The New England Patriots actually won a game last week! Even when they are at their lowest of lows, they still find a way to humiliate the New York Jets every single season. Now that the six-game losing streak has been broken, the Patriots have plenty of momentum heading into this upcoming road matchup against the Tennessee Titans, who officially have the worst record in the AFC at 1-6. They are recently coming off a 52-14 demolition defeat at Detroit, in a game where Jared Goff only threw for 85 yards and got sacked four times. The Titans’ offense turned it over three times, the special teams gave up 262 yards, and their defense gave up seven touchdowns because they were given a short field for most of the game. This matchup on Sunday is going to be ugly and it will be boring, but the only thing that either of these teams has to lose at this point is a higher draft pick. Let’s take a look at five of the biggest things to pay attention to in Nashville and see what will give the Patriots a dicey win but could also allow Tennessee to finally get their second win of the year.
NFL Week 9: Patriots Preview
1. Will Drake Maye Be Healthy Enough to Play?
Late in the second quarter against the Jets, rookie quarterback Drake Maye suffered a concussion and was ruled out for the rest of the game. Jacoby Brissett took over and showed up in the clutch on a last-minute game-winning drive, but the biggest question heading into this week is very simple: who is going to start against the Titans? Maye has been limited in practice all week, which is a good sign, but the Patriots know that they have to be extremely cautious with any player that goes through the concussion protocol. Things are trending in the right direction for the rookie, but it would not be surprising if head coach Jerod Mayo decided to give the kid a week to recover and let Brissett take over the reins of the offense for the time being. Either way, this is going to be a difficult day for the Patriots offense. Despite the fact that Tennessee dropped all the way to thirtieth in points allowed because of the 50-burger against Detroit, they are still somehow giving up the fewest total yards and passing yards in the league, while the Patriots have the third-worst offense. Last week’s performance against the Jets was incredibly resilient, but New England will need to pick up where they left off if they want to get the victory in back-to-back weeks.
2. Titans Quarterback Does Not Matter
Titans quarterback Will Levis has missed the last couple of weeks because of a shoulder injury, thrusting Mason Rudolph into the starting lineup. However, while that position has changed, the outcome remains the same. In the games that Levis was healthy enough to play, he proved to be a complete turnover magnet. Before he got hurt, he led the league in interceptions with seven, along with just five touchdown passes. In just three games played, Rudolph has only thrown 133 fewer yards than the designated “quarterback of the future”, but also has just two touchdown passes and three interceptions. The reason why the starter for this game will not matter is because neither of them is expected to look invincible against any defense they go up against. This includes the Patriots, who might be injured on all three levels with a lack of depth in significant areas, but are still capable of shutting down the most subpar offenses in football. However, Tennessee still has a couple of weapons that can impact the game itself.
3. Two Players the Patriots Defense Needs to Slow Down
When it comes to the Tennessee offense, there are really only two players that could give defenses hiccups: running back Tony Pollard and wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Through seven games, the former is six yards short of 500 with three touchdowns, averaging 71 yards a night. In the winter of 2023, when he was still the starting back for the Dallas Cowboys, Pollard suffered a high-ankle sprain in a playoff defeat to the San Francisco 49ers. When he made his return in the regular season, he struggled to gain any consistent production and left in the offseason as a free agent. Obviously, he is not Derrick Henry, but Pollard is still on pace for 1000 yards, so he is certainly a player that the Patriots need to strategize against.
Not too long ago, the Titans traded away DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs, which officially meant that Calvin Ridley would be the number-one receiving option for the foreseeable future. In this past offseason, the former Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars receiver signed a four-year contract worth $30 million a year that included $50 million guaranteed. Unfortunately, he has not lived up to the hype so far. Obviously, the quarterbacks throwing him the football are a huge reason why the numbers are so low, but twelve catches in six games is alarming given the contract. Against the Lions, however, he had his best game of the season with ten catches for 143 yards. It was clearly not enough for Tennessee to avoid a 52-14 blowout defeat, but it at least proved that Ridley is still one of the most talented receivers in the game today. For the Patriots, the goal is simple: shut him down and make the Titans quarterback throw it to somebody else. It is way easier said than done, but given the fact that the starter will be Levis or Rudolph, the mission is not impossible.
4. Don’t Let Simmons and Landry Wreck the Game
Obviously, nobody can talk about the 2024 Patriots without discussing the state of its atrocious offensive line. The good news about last week is that it did not get mauled like they did against this same Jets defense in the third week of the regular season. However, this season is only getting started. Right now, the Titans have totaled just the fifth-fewest sacks in the National Football League. But even the teams with the shakiest pass rushers can have success against the most feeble offensive lines in football, which includes the Patriots. There are really two players that New England has to circle: edge rusher Harold Landry and Jeffery Simmons. Of the fourteen sacks that the Titans have so far, both these players combined for six of them. Arden Key is another guy to pay attention to since he is second on their team with three, but the point is that the Patriots could be in for another long day on the road if they cannot block the most important players on the defensive line.
5. Just Don’t Turn it Over!
Overall, the only way for Tennessee to not have a chance of winning is for New England to hold onto the football. Obviously, their offense needs to score a good amount of points, but they cannot give the Titans any sense of false hope that could lift them up to the top. The Patriots have a -1 turnover differential, with eight giveaways to seven takeaways, so the margin for error against anybody they go up against for the rest of the season is incredibly thin. If anything, the Patriots defense needs to force a few takeaways to give this team a shot. As of right now, the Tennessee Titans are dead last in turnover differential at -13, taking it away just three times (the most in the NFL), while coughing it up sixteen times (second most). Whomever can minimize their mistakes and produce the most efficiency will be able to squeak their way out of this game with a victory, and while a high draft pick is technically a stake, nobody should apologize for getting a win in this league.
Main Image: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
