The Patriots went into this week against the Titans. Coming off a win and looking to build some momentum, they played against what felt like an inferior opponent led by their backup quarterback. The Titans, coming off a 38-point loss to the Lions, certainly didn’t look to be much of a threat, but nonetheless took home a win, 20-17.
Offensively, the Patriots looked poor, as they have all season. The running backs totaled 12 carries for just 15 yards, with Rhamondre Stevenson pushing his way in for a one-yard touchdown. Receivers showed a bit more bandwidth in this game, with five players catching two or more passes.
The centerpiece of the offense, rookie quarterback Drake Maye, was the interesting part. Drake Maye totaled 301 yards, 95 of which came on the ground, but also turned the ball over three times, including the game-losing interception. However, he was the only real semblance of an offense they had. He broke off runs on third and longs that kept drives alive on several occasions. He also made the play of the year for the team, staying alive in the pocket for 15 seconds before lofting a prayer in the endzone for Stevenson, who caught it with triple zeroes on the clock. His trio of turnovers was certainly concerning, with two interceptions and a fumble to his name on the day, but the give and take is what they signed up for with Maye. Continued development should see him clean up on the turnovers while he keeps the positive plays and creativity, he’s shown on scramble drills these past few weeks.
Defensively, after what was a solid week for the unit, I was a bit disappointed with what New England put together. While they only conceded 20 points, allowing 400 total yards to a Mason Rudolph led offense isn’t a great look, nor is 4.6 YPC on 28 attempts from Tony Pollard. I’ll give Jahlani Tavai some credit for a nice diving interception (and overall solid game), but a deflected ball at the goal line isn’t much to take credit for, as the Titans were just a better play call away from 27.
Christian Gonzalez struggled on third downs with Calvin Ridley, a player the Patriots reportedly missed out on during the offseason over just a few million dollars. Jaquelin Roy once again showed some ability with the running game, as he’s become a pleasant surprise as a player with very little expectations. On special teams, we also saw some positive plays, including two long punt returns from Marcus Jones and a 52-yard field goal from Joey Slye.
A few additional notes here, specifically surrounding the inactives. K.J. Osborn was a healthy scratch for the first time all year. Last week, Josh Uche was in the same boat and was shipped off to Kansas City the next day. My expectation is that by the time this article is published he will be playing elsewhere (I predicted the Texans) and if not, then an originally planned trade likely fell through for some reason. Tyquan Thornton was also a healthy scratch, though with him it’s a bit more difficult to tell if a trade has already been put in place or not as this has been the case several times this year anyway.
Maye will face off against his draft classmate, Caleb Williams, next Sunday at 1 p.m. The 4-4 Bears are more talented than New England’s record in my opinion but they are coming off a big loss to the Cardinals that followed a hail mary pass by Jayden Daniels the week before. As much as it pains me to say, I’d expect the Bears to end their two-game losing streak on the tenth and move to 5-4 after a 27-14 win against the Pats.