Ho-hum.
The Patriots went on the road and hammered the Tennessee Titans in a game that was over halfway through the third quarter. The 31-13 stomping guaranteed that the Patriots will still be in first place when Week 8 kicks off on Thursday.
A year ago, this would have been cause for a parade. Even eight weeks ago, it would have been stunningly decisive.
But on Sunday, this was exactly what was supposed to happen. A good team beating a bad team by a bunch of points isn’t news in the NFL. It happens multiple times a week.
The Patriots have reached the point that they’re simply one of those good teams. They played the game like they expected to win the game and they did. New England might not be better than Buffalo yet, but their Week 4 win wasn’t a fluke.
The Patriots won four games all year in each of the last two seasons. On Sunday, they won their fourth in a row and their fifth game of the season with 10 still left to play. The Athletic’s playoff simulator has New England with a 91% chance of making the playoffs.
Things are different now.
A year ago, Drake Maye was a big-hitting golfer. Sometimes the ball landed in the woods, the water and the trees, but when it went straight, it was fun to daydream about how good he might become.
The balls are all coming out straight this year and Maye is more than living up to those daydreams. The second-year quarterback has not only stopped throwing interceptions, he’s become one of the NFL’s premier deep-ball passers. It’s a stunning transformation. On Sunday, he completed 21-of-23 passes for an absurd 91.3 completion percentage that broke a 16-year-old single-game Patriots record held by Tom Brady.
“There’s a lot of demand there from Josh and myself, and he responded to that with the leadership he’s had to show this offense,” Mike Vrabel said. “He keeps saying he wants to earn it. I tell him, he’s earned it.”
His receivers are getting better too. Maye should have been 20 of 23, but Pop Douglas made a ridiculous one-hand reach to haul in one of his rare bad throws.
The expectation that players can pick one another up is making each player and the group individually and collectively more confident.
“The unselfishness, I feel like that’s what’s helping us win. We’re out there playing for each other. That adds a part to it,” Pop Douglas said. “The guys that we have, it starts with our coaches and then the players that we have, we’re all close. I think this is the first team that offense and defense are (personally) close. We’re close. It’s just a good energy.”
That energy fueled the game’s defining sequence right before and right after halftime on Sunday.
With 1:48 left in the second quarter, the Patriots attacked. Rather than try to nickel and dime the clock down in hopes of scoring, they moved quickly, trusting their defense would hold if Tennessee got the ball back.
After a 9-yard run and 12-yard pass, Maye fired the ball deep and hit Kayshon Boutte for a go-ahead touchdown with 49 seconds left.
The Patriots came out of intermission with more of the same. Despite starting the drive at their own 12 after a special teams penalty, the Patriots breezed up the field. Maye hit Stefon Diggs for 24 yards then Mack Hollins for 27 to set up a first down on the Titans 35.
From there, Maye scrambled for six yards, but as he was tackled, the back of his helmet bounced off the turf. It didn’t look bad in the moment, but it was enough to trigger the concussion spotter. Maye briefly visited the medical tent as backup Josh Dobbs came on for his first meaningful action of the season.
After a Rhamondre Stevenson run for a one-yard loss, Dobbs completed a 12-yard pass to Pop Douglas to extend the drive. Maye returned two plays later to finish the march that ended with a four-yard touchdown run for Rhamondre Stevenson with 7:31 left in the third.
After the ensuing kickoff, K’Lavon Chaisson recovered a Cam Ward first-down fumble at the 4 and trotted into the end zone to make it 31-13.
When the dust settled, the Patriots scored three touchdowns in less than 8 minutes of game time. Just about everyone on the roster had ownership in that success.
That’s the kind of sequence that builds confidence and chemistry. They made plays. They took advantage of opportunities.
In hindsight, their Week 1 loss to a bad Raiders team seems like forever ago. It feels more like part of an extended preseason, a dress rehearsal for a team that hadn’t turned the page just yet.
In this new chapter, the Patriots will be expected to keep winning these games.
“We haven’t played our best football yet, and we all know it,” Marcus Jones said. “Our main thing is making sure offense, defense, and special teams, we play all three phases in a great way. And go from there. It’s the National Football League. You’ve gotta build every week. So that’s the main thing we’re trying to do.”
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