Derrick Henry gained 204 yards from scrimmage (184 rushing) and a touchdown Saturday night to help lead the Tennessee Titans to a 20-13 win over the New England Patriots in an AFC Wild Card playoff game played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
New England (12-5) came out strong and fast. A 21 yard pass from Tom Brady to Ben Watson, and a 29 yard pass to James White set the Patriots up deep inside Tennessee territory. The Titans defense stiffened however leading to a 36 yard field goal by Nick Folk for a 3-0 lead. Tennessee made easy work of the Patriots defense with their first possession. A 12 play, 80 yard drive with almost half those yards coming from Henry (39) led to a Ryan Tannehill 12 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Firkser to make it 7-3 Titans. New England came right back with a 10 play march helped by a 25 yard run by Sony Michel and a 14 yard scamper by White. Julian Edelman took an end around from left end and ran it in from five yards out to give the hosts back their three point lead.
After the defenses controlled most of the second quarter, Folk would hit his second field goal of the night from 21 yards to make it 13-7 with 2:18 left in the first half. Henry and the Titans though took the lead into halftime with a drive that covered 75 yards, all picked up by Henry. He rushed for a total of 53 yards and caught a pass of 22 yards down to the New England 1 yard line, in which he punched it in on the next play and Tennessee led 14-13 at the break.
Again the defenses took over for the most part in the second half. Duron Harmon intercepted Tannehill on the first play of the fourth quarter at the Patriots 41 yard line. New England couldn’t do anything with the turnover however, as the offense was a bit stagnant with bad throws by Brady and dropped passes by receivers most of the night. New England could only muster 33 yards on two drives in the fourth quarter, and only 84 total offensive yards on 21 second half plays. The Patriots had one more chance with 16 seconds left but had no timeouts from the shadows of their own goal line at the 1 yard line needing a field goal to win. Brady though was intercepted on the first play by former teammate Logan Ryan who returned it nine yards for the touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff New England tried some pitches and laterals to try to come up with a miracle, but the ball was eventually fumbled by White and recovered by Tennessee to end it.
Brady finished 20-37 passing for 209 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception in the loss. Michel led the running game with 14 carries and 61 yards. White had five catches for 62 yards. Don’ta Hightower had nine tackles and Danny Shelton had seven to lead the defense. The offseason is certainly going to be an interesting one as Brady is no longer under contract. He did state in the postgame press conference that he is unlikely to retire. Tannehill finished 8-15 for 72 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in the Tennessee victory, his first win as a quarterback at Gillette Stadium (1-6). Rashaan Evans had 10 tackles to anchor the Titans defense. The wild card entry coached by former Patriots player Mike Vrabel improve to 10-7. New England lost their first game at home in the playoffs since a loss in the AFC championship game to Baltimore in 2013. The Patriots last home loss in the Wild Card round was 2009, also to the Ravens. The loss also snaps a run of eight consecutive seasons with at least one playoff win, as well as eight consecutive appearances in the AFC championship game. Tennessee now advances to the Divisonal playoff round when they travel to play those Ravens next Sunday in Baltimore.
