The New England Patriots have made a superb start to the game: Tennessee Titans, overtaxed with 35:14, will once again host the AFC Championship Game! New England’s offensive pace was too much for Tennessee.
It wasn’t really exciting for too long – but at least in the first quarter Tennessee, who had to compete without the injured DeMarco Murray, managed to gain a little respect: The Defensive Front controlled the Line of Scrimmage impressively well, while Marcus Mariota (22/37,254 YDS, 2 TD; 4 ATT, 37 YDS) conducted a remarkable 94-yard offensively. The result was a perfect touchdown pass to Corey Davis, who caught his first NFL touchdown in the playoffs and spectacularly with one hand!
New England, without the shattered Burkhead and Gillislee but again with Hogan, had some problems at the beginning and found no rhythm. But that changed quickly: The Pats switched to No-Huddle and overran Tennessee so completely, the Titans didn’t find any answers to the short passes, the outside-runs and brady’s adjustments on the line of scrimmage in the tempo-opense. A long catch-and-run from Lewis put New England in position, James White caught the short shovel touchdown.
That’s how it went on. Brady (35/53,337 YDS, 3 TD) held his foot on the accelerator and quickly made the Titans Defense tired, a second lightning drive ended with White’s second touchdown and so the Pats took the lead for the first time in the second quarter. Even before the half-time break, Hogan raised his play-calling pattern to 21:7.
The big problem from Titan’s point of view in the second half was then no longer New England’s warp speed offense – but the more aggressive defense. The patriots got braver in the pass rush and caught Mariota several times, some Titans drives ended directly due to Sacks. New England limited Mariota’s runs and forced him to play from the pocket, which caused Mariota and Tennessee’s offense a lot of problems.
For example, in the second half of the game sputtered for long stretches, New England managed the game with a strong defence and extended its lead with another touchdown drive, completed by a short run of Bolden from the I formation. Rob Gronkowski (6 REC, 81 YDS, TD), whom Brady successfully sought against Man Coverage and here against Safeties again and again, added another touchdown in the last quarter – the Pats are once again aligning the AFC Championship Game!
New England Patriots – Tennessee Titans 35:14 (0:7,21:0,7:0,7:7) BOXSCORE
In this sense, no single scene, no single play – it was rather the sheer dominance of the patriots in the second quarter, which in the end was particularly sticking. After Tennessee had gotten off to a good start in the game, Brady dismantled the defence from the opener. As a result, New England became more aggressive in the pass rush and during the second half, patriots were able to manage the game extremely comfortably. One got the impression that the Pats in the second quarter just made serious and so decided the game.
No team allowed more receiving yards through opposing running backs this season than the Titans – a huge mortgage in a duel with the Patriots. And that’s how things happened that hardly anyone could have been surprised: Dion Lewis (9 REC, 79 YDS) and James White (4 REC, 29 YDS, TD) constantly caused enormous difficulties for Tennessee. The matchup problems here were key factors for the successful tempo opense of the Pats.
Anyone who had hoped that Tennessee could possibly cause problems for the patriots through inside-pressure was quickly misled. Brady’s pocket behaviour was once again brilliant, and when New England went into the No-Huddle-Offense, Brady showed his Maestro skills and did a pre-snap with the Titans Defense.
Tennessee’s offensive wish identity is no secret: with the Run Game you determine the rhythm of the game and with the Offensive Line you physically control the line of scrimmage. This seemed to be the best chance in Foxboro as well, after all New England had problems in the pass rush and edge-run defense throughout the whole season. But apart from the early touchdown drive, there was nothing to see. Rather, it was New England that dominated the line of scrimmage, especially in the second half.