The Tennessee Titans have a tough task ahead of them on Saturday night.
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Derrick Henry is a 6-foot-3, 247-pound running back who can pound away and keep the Patriots’ offense off the field. The Titans have 18. The Titans will have to play a near-flawless game on Saturday evening in order to pull off another major upset.
In 2018, defenses don’t have to be great or game-dominating – though Minnesota, Jacksonville and Philadelphia are nearing that category – they have to make a handful of big plays. The Patriots are 25-9 in the postseason under Belichick.
15 years ago, the Titans traveled to Foxborough to take on the Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs and they came up just short, losing 17-14. After all, this is the playoffs and this is Tom Brady.
Today’s game will be Bill Belichick’s 37th career playoff game as a head coach, breaking a tie with Tom Landry and Don Shula for the most in National Football League history. Henry and quarterback Marcus Mariota will again have to hijack the game, which won’t be as easy in Foxboro. He struggled in the lone game he played after suffering the injury against the Miami Dolphins on December 11 and was subsequently shut down for the remainder of the regular season. Brady completed just 61.3 percent of his passes for an 81.6 passer rating and a 6-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio in five December games, and he often didn’t look himself.
Do you think the Tennessee Titans have a chance on Saturday?
The Titans scored first as Marcus Mariota threw a ideal pass to Corey Davis, who made an incredible one-handed diving catch in the end zone to give the Titans a 7-0 lead with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter. And once a flurry of 21 Patriots points in 12 minutes forced the Titans to start throwing, the pass rush feasted.
Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia says Henry is powerful with a risky stiff-arm. This week it’s more. Yet, with Belichick as head coach, he and LeBeau have faced off in the playoffs only once: the 2004 AFC championship game that New England won in Pittsburgh 41-27. That’s more such players than the 11 other 2017 playoff teams combined (13).
“Henry has got a ton of skill, and he’s got power, good vision”, Belichick said. “It doesn’t surprise me”. Johnson said. “Going from being a rotational guy and to starting and being the first person out there to get a feel of the game, it helps to get that first series, get a feel of it and assess what you’ve got from the drive. It’s a gradual process”.
There has been a lot to talk about during the last week as the Patriots got some needed rest.
“I don’t think our team has ever read and believed the hype”, Brady said during his weekly WEEI Boston radio appearance. “We went out and proved we can be the real winning team”. We’ve tried to do that all year. That’s concerning because he’s 40 years old and he also faded down the stretch when he last played a complete season, back in 2015. It’s been that way for a long time. The Chiefs also lost tight end Travis Kelce to a concussion right before halftime and had a call go against them that could have resulted in a fumble recovery on a Mariota sack.
“You don’t take anything for granted”. “We kept working, kept grinding, had faith in one another”.
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Prediction: The Titans recipe to win has to be Henry running for 150-200 yards and quarterback Marcus Mariota making some big plays, especially if he can get the Titans into the red zone.
