Surrender the Titans
Ideal script to cure what ails coach, QB
FOXBORO — There was not a warrior spirit about the Tennessee Titans last night. They were not willing to give up their life to beat Tom Brady. They weren’t even willing to give up a fingernail for that matter.
They were willing to give up though, which they did early in the second half of last night’s AFC divisional round playoff extravaganza when they allowed their quarterback, Marcus Mariota, to be sacked three times the first six times they handled the ball, punts excluded.
After the last of those sacks the Titans, trailing 21-7, were staring at thirdand-31 from their own 2. Faced with such a dilemma, they handed off to running back Derrick Henry, who became a 247-pound white flag.
The Titans’ surrender became complete a few minutes later, when their defense turned to Jell-O and offered little resistance during a nine-play, 56-yard Patriots scoring drive. Tennessee had by then conceded to the obvious. It didn’t belong on the same field as the defending Super Bowl champions.
Realizing this, Patriots coach Bill Belichick decided this had become more like Pop Warner football than NFL football, so equal playing time was in order.
Facing their own thirdand-1 situation at the Tennessee 6, Belichick turned to the bench and called on the kid who never gets in. He hollered out the name not of Rob Gronkowski or Dion Lewis or Tom “The Storm” Brady. Instead he handed the ball to seldom seen Brandon Bolden, who churned out a 4-yard gain and two plays later walked through a wide hole over right guard for a 2-yard touchdown that ended any semblance of a competitive game at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots had won their past six divisional round games by an average margin of victory of 16.3 points, having made a habit of beating up the palookas who show up after having won a wild card game. Last night, the margin was wider, a 21-point swing in a 35-14 victory, because the palookas from Tennessee never should have made the playoffs in the first place. If they are a playoff team, there are too many teams in the playoffs.
Next Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at the Big Razor should be a closer shave than last night’s non-competitive exercise, because the only thing that could have helped undermatched Tennessee keep it close was running time . . . which in the second half would have been appropriate.
After a long week of angst and denials about a possible rift between Brady, Belichick and The Boss (not Bruce Springsteen, Robert Kraft) about how the future should play out in Foxboro, the perfect antidote for lingering dyspepsia arrived. Remember the Titans!
If there is a rift that needs to be mended in the offseason one way to begin the healing process was the ineptitude of the Tennessee Titans in the face of the Patriots. Take one look at the Titans and Belichick and Brady should realize they’re better off together than they will ever be individually.
Brady had shown some wear the past five games, but after nearly two weeks rest he was Tom Terrific once again. He threw for more than 300 yards for the 13th time, a playoff record, and launched three touchdown passes for a playoffrecord 10th time, breaking a tie with his boyhood idol, Joe Montana. He was his old self, but not old in and of itself.
Defensively, the Pats sacked the usually mobile Mariota eight times and held what passes for an offense in Tennessee to a 33 percent conversion rate on third down (5-of-15). Although they are a far cry from the Steel Curtain, the Patriots defense was made to look like the Iron Curtain by the helpless Titans.
This beating was so onesided that with nearly six minutes remaining the stadium was more than half empty and red brake lights dotted the night air up Route 1 as even Patriots loyalists were doing a Roberto Duran and crying “No mas!” The Titans had long ago beaten them to it.
So now the Pats move on to the winner of today’s playoff game between Pittsburgh and Jacksonville. One would expect that to be a far more formidable confrontation because the Steelers nearly beat the Pats a month ago and the Jags at least have a fierce defense to counter an offense not much more competent than the Titans’.
Whoever emerges from that battle of the titans will be considered an underdog next Sunday, but not one as far under as last night’s dogs, the Titans. Tennessee opened up as a 14-point ’dog and then played like such dogs they nearly doubled down on that number.
Frankly there wasn’t a lot one can take from last night’s Patriots vs. Palookas pounding. You already knew the Patriots had a formidable offense and a defense that, at least inside the red zone, is tougher than 10 miles of detour. You also knew the Titans had no place in this game or in the playoffs.
This has been the case for seven straight divisional round games now, hammering home the point that the AFC only has two or three truly competitive teams. Consider yourself lucky that the most competitive of them resides here in Foxboro, a fact both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady would be wise to remember.