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Titans Come up Short in Comeback Attempt, Lose 17-10 to Raiders.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Titans provided more drama, more defense, and another last-minute drive on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.

They weren't able to provide a win, however, and it felt like a punch in the gut.

"It's tough to take,'' linebacker Brian Orakpo said after the team's 17-10 loss to the Raiders. "We were resilient, we fought all the way until the end, and we had some things go against us at the end. It hurts to lose this one. No one is happy about it.

"But I'm telling you, we have the arrow pointing up in the right direction. It's a whole different brand of football that's being presented out here at Nissan Stadium. This loss hurts, but I'm still optimistic. We're still optimistic. We're going to win ball games."

The Titans fell behind 17-3, but nearly rallied to tie it late.

A fourth-down pass from quarterback Marcus Mariota to receiver Harry Douglas fell incomplete in the end zone with 12 seconds left.

Moments earlier, the Titans had a touchdown negated because of an offensive pass interference call against receiver Andre Johnson. The Titans made it all the way to the three-yard line at one point, but an unnecessary roughness penalty on tackle Taylor Lewan backed them up.

"We had a chance to win a game, all the way to the last play we had a chance to win the game and not play the best of football consistently,'' coach Mike Mularkey said. "We made some plays. Again, there's a lot we can learn from these games, there's a lot of good things happening with our team. But this is a fine line in this business, if we make some mistakes, it'll make it hard to win."

Running back DeMarco Murray finished the game with 114 yards on 16 carries, along with a touchdown. He became the team's first 100-yard rusher since Chris Johnson did it in the final game of the 2013 season.

Quarterback Marcus Mariota was 17-of-33 for 214 yards in the contest, with two interceptions, and a fumble.

The Titans kept the Raiders, ranked No.1 in the NFL in total offense entering the game, off the scoreboard in the second half. Mariota kicked himself for his mistakes.

"I thought (our defense) played great,'' Mariota said. "They gave us an opportunity to win the game. We have to play better on the offensive side of the ball so we can kind of match what they are doing on defense."

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead early on a 34-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop, the Raiders scored 17 straight points to take control of the game in the first half.

The Raiders scored a touchdown on their opening possession on a 22-yard run by Latavius Murray to make it 7-3, and following a Mariota fumble, they made it 10-3 on a 52-yard field goal by kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

The Raiders stretched the lead to 17-3 just before halftime on a 19-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Derek Carr to Seth Roberts.

A five-yard touchdown run by Murray cut Oakland's lead to 17-10 with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter.

The two teams played a scoreless fourth quarter.

The Titans, who played without tight end Delanie Walker and receiver Kendall Wright, took over at their own 20-yard line with 1:51 remaining, with a chance to tie it. An eight-play, 68-yard drive put them in great position. But this time, unlike their come-from-behind win at Detroit last week, they weren't able to finish.

The Titans (1-2) travel to Houston next Sunday to face the Texans.

"We can't blame the refs,'' Titans linebacker Avery Williamson said. "I thought we were about to have another fourth-quarter victory, but we just couldn't get things to go our way.

"We have to bounce back and be ready to get a win next week."

The Tennessee Titans take on the Oakland Raiders in Week 3 action at Nissan Stadium. (Photos: Donn Jones, AP)

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