8 takeaways from Patriots’ overtime loss to Titans
A last-second touchdown throw from Drake Maye to Rhamondre Stevenson forced overtime, but it wasn’t enough for New England to leave Nashville with a win.
“Maye magic” ran out for New England in overtime on Sunday.
Despite rookie QB Drake Maye forcing overtime against the Titans off a highlight-reel touchdown with zero time left in regulation, he was unable to lift New England to a win against Tennessee at Nissan Stadium.
After the Titans took a 20-17 lead off a field goal in the extra frame, Maye coughed up his second interception of the game off a deep ball that was snagged by Amani Hooker — sealing the win for Tennessee.
It was a roller-coaster game for both Maye and the Patriots, who let a winnable game slip through their grasp after last week’s upset win over the Jets.
With the loss, New England drops to 2-7 on the year.
Here are eight takeaways from New England’s loss in Nashville.
Maye’s fourth-quarter turnover seemingly puts final stamp on a frustrating loss
After building some momentum last week with an impressive win over the reeling Jets, the Patriots once again found themselves in a very winnable game against the 1-6 Titans on the road.
It wasn’t pretty for most of the afternoon, with Maye facing plenty of pressure and a slew of costly penalties (eight for 58 yards).
But a win is still a win — and Maye and Co. had the chance to make it two victories in a row in the fourth quarter.
But with the game knotted at 10-10 and New England trying to push the ball down the field, Maye was strip-sacked by Arden Key — coughing up the ball and allowing Tennessee to recover on New England’s 26-yard line.
Just five plays later, the Titans found the end zone to take a 17-10 lead — a score that nearly held for the remainder of the game.
It was a brutal turn of events for Maye, who otherwise stood as one of New England’s few consistent playmakers for most of the afternoon.
But with Maye not exactly given a large margin of error in these games given the supporting cast around him, the rookie can’t relinquish turnovers like the one he coughed up in the fourth quarter. It came back to bite him yet again later in the contest.
Maye forces overtime with absurd, last-second touchdown
But give Maye and the rest of the Patriots some credit. They did not let up despite that perceived fourth-quarter collapse.
Despite getting the ball back with less than three minutes to go, the Titans were unable to build off of their 17-10 lead, with New England’s defense forcing a three-and-out to put the ball back in Maye’s hands with 1:45 left in regulation.
Maye and the Patriots responded with a gusty 11-play, 50-yard touchdown drive to tie things up — headlined by Maye’s insane scramble moves on the final play in regulation that led to a game-tying touchdown from Rhamondre Stevenson.
After converting on a 4th-and-2 from the 15-yard line, Maye made it a new ballgame as time expired — evading several game-ending sacks before lofting up a ball that Stevenson reeled in to force overtime.
It was an impressive result from Maye, given both the athleticism involved and his ability to bounce back from a rough turnover earlier in the quarter.
According to Next Gen Stats, Drake Maye scrambled for 11.82 seconds before finding Stevenson in the end zone — marking the second-longest time to throw on a TD pass in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). The longest play? Washington’s Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary from one week ago.
A disheartening overtime
Unfortunately, the Patriots were unable to carry over any momentum into overtime.
While Tennessee did not find the end zone on their lone drive in OT, they shredded New England on the ground — gaining 72 yards off of 13 plays before taking a 20-17 lead off a field goal with 2:32 left in overtime.
Maye and the Patriots had limited time to string together another long drive down the field, with a deep ball intended for Kayshon Boutte picked off by Hooker (his second of the day) to end the game.
Despite his heroics, Maye finished with three total turnovers in the loss for New England.
Maye stands as top playmaker
Just a week removed from suffering a concussion on a scramble play, Drake Maye showed no fear at all when it came to taking the ball himself and inviting contact in the ground game.
On an afternoon where New England’s offense struggled to gain yardage through its running backs, Maye was a consistent playmaker for the Patriots — finishing Sunday’s loss with 301 total yards of offense.
Maye completed 29 of his 41 passes for 206, but the 22-year-old QB did plenty of his damage on the ground — gaining 95 rushing yards.
With New England’s traditional rushing offense sputtering and the passing game limited to short-yardage pickups, the onus usually fell on Maye to generate chunk yardage — averaging 11.9 yards per carry.
On New England’s first touchdown drive of the afternoon in the third quarter, Maye’s scrambling accounted for 36 of New England’s 70 yards.
Of course, he saved his best for last with his improv skills at the end of the fourth quarter, buying his teammates plenty of time while maneuvering around the pocket before hitting Stevenson for the game-tying touchdown.
But it was far from a perfect showing from Maye due to those turnover troubles. The rookie was knocked for a poor interception that hit Amani Hooker square in the hands in the second quarter.
His worst mistake came in the fourth quarter off that strip-sack and subsequent fumble — giving the Titans favorable field position before taking the lead with 4:27 left on the clock. Another deep throw that Hooker snagged in overtime sealed the win for the Titans.
New England will deal with those growing pains if Maye continues to showcase the talent and potential that he seemingly submits with each new start as the Patriots’ QB1.
Still, it might lead to a few frustrating losses along the way.
Poor results in the run game
While Maye routinely shredded the Titans’ defense on the ground, the same can’t be said for New England’s actual running backs. Entering halftime, New England only generated seven total yards off of seven carries from its backs.
Even though Rhamondre Stevenson did finish with two touchdowns, he only averaged 1.6 yards per carry.
New England’s run game in particular labored at the end of the first half, with the Patriots unable to convert on a 2nd-and-1 situation from their own 38 — prompting a punt that ended in disaster off of a 15-yard shank from Bryce Baringer.
Maye has the wheels to make things happen, but he can’t do it by himself on this offensive unit.
Patriots defense bends and eventually breaks in overtime
While New England’s run game has continued to slow down after a strong start, the Patriots’ defense has also continued to run into issues slowing down opposing backs.
The Titans finished with 167 rushing yards on Sunday, gaining 4.3 yards per carry.
It was a rough start for New England’s defense, with Tennessee opening the game with a 75-yard touchdown drive that included four plays of 10 or more yards.
But even as Tennesse forced a few more red-zone looks and stung together other quality drives, New England held its own for most of the game.
The Titans had a prime chance to build their lead to 14-0 after Maye’s second-quarter interception, with the subsequent Tennessee drive getting all the way to the Patriots’ three-yard line.
But Tennessee finished with zero points off of Maye’s turnover, with a pass from Titans QB Mason Rudolph tipped and subsequently intercepted by Jahlani Tavai in the end zone.
Some of Tennessee’s shortcomings on offense were self-inflicted off of a parade of penalties, especially during a woeful drive to end the first half that saw them gain five net yards off of six total plays.
But New England’s defense couldn’t capitalize in crunch time to help New England leave Nashville with a win — be it giving up the fourth-quarter TD after Maye’s touchdown (admittedly a bad spot to put the D in) or letting Tennessee run all over them in overtime.
O-line struggles continue
Maye’s ability to scramble has negated some of the concerns regarding New England’s pass protection over the last month.
But Sunday represented a step back for New England’s O-line, with Tennessee finishing with four sacks and nine QB hits during New England’s loss.
While Maye’s costly strip-sack in the fourth quarter was a major miscue from the rookie, it was also the result of poor protection from Vederian Lowe on Key.
In New England’s previous drive, a pair of sacks on back-to-back plays also prompted a punt — stalling any momentum the Patriots generated after Stevenson’s third-quarter touchdown.
Mixed bag on special teams
For the second straight game, Marcus Jones burned opponents in the return game — with the third-year pro reeling off a 44-yard punt return that put New England in prime field position before Maye’s interception.
But beyond Jones’ returns (he had another 25-yard pickup in the closing minutes of the fourth), it was a pretty poor showing from New England’s special-teams squad.
While Joey Slye missed a 56-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter, he did make up for it with a 52-yard conversion in the second. Bryce Bariger had a brutal punt that only went for 15 yards at the end of the first half, but the Titans were unable to convert on the subsequent drive entering halftime.
LIVE UPDATES:
4:21: Drake Maye is intercepted. Titans win this one, 20-17. A brutal result in what was a winnable game on several accounts.
4:18: Titans take a 20-17 lead with 2:32 left in overtime. Maye and the Patriots need to put together another scoring drive here.
4:06: On to overtime.
4:01: Oh my goodness. Drake Maye keeps the play alive and Stevenson scores the touchdown. What an insane play. We’re tied up, 17-17.
3:59: It comes down to this. Patriots on the 8-yard line with 8 seconds to go.
3:52: Somehow, the Patriots are going to have a chance to tie this up again.
Patriots with favorable field position after another 25-yard return from Marcus Jones.
3:46: Patriots can’t get anything going on offense, and it prompts another punt with 2:47 to go.
3:37: The Titans capitalize off of Maye’s fumble, with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine reeling in a touchdown.
17-10 Titans with 4:27 left in the game.
3:30: A brutal turnover from Maye, again. Titans recover the fumble and they have the ball on New England’s 26.
3:23: Patriots force another punt for the Titans. New England needs to string together a strong drive here.
3:16: A rough day from Baringer continues. But a hold against the Titans pushes them back to their own 26.
3:16: New England’s pass protection has regressed today. Back-to-back sacks and now New England punts.
3:12: End Third: 10-10 game. A very winnable game for New England here.
3:07: Nick Folk converts on a 21-yard field goal. 10-10 game with a little over a minute left in the third quarter.
3:04: Patriots defense gets burned on the flea flicker, and Tennessee is on the brink of retaking the lead.
2:51: Rhamondre Stevenson scores from the 1-yard line. Touchdown Patriots.
New England leads, 10-7, with 7:39 left in the third.
2:44: Patriots get the jolt they need — DeMario Douglas reels in a one-handed catch from Maye. First down New England.
2:44: Another flag on Polk, this one for an illegal shift.
2:43: Maye continues to do damage on the ground. He gains 23 on that latest scramble.
2:42: Maye runs for a first down, but it’s negated by a hold on Ben Brown.
2:40: Second half underway. Let’s see how New England responds.
2:27: Brutal showing from New England’s running backs. 7 yards on 7 carries.
2:27: HALFTIME: Patriots trail the Titans, 7-3.
2:26: Just painful football.
2:22: This sure feels like a matchup between a 1-6 and 2-6 team. Bad football all around.
2:16: The Patriots’ run game is crushing them right now. New England can’t convert on a 2-and-1 and they’re going to punt.
2:10: It hasn’t been a good showing from New England’s O-line so far:
1:59: Patriots are on the board. Slye hits a field goal from 52 yards out.
7-3 game with less than eight minutes to go in the first half.
1:58: Henry seems to be ok, as he gets up under his own power.
1:58: Hunter Henry is hurting after that third-down catch.
1:56: A rough holding call against Polk negates a nice grab from Douglas.
1:55: At least Drake Maye is sliding now on his scrambles. Progress!
1:53: Facing pressure, Maye flips the ball to Stevenson to pick up a first down. A crafty play by the rookie.
1:48: Marte Mapu is questionable to return with a neck injury.
1:45: New England’s defense once again responds. A tipped pass from Rudolph into the end zone is snagged by Tavai. Titans don’t get any points off of Maye’s interception.
1:42: Calvin Ridley gets the better against Gonzalez, who picks up 25 yards.
1:40: Yuck, that’s a bad pick from Maye. Pressure in his face, but he throws the ball right to Amani Hooker. Titans ball.
1:37: End First: Patriots trail, 7-0. Not much happening on the offensive side of the ball so far.
1:36: Marcus Jones remains a difference-maker on special teams. That’s a 44-yard punt return.
1:35: Another solid stint from New England’s defense, forcing another punt.
1:32: Not a good start on the ground for New England.
1:28: A brutal false start from Kendrick Bourne has New England looking at a 3rd and 15. Maye then hits Bourne for a 9-yard pickup, but it’s not enough for a first down. A punt for New England.
1:23: After another concerning start, New England’s defense tightens up and forces a punt.
1:17: Maye is sacked and New England’s drive stalls out. Slye misses a 56-yard field goal. Rough start for New England.
1:13: Drake Maye is still not afraid to run. That’s a 26-yard scramble in his opening drive.
1:09: And now Rudolph hits Nick Vannet for a touchdown. 7-0 Titans.
1:08: New England’s run defense still leaves a lot to be desired. Tony Pollard just reeled off a 32-yard run.
1:04: As expected, Gonzalez following Ridley around the field.
1:01: Titans win the coin toss and elect to receive. Football is away.
12:58: A second-place spot in the AFC East is in play today for New England.
12:27: Another game, another new O-line configuration:
12:20: Here’s the Patriots inactives:
Kyle Dugger’s inactive for the second week in a row due to a nagging ankle issue — while more inactives for Thornton and Osborn might signal that a trade could be in the works. Will be a big afternoon for younger wideouts like Polk and Baker to showcase their stuff.
12:10: Warmups are underway.
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