HOUSTON (AP) – Vince Young ran for a 39-yard touchdown in overtime to give Tennessee a 26-20 win over the Houston Texans for a third straight comeback victory and fourth win in a row.

Young ran into the end zone virtually untouched and then jumped into the stands to the open arms of a throng of burnt orange-clad fans. He then blew kisses and waved to a crowd that had cheered the Texans most of the game, but went wild when he scored.

The former University of Texas star who grew up just 6 miles from the stadium once again showed up the team that passed him over in the draft. Houston chose defensive end Mario Williams with the No. 1 overall pick because it already had David Carr.

Two weeks ago, the Titans (6-7) rallied from a 21-0 deficit in the final 91/2 minutes to beat the Giants. Last week, Rob Bironas’ 60-yard field goal in the final seconds beat Indianapolis.

This time they only had to rally from an eight-point deficit. Young’s winning score came on third-and-14; the Titans’ great field position came thanks to a 36-yard kickoff return by Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Carr and the Texans (4-9) had a chance to regain the lead late in regulation, but stalled and settled for a 46-yard field goal by Kris Brown that tied it at 20 with 2:09 remaining. The Texans got the ball back in the final moments of the fourth quarter, but chose to run out the clock.

Young was 19-of-29 for 218 yards passing and he ran for another 86 yards.

The Titans trailed 14-13 before Young engineered a 15-play, 88-yard drive ending with a 2-yard run by Travis Henry to give Tennessee its first lead of the second half, 20-17.

Young and Drew Bennett earlier connected on a 39-yard pass that got the Titans to the Houston 21. Henry cut to the outside and ran for the 9-yard touchdown three plays later to cut Houston’s lead to 14-13.

Young was solid most of the game, with his only big mistake coming with the Titans down by one point early in the fourth quarter. He slipped and fell to the ground, but got up and threw the ball as he was being hit by C.C. Brown. Demarcus Faggins intercepted, but the Texans got only a field goal that made it 17-13 after the offense stalled once again.

Houston’s offense didn’t do much until Ron Dayne entered in the second quarter. He handled the ball on eight of Houston’s nine plays and scored his first touchdown as a Texan on a 1-yard run to give Houston a 7-6 lead.

Dayne helped the Texans extend their lead on a 2-yard touchdown on the first drive after halftime. He finished with 21 carries for 87 yards and his first multi-touchdown game since 2002, when he was with the Giants.

It was Dayne’s second straight big game; he ran for 95 yards against Oakland last week to help the Texans win in a game the team had negative yards passing.

Carr was 17-of-23 for 140 yards, but was unable to come through when the Texans needed a touchdown.

The Titans’ only points of the first half were field goals of 41 and 33 yards.

AP-ES-12-10-06 1700EST

Copy the Story Link