NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Many people come to Nashville to enjoy the atmosphere. They head to Broadway to enjoy good food, music and drinks. The end result is usually a hazy awakening the next morning that requires plenty of water and Tylenol.
On Sunday, the Patriots looked like many of those tourists – slow and impaired – as they took on the Tennessee Titans inside Nissan Stadium.
The Patriots struggled to run and pass while they also struggled to stop the run [...]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Many people come to Nashville to enjoy the atmosphere. They head to Broadway to enjoy good food, music and drinks. The end result is usually a hazy awakening the next morning that requires plenty of water and Tylenol.
On Sunday, the Patriots looked like many of those tourists – slow and impaired – as they took on the Tennessee Titans inside Nissan Stadium.
The Patriots struggled to run and pass while they also struggled to stop the run and pass. This, of course, was against a Titans team that came into the contest 4-4. Tennessee was 1-3 over the last four games and that included a loss to Buffalo and shutout loss to Baltimore.
In the end, the Patriots were handed an ugly 34-10 loss, snapping a six-game win streak. They fall to 7-3 as the Titans scored a season-high in points.
“We didn’t have a great day,” Tom Brady said. “There’s probably a lot of things we’ll look at and wish we done a better job of, but you go on the road in the NFL, don’t play your best football, don’t put any pressure on the other team, don’t score early, don’t stay on the field on third down, it’s unlikely you’re going to win. It was just a bad day.”
The offensive line, which was playing without Shaq Mason (calf) also lost starting left tackle Trent Brown to a back injury in the second half. The Pats also lost tight end Dwayne Allen (knee), who started in place of Rob Gronkowski (back). That resulted in the Patriots routinely losing the battle in the trenches - Brady was sacked three times and hit on six occasions.
It made for an uncomfortable day for Tom Brady as the quarterback never looked comfortable in the pocket. He went 21 of 41 for 254 passing yards and no touchdowns. Julian Edelman finished with 104 receiving yards. James Develin scored the Patriots only touchdown
“Anytime you lose like that, it’s always concerning, but we’ve got a resilient bunch of guys,” Edelman said. “We’ve got to go back to work, take advantage of this week. That’s what we’ll do.”
The Patriots’ visit to Nashville got off to a poor start, but ended in embarrassing fashion.
Down 27-10 in the fourth quarter, the offense tried to get creative. At 11:41, Edelman threw a pass to Brady on third-and-7. The Patriots quarterback had room to run for the first, but stumbled and fell a yard shy of the marker. The Pats stayed out on the field, were whistled for a false start and then Brady threw an incomplete pass, on fourth-and-6, turning the ball over on downs.
On the very next drive, Titans coach Mike Vrabel drew up the same exact trick play. Titans’ receiver Darius Jennings threw a pass to quarterback Marcus Mariota, but he picked up a gain of 21 yards. Tennessee running back Derrick Henry finished the drive with an easy 10-yard touchdown and the Titans pulled away with a 34-10 lead.
“I wanted to see if it looked any better than theirs,” Vrabel said of the play call.
That was all Bill Belichick needed to see. Brady was benched in favor of Brian Hoyer, who finished the contest, with 7:13 left in the game.
It was really like that from the get-go. Jennings took the opening kickoff 58 yards and the Titans scored on their first series, with Mariota hitting Jonnu Smith for a 4-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, the Patriots offense never got into a rhythm. Their run game mustered 40 total yards and averaged 2.1 yards per carry.
Josh Gordon (81 yards) shined in moments - his 44-yard reception set up a 52-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski – but the Patriots rarely had momentum. Instead, Tennessee scored 17 points in the first quarter and were up 24-10 at the half.
“We knew what they were going to do. We just didn’t execute well,” said Duron Harmon. “We didn’t play zone well. We didn’t play man well. Didn’t tackle well in spurts. That’s what happens when you’ve got good skill players like that and you don’t tackle well, don’t get on them, they make you play.”
The Patriots defense struggled in spurts allowing two passing and two rushing touchdowns, but the offensive performance was abysmal. The lone touchdown came from Develin in the second quarter. The Patriots’ only three drives of the third quarter ended with the punt team. They went scoreless in the second half.
Next up for the Patriots is a much-needed bye week following one of their worst performances of the season.
“You better learn from a game like this,” Edelman said. “The weeks get harder and harder… We’ve got to go out and we’ve got to watch this film and we’ve got to fix it. This is when you start separating or you fall behind.”