top of page
Search

The Patriots Running Game Shows Signs of Life In Huge Win vs. the Titans

More or less, yesterday's Patriots win over the Tennessee Titans went just about according to plan. They settled in after a trio of scoring drives by Cam Ward and co., and cruised on with a 31 point afternoon and now find themselves on their first four game win streak in nearly four years, and as the two seed in the AFC behind Indianapolis. Not only did Drake Maye dazzle once again, but the running game, yes, the running game, was gigantic in this win, with Rhamondre Stevenson having his best outing since Week 2. A slow start, but ulitmately, a great performance by this team, and even more importantly, I got the exactly final score right for the first time in god knows how long. We ALL win!!! Lets break things down.


What Worked for Rhamondre Stevenson, and does the Box Score Tell the Whole Story?

While his struggles against stacked box looks contined (4 carries for 4 yards and a TD), I thought Rhamondre Stevenson was way better at creating on his own when the A-gaps were clogged up, and it certainly helped out in the first half that the Titans were sending out two-high safety looks, and the Patriots took full advantage of that up front.

Sadly, the running game and Stevenson weren't able to keep up the momentum of half one into half two, but with the way 2025 has gone, I'd take a game like yesterday rather than nothing from him. Given that TreVeyon Henderson is still clearly in the doghouse for whatever reason, Stevenson should have every oppurtunity to build on this moving forward.


Also, I'd be remissed if I didn't mention the Morgan Moses seal on the Stevenson TD. This ended up being the only real "good" play the Patriots got off vs. a stacked box in the run game.


Fantastic Game for Christian Barmore

No sacks for Christian Barmore yesterday, but his five pressures were more than good enough for the team lead. That's not what jumped out about him yesterday thought. Watch him on these two plays where the Patriots break out a Wide Nine front, and look at what he's able to do for Harold Landry on these two plays.

Unfortunate that Barmore ultimately gets nothing in the stat sheet for either of those plays, but they broke this out (or at least tried to) four times by my count, and they couldn't have executed any better on these two loop plays with Barmore and Landry. JC Latham was certainly a guy I'd hoped the Patriots would be able to take advantage of, and he and Kevin Zeitler clearly weren't able to properly communicate and pass off these two. Not a bad game for Barmore either against the run, where the Patriots continue to line him up pretty liberally. Really good game for him, more than what the numbers would say.


Drake Maye, Please Play Safer

Beyond all of the deserved praise that he's getting today, it'd be hard to not bring up Drake Maye's brief stint in concussion protocol on Sunday, and how the Patriots 100 percent lucked out with the situation.

On Maye's scrambles that ended in the field of play, he only slid on two of them, and just once after he came back into the game. I get wanting to make plays, but this is the second time this has happened in the last year, and this is clearly an area where it's still not all there with Maye. Hits like that aren't worth it under any circumstances. Stay safe, keep throwing downfield at an otherworldly clip, and my mental health stays intact. Everybody wins.

Final Score: New England Patriots 31, Tennessee Titans 13


Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-Titans:

1st Star: Drake Maye (21/23 for 222 Yards, 2 TDs, 8 Rushes for 62 Yards)

2nd Star: Christian Barmore (5 Pressures, 2 Quick Pressures)

3rd Star: Rhamondre Stevenson (18 Rushes for 88 Yards, TD)



Main Image via


Comments

bottom of page