The New England Patriots went down to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans. What happened? Here are my biggest takeaways in the immediate aftermath. FINAL SCORE: Titans 20 – Patriots 17
— This game was a slog. Until it wasn’t.
— It was filled with flags, shanks, bad snaps, bad blocking and an overall cattywampus performance from both teams. Then Drake Maye led the Patriots on a nail-biting, skin-of-their-teeth drive to tie the game as time expired.
— You know those quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen who can run around forever and eventually throw the ball to a guy who’s not even on the TV screen when he releases it? Yeah, the Patriots have one of those now in Maye.
— Maye pulled off a play the likes of which we’ve never really seen from a Patriots player. On the final play of regulation, Maye scooted around for a whopping 11.82 seconds and flung the ball out as he was hit. For a moment, it looked like a hopeless prayer. Then it found Rhamondre Stevenson in the endzone for a game-tying score.
— You can watch the play here. It’s worth it.
— The Patriots were the beneficiaries of another miracle in overtime. On the opening drive of the extra period, Tennessee had no problem methodically driving down the field with the running game. But then the Titans botched a snap on third down in the red zone, forcing them to settle for a field goal.
— But two miracles weren’t enough for New England. Maye had the Patriots driving with a chance to tie or win. However, he threw the chance away when he tried to hit Kayshon Boutte on a deep ball. The pass had no chance and was easily picked off by Amani Hooker to end the game.
— Hunter Henry remains Mr. Reliable for the Patriots offense. With drops haunting so many of this team‘s receivers, he‘s become Maye’s security blanket on gotta-have-it throws. His catch on fourth down in the closing seconds of regulation kept this game alive.
— “We‘ll just let you know when there isn’t a penalty.” That was FOX play-by-play man Jason Benetti’s response to a string of plays marred by penalty flags early in the third quarter. It more or less summed up the afternoon.
The Titans simply did a terrible job of keeping Maye contained. He took off running on multiple occasions with no defenders in sight for 10 yards.
— At one point, Maye scrambled for five yards to get a first down, only to have it called back due to holding. Well on the next play, he scrambled again, this time picking up 23 yards on 3rd-and-16.
— Maye flirted with Patriots history. He ran for p5 yards on the ground. That’s the third-most in one game by a Patriots quarterback, behind only Babe Parilli (96) and Steve Grogan (103).
— Ultimately, the Patriots offense is better when Maye is running the show. The offense is toothless when thing go as planned. However, Maye can make things happen off-script, whether it’s scrambling for yards or buying time to find a receiver.
— Still, going with a rookie quarterback is always going to have some problems. Maye made a bad decision on this first-half interception. Things got worse when he was strip-sacked in the fourth quarter.
— The Patriots simply could not run the ball on designed handoffs against the Titans. At one point, Rhamondre Stevenson had eight carries for 10 yards. That’s just over a yard a carry.
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— Jeffery Simmons was a big reason why. He‘s not a household name. But he’ll still ruin your game.
— But there was good news: Stevenson only needed one yard to punch in a go-ahead score to make it 10-7 in the third quarter.
— New England’s offensive line juggling act continues. Rookie Layden Robinson started the game at right guard before appearing to get benched. Mike Onwenu bumped inside to take his spot while Demontrey Jacobs took over at right tackle.
— The Patriots offense looks like it’s finally starting to figure out how to take advantage of Pop Douglas. New England has been drawing up more and more plays to get the second-year receiver the ball in space. He also made a brilliant one-handed catch in the third quarter.
— Every team has a song they play after the home team scores touchdowns. The Patriots have “This Is Our House” by Bon Jovi. It appears the Titans have “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. That’s certainly a… unique choice to set the atmosphere of a touchdown celebration.
— Linebacker Ochaun Mathis almost pulled off the Shea McClellan/Jamie Collins move on a field goal attempt. The linebacker pulled an uber-athletic move, jumping over the offensive line into the backfield on the Titans’ final extra point attempt of the game. What made it even more impressive was that Mathis had his hand in the dirt before snapping up and jumping. It was awesome, but it didn‘t work. Mathis didn’t close in fast enough to get the block.
