Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ 34-10 loss to the Titans in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
GAMEBOOK
HEADLINES
Where to start? Do you want to go with the offensive inconsistency? The defensive struggles? Or special teams coming up short? The Patriots were lacking in all three phases Sunday against the Titans. Tom Brady (21-for-41, 254 yards) and the New England offense were 3-for-15 on third down, and they failed to reach the end zone on their last nine drives of the afternoon. The defense allowed five scoring drives of seven plays or more, Tennessee hit on 42 percent of its third-down chances, and finished with a season-high 34 points, almost doubling its per-game average coming into Sunday. (The Titans were 29th in the league in scoring before Sunday, averaging just 16.8 points per game.) Special teams breakdowns meant the Titans started three of its first six drives on the New England side of the field. In all, considering the opponent (a .500 team on a short week) it was the worst performance of the season over the first nine games for the Patriots, and the worst possible way for this team to head into the bye week.
"It was a bad day for all of us," lamented Brady after the game.
Mike Vrabel outcoached Bill Belichick: The former Patriots linebacker got the better of his mentor on Sunday, coaching an excellent game by taking a page out of Belichick’s playbook. On offense, that meant steady, controlled drives. On defense, they got good pressure on Brady, they (mostly) did a good job of avoiding Brady’s play-fakes, and they won on first and third down. A lot of this is due to the incredibly high number of ex-New Englanders they have, but it was still a credit to them that they weren’t spooked when the Patriots cut the lead to seven in the second quarter. They weren’t intimidated. They continued to play their game. They didn’t turn the ball over. And they executed at the most important times. Looked an awful lot like the Detroit game, to be honest, another contest where Belichick was outmaneuvered by an old friend.
"We stayed aggressive, we stayed very complimentary," Vrabel said. "(We did a) great job on third down, getting some stops, some huge stops defensively. The offense stayed aggressive I felt like up until I pulled the plug on them a little bit and said, 'Hey, let's just get this thing down here and let's just grind it out and kill some clock.'"
This was an emotional game for both teams: Former New England running back Dion Lewis was gloating after the game, saying of the Patriots, “That’s what happens when you go cheap. You get your ass kicked.”
— Dion Lewis (@DionLewisRB) November 11, 2018
The stumble LMAOOOOpic.twitter.com/d8EA7ZLHof
— #FreePhillipDorsett (@ftbeard_17) November 11, 2018
We ? you, @Titans!
Mariota is catching passes!
?: CBS #TitanUp pic.twitter.com/F7QZO6X2Ya
— NFL (@NFL) November 11, 2018
Mike Vrabel on running the double-reverse pass shortly after the Patriots did: "I wanted to see if it looked any better than theirs."
It did.
— Mike Jones (@ByMikeJones) November 11, 2018
Julian Edelman:
James Develin:
#FullbackSzn #GoPATS pic.twitter.com/PObGQ0409v
— #FreePhillipDorsett (@ftbeard_17) November 11, 2018
Kyle Van Noy:
Stephon Gilmore:
Corey Davis. Patriot Killer. Blatantly interfered with and still comes up with the scoring snag. #TitanUp pic.twitter.com/bDQ25coA0e
— Marc Whiteman (@MarcWhiteman) November 11, 2018
Tom Brady/pass protection:
Coverage on punt and kick returns:
It’s going to take a miracle for the Patriots to land home-field advantage.
New England needs to get back to doing what it does best on offense.