After slow start, Patriots' defense dominates in playoff victory over Tennessee

FOXBOROUGH — You take a couple weeks off for vacation, you’re going to be a little rusty on your first day back.


That’s as reasonable an explanation as any for what happened to the Patriots’ defense on Saturday. After sitting and watching during wild-card weekend, New England yielded 108 net yards and a touchdown to Tennessee on the Titans’ first two offensive drives of the night.

“It’s never really an excuse,” said safety Duron Harmon. “But we just kind of had to get going. And once we got going and got comfortable and settled in, we were able to make plays.”

And then, the game was fundamentally done. On their last eight drives, the Titans had just one touchdown and 129 net yards total. That included 80 yards on their final drive of a game, a point in the contest where the Patriots were more than happy to trade yards for time off the clock.

In all, New England finished with eight sacks. Marcus Mariota was held in check, finishing 22-for-37 for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Derrick Henry had 12 carries for just 28 yards. And Tennessee didn’t run a single play in New England territory in the second half until there were just over four minutes left in regulation.

It short? After some sluggishness in the early going, the New England defense more than held up its’ end in Saturday’s 35-14 win over the Titans.

“They did a good job,” Mariota said of the Patriots’ defense. “They had a guy spying me throughout the game trying to keep me within the pocket and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to them. They covered well and I just wasn’t able to get the ball out.”

It all started with being able to contain the wily Mariota. While there were some early breakdowns — including a pair of 11-yard scrambles on Tennessee’s first scoring drive of the night — the front seven did a good enough job on the young QB to help build a first-half lead.

“Be responsible,” said defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois when asked to describe the plan of attack against Mariota. “Don’t try to get all wild and get over the top or try to shoot up field. You got to rush somebody like that responsibly, because a guy like him can just break and just go and run.”

“Obviously, we had a big emphasis on trying to keep Mariota in the pocket and not allow him to escape and be able to make big plays running or throwing,” said veteran defensive back Devin McCourty. “But I thought that was a big difference – obviously, playing well on first down, in the run game and trying to force them into some third-and-longers – and we did that. And then when we did it, the pass rush, they just did a great job – some of those with three-man rushes. I think we executed the game plan really well up front.”

The team defense and containment led to an unprecedented night for the pass rush, as the eight sacks for New England represented a Patriots’ playoff record. Deatrich Wise and Geneo Grissom each had two, while Marquis Flowers, Trey Flowers, Adam Butler and Francois all had one each.

“Our execution has gotten better on the pass rush,” said Bill Belichick. “It always helps to play from ahead so you can make the game one dimensional (and) make it a passing game. It’s always easier to rush the passer in that situation. But, we’ve had a lot of guys step up – Marquis, Adam Butler, Deatrich, Ricky had a couple good rushes. It’s good to have Kyle [Van Noy] back. So, a lot of different guys contributed. Trey Flowers – Trey had a good night. He was hard to block. So, we had a lot of guys really do a good job there.”

In the end, it was more than enough for the New England defense, which has gone from being a much-maligned group to two wins away from a Super Bowl title.

“It’s been a long road,” said cornerback Stephon Gilmore. “(But) we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”