Mariota didn’t use his injury as an excuse, saying after the game that “everybody plays with something”. A very brief moment, that is. He caught a short Brady pass on the first play of the second quarter and bolted for what was initially ruled a 50-yard touchdown.
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That loss came despite a game opening 95-yard drive and a Corey Davis receptions – his first of two scores on the night – that handed the Titans an early lead.
Bill Belichick against Mike Mularkey is an unfair advantage, but then again Belichick against nearly any National Football League coach is an unfair fight. “But I think we’ll have a better chance that way than him being able to escape, throw it deep or run for 30 or 40 yards”. Helping to drive his team downfield late in the game.
Knowing New England, they haven’t thought about their next matchup, yet. A lot of the protection schemes that New England runs on Saturday will be based on those 3 players, and getting the ball out of Brady’s hand quickly should be a goal. But Tom Brady was not going to be denied. This not only gave the Patriots the ball back, but flipped the field as the Patriots took over at the 50 and scored to go up 14-7. With Mariota unable to scramble effectively, Tennessee was unable to mount any kind of offense.
With Brady at the helm, the Patriots are 6-1 against the Titans, and the star quarterback has 13 touchdowns and one interception in those games.
Brady completed 35 of 53 passes on Saturday night (68 percent) for 337 yards and three touchdowns.
Brady’s four-yard TD pass to Gronkowski (six catches, 81 yards) made it 35-7 with 10:22 left in the fourth. In doing so, he also extended his own playoff record to 13 playoff games with at least 300 yards passing. New England will host the victor of Sunday’s Jacksonville-Pittsburgh game next Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
“It was a good team win today”. They came into this game having won two Super Bowls in the past 3 years. “Hopefully, we can go out and play well”. Game time is set for 8:15 p.m. on CBS and 97.3 FM.
Of course, it could simply be that Brady is just so great that he’s managed to make Guerrero’s methods look better than they actually are.
He said New England’s 31 first downs stood out.
Later in the second quarter, another questionable call by the referees resulted in a huge break for the Patriots. Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick: 26-10 in postseason play (1-1 with Browns, 25-9 with Patriots)…
Wide receiver Chris Hogan was a bona fide difference maker in the postseason last season.
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Mularkey didn’t completely blame the officials for the fact that his defense gave up 81 yards after the reversed call, but he did say that it was “pretty big” that the refs chose to change their mind on the play that would’ve been a Patriots punt.
