Patriots pull away from Titans 36-13, knock off AFC’s top seed

FOXBORO — The Patriots’ path to the AFC’s top seed is suddenly well-lit and clear.

The Pats blasted Tennessee 36-13 on Sunday, knocking off the conference’s best team with second-half shutout. Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson forced a fumble in the third quarter and snatched an interception in the fourth, while wide receiver Kendrick Bourne caught two touchdown passes. A wounded Titans team played without its leading rusher and top two receivers, but hung tough with strong red-zone defense.

For that, Pats kicker Nick Folk had an answer, going 5-of-6. His only miss was from 53 yards away seconds before at halftime.

Now 8-4, the Patriots can secure the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a Baltimore loss to the Browns on Sunday night. Offensively, the Patriots punted once in 11 drives, and rookie quarterback Mac Jones went 23-of-32 for 310 yards and two touchdowns.

To start, the Titans (8-4) stumbled into a three-and-out and a fourth-down penalty that wiped out a strong punt from Brett Kern, who shanked his follow-up kick and allowed a solid return that dropped the Pats offense at Tennessee’s 37-yard line. Nine plays later, Jones lofted a perfect, 4-yard parabola toward the right corner of the end zone, where it dropped into Bourne’s hands for a touchdown.

Trailing 7-0, the Titans answered with a marathon, 14-play march that spilled into the second quarter. Ryan Tannehill (11 of 21 for 93 yards, TD, INT) went 5-of-5 over the series, including a 1-yard connection with receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine who crawled untouched across the goal line. Originally ruled down short of the end zone, Tennessee was awarded a touchdown after a successful challenge. Though the Titans still trailed 7-6, with kicker Randy Bullock clanged his extra point off the right upright.

The Pats struck back with a short Folk field goal, forging a 10-6 score midway through the quarter. Riding a rejuvenated run game back downfield, the Titans drove into Patriots territory again before stalling out and kicking their own field goal. Except Bullock’s boot again gravitated toward the right upright and doinked off.

Despite their good fortune, the Pats couldn’t deliver an early knockout blow and settled again for two more field goals around a fumble by Tennessee running back Dontrell Hilliard. With less than a minute left, the Patriots defense quickly backed the Titans into a third down. But then Hilliard found an escape hatch up the middle, bursting through for a 68-yard touchdown run that silenced Gillette Stadium.

With 37 seconds and two timeouts left in the half, the Pats offense could only cross midfield, setting up a long Folk field goal before intermission. While Folk hooked his 53-yarder wide right, he nailed a gimme coming out of halftime to double the Patriots’ lead to 19-13.

On the next series, their run defense sprung another leak with Titans backup Dont’a Foreman running free. But Jackson tracked him down from behind and punched the ball down and out of Foreman’s right arm. Fellow corner Jalen Mills slid to recover it against the sideline, injecting new life into the crowd.

After a trade of punts, it was Bourne’s turn for a standing ovation, when he slipped one tackle, broke another and tip-toed down the same sideline for a 41-yard touchdown. Again, the Titans drove deep into Pats territory, but Devin McCourty tipped a fourth-and-goal pass in the end zone and Jackson snatched it for his team-leading seventh interception.

Damien Harris tacked on a 14-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, leaving no doubt about who should reign in the AFC.

Here were the best and worst Patriot performances from Sunday:

Best

K Nick Folk He’s the team MVP through 12 weeks.

WR Kendrick Bourne Bourne’s career year continued with the first multi-touchdown game of his Patriots tenure.

CB J.C. Jackson Mr. INT may need to change his nickname to Mr. Takeaway.

Worst

Red-zone offense Struggles inside the 20-yard line allowed Tennessee to hang around. The Pats finished 2-of-5

Run defense The Titans ran for 269 yards behind 100-yard days from backups Dontrell Hilliard and D’Onta Foreman.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3cX8kwl