Ryan delivered a great ball and the line had great protection on both those [touchdowns].
“I feel like there was at least three or four times we walked through [that play] or jogged through it in practice, and we executed it exactly how we needed it. It was great.”
Westbrook-Ikhine and the Titans’ receivers have been widely criticized this season for several issues, including drops and the failure to separate.
But this past week, the 2020 undrafted free agent signing of the Titans said he wasn’t aware of any criticisms about the group before its historically bad showing in Week 9, which wasn’t well received by fans to say the least.
“No one was saying this earlier in the year when we were making plays, so I’m just going to ignore all that and go back to work and just try to get better and make the plays that we need to make; that’s all it is,” he said after last week’s game.
While this showing won’t do anything to quell the long-term concerns about the Titans’ receivers, it will at least keep the critics at bay for a little while.
“That hit me last night and I really felt like we carried that into today — not worrying about what people say,” Westbrook-Ikhine said. “They can say whatever they want. We’ve just got to be ourselves.”
“Our mindset was just be us, be pros, handle ourselves like pros, ignore all the outside noise,” he added. “That’s all we can do. That’s what our job is. That’s our job description. That’s what we came to do.”
