Brady, Patriots appear to hold decided edge

| This is when Tom Brady is at his best. Not only is it the postseason, but the Patriots feel under siege, with a swirl of questions about strained relationships among their quarterback, coach and owner. No one harnesses an us-againstthe-world mentality better than the Patriots, who play host to the Titans in a divisional playoff game Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

“We do what we always do. We show up to work and try to do the best we can do,” Brady said this week. “We know there’s a lot at stake, and everyone’s put a lot into it. It doesn’t really matter what happened outside of this facility.”

With Brady at the helm, the Patriots are 6-1 against the Titans, and he has 13 touchdowns and one interception in those games. He’s 6-0 against teams coached by Mike Mularkey.

The Titans, who last week won their first postseason game since 2003, are not ready to wave the white flag.

“It’s not like it’s the preseason where I can go out there, ‘Oh, it’s Brady,’ and I’m chillin’,” Titans safety Kevin Byard said. “This is a playoff game. So I don’t really care if it was Joe Montana. I’m trying to go out there and win the game.

“Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but it’s a playoff game. I’m not really looking at it like that.”

The matchup pits the oldest and youngest quarterbacks in the playoffs. Brady is 40, the Titans’ Marcus Mariota 24. Those 16 years represent the biggest age gap for starting quarterbacks in postseason history.

Since Brady took over as the starter in 2001, quarterbacks making their first or second postseason start against the Patriots are 0-7.

But Brady downplayed the experienceversus-youth storyline.

“It comes down to how well you play,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about old guys are going to win or young guys are going to win, the home team, the road team.

“It’s going to come down to execution. No one’s going to be able to do it for you.”

This has the makings of a Patriots blowout. The Titans were lucky to get out of Kansas City with a win; the deflection back to Mariota for a touchdown was bizarre. The best thing to happen to the Patriots was all of the outside noise. That only sharpens their focus.