#StayCovered Defensive Play of the Game: Stephon Gilmore's sack of Marcus Mariota

There were only a handful of standout defensive plays for the Patriots Sunday in their 34-10 loss to the Titans, but the corner blitz from Stephon Gilmore that led to a sack of Marcus Mariota was easily the best moment of the afternoon for the New England defense.

On the Titans’ second play from scrimmage in the fourth quarter, the Patriots corner was part of a group of rushers to the right side of Mariota who took down the quarterback on a nice blitz. The sack knocked the Titans back seven yards and forced them to punt the ball.



It was one of two sacks on the afternoon for the Patriots — linebacker Elandon Roberts had the other — and the first of Gilmore’s seven-year career. It was one of the only highlights of the afternoon for Gilmore, who appeared to have issues with Tennessee receiver Corey Davis.

“I could have won that matchup a little bit more, but he made some plays today,” Gilmore said of Davis. “I have to give my hats off to them.”

As for the defensive performance on Sunday, in many ways, it was an exact opposite of the performance the Patriots had the last couple of weeks, where they had appeared to turn the corner in many aspects. But they had problems against one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league coming into Sunday.

“It changes every week,” Gilmore said. “You have to be prepared every week, and you have to play every week. No matter what you did last week, each week you have to take that approach. We didn't play good this week.

“We had a good week of practice. We just didn't play well (Sunday).”