The best thing that happened on Friday night was that the Patriots preseason officially ended. That means we can turn the page to the 2023 NFL regular season and the team’s Week 1 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.
However, before the Patriots completely turn the page on a brand-new season, they took the field with a makeshift unit on Friday night against the Tennessee Titans. Those hoping to get a glimpse of Mac Jones and this new Bill O’Brien offense were left disappointed.
Bill Belichick opted to sit most of his starters on this night and instead, focused on roster-bubble players, rookies, and some veteran players. This was their last chance to impress the Patriots brass before Tuesday’s cut-down day where every team will whittle their roster from 90-to-53 players.
It wasn’t always pretty on this night inside Nissan Stadium. The Patriots offensive output was almost non-existent, gaining 79 total yards. The defense fought, at least in the fight half. When it was all over, the Titans beat the Patriots, 23-7, to wrap this preseason up.
Here’s a look at who is trending up and who is trending down after the Patriots preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans:
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Trending Up
Calvin Munson
Calvin Munson entered Friday night on the bubble. He may enter next week on the Patriots 53-man roster.
The linebacker/special teamer was extremely active against the Titans. Munson drew the start and immediately impacted this game for the Patriots.
At 7:32 of the first quarter, Tennessee had the ball at the 5-yard line. On the next play, Munson shot up through their offensive line to drop running back Julius Chestnut for a 4-yard loss. The Titans ended up kicking a field goal. In the next Titans series, Munson intercepted Titans quarterback Malik Wilson on a pass intended for Josh Whyle with 27 seconds left in the first quarter. Through the first four series, Munson led the Patriots with three tackles to go with an interception and tackle for loss. He finished with 10 tackles.
Another defensive player who made an impact was Sam Roberts. The defensive end finished with seven tackles, a sack, three quarterback hits and two tackles for loss.
Patriots early run defense
The run defense was stout as soon as this game started.
In the first drive, on the first snap, Titans back Tyjae Spears was stuffed for a loss by Sam Roberts. Next, he was stopped by Mack Wilson and Marte Mapu on a 3-yard gain and on third down, Josh Uche stopped the Titans back for a one-yard gain to force a punt.
In the second Titans drive, Anfernee Jennings Spears for a loss of 1-yard on second-and-10. Jennings stopped Spears for a gain of one yard later in that drive as well. On the next play, the back was stuffed at the line of scrimmage by Jack Jones.
In the first two series, Spears averaged 0.5 yards per carry, rushing for three yards on six carries.
The Titans third series started five yards away from the end zone, due to a Zappe turnover, but the first snap saw linebacker Calvin Munson drop Chestnut for a 4-yard loss. The Titans backup running back was then stuffed by Carl Davis and Joe Giles-Harris on the next play.
In three series, the Titans had minus one rushing yard on eight carries. It was a nice improvement over what felt like a disappointing performance last week in Green Bay.
Kayshon Boutte
It was good news for players who were either healthy scratches or only played a little on Friday night. That’s why Kayshon Boutte’s playing – or lack thereof – felt significant.
The rookie receiver started this game against the Titans. However, Boutte played just one series on offense and then his night was over. That leads us to believe one of two things: either this sixth-round has already proved enough to make the Patriots 53-man roster or the Patriots don’t want to showcase his skillset to try and get him through waivers and onto their practice squad.
Boutte had a strong training camp and finished tied for fifth with the most catches in camp (28). He tied Kendrick Bourne and DeVante Parker. Only JuJu Smith-Schuster, Demario Douglas, Rhamondre Stevenson and Hunter Henry caught more passes this summer.
Last week, Boutte caught two passes for 49 yards and that included a 42-yard touchdown. It feels like the Patriots have seen enough with this young receiver.
Trending down
Offensive line and Andrew Stueber
Bailey Zappe got the start on Friday night. His offensive line had a tough task against the Titans defense, which included several starters. The Patriots started a line of Andrew Stueber (left tackle), Chasen Hines (left guard), Jake Andrews (center), Riley Reiff (right guard) and Sidy Sow (right tackle).
The results weren’t pretty.
The group went three-and-out to start this game. It got worse in the second series. On the first snap, Zappe saw the pass rush and tried to move in the pocket. Denico Autry got by Stueber and strip-sacked Zappe and Jayden Peevy recovered to give the Titans the ball back on the 5-yard line at 7:43 of the first quarter.
In the next series, Stueber gave up another sack. This time, on third down, he was beat by Rashad Weaver at 2:42 of the first quarter.
Then, at 14:22 of the second quarter, Reiff went down after Sow rolled into his lower right leg. The veteran was removed from the game and didn’t return. Reiff has been playing right guard as the Patriots have been without starters Michael Onwenu and Cole Strange. The veteran looked like a starter. It’s the worst-case scenario if the Patriots have suffered another injury to their offensive line.
Bailey Zappe
People didn’t get Zappe fever this summer or on Friday night. You also have to feel for the second-year quarterback.
After a solid rookie season, where fans were clamoring for Zappe to replace Mac Jones, the young quarterback not only lost the Patriots quarterback competition but didn’t make the same impression this preseason. It’s also hard to blame him. Behind a shaky backup offensive line, Zappe didn’t have a lot of room to work with this summer.
However, it is a result-based business. On Friday, Zappe played into the fourth quarter and the results weren’t great. The quarterback wasn’t always accurate and fumbled three times (recovering two). The worst came when Zappe was stripped by Denico Autry at 7:43 of the first quarter and looked careless with the football on the play. We even saw Bill O’Brien yell at Zappe on the sideline at one point in the third quarter.
Zappe finished 8-of-15 for 57 yards against Tennessee. He went 30-of-51 (59%) for 253 yards with a touchdown this preseason and never pushed Jones for the starting job.
Trace McSorley and Malik Cunningham each received one series under center. McSorley went 0-for-1 and Cunningham went 0-for-2.
Jack Jones
Jack Jones has a pretty big off-field distraction with a court date coming up next month. Although this cornerback has had a very good summer (leading the Patriots with 11 pass breakups in training camp), he didn’t have a very good night on Friday.
Jones was on the field longer than any potential impact defensive player for the Patriots. His play wasn’t great. In the first half, Jones was called for a big defensive pass interference penalty, stiff armed on a long run and then gave up a long reception.
At 10:26 of the first quarter, Jones was flagged for a 32-yard DPI while covering Chris Moore. This came on a third-and-11 pass, which was under thrown, by quarterback Malik Willis. Then at 1:17 of the first quarter, Jones went to tackle Spears and was stiff-armed out of the way. That led to the Titans running back gaining 19 yards on the ground. At 4:09 of the second quarter, Jones gave up a 30-yard reception to Colton Dowell.
It also felt odd that Jones played the entire first half. His court date is scheduled for Sept. 15.
