Monday Re-Watch @ Tennessee

Ridley was successful on 3 Third-and-Short opportunities

In re-watching this game, plenty of things stand out as positives. Nevertheless, as the team and the coaching staff will admit, there is still much to improve.  The Titans had some good success with the passing game, especially at junctions in the game where the Patriots Defense played a passive "keep it in front" style.

The Titans' first possession of the second half looked too easy against some loose zone coverage.  The defensive strategy did not seem to do its job because not only did the Titans score a TD, they did it quickly.  The Pats were sporting an 18 point lead before that drive, and I imagine that the plan was to play passive zone to force Locker to execute.  The D gave up a few big plays hilghighted by a 35 yard seam route by Cook.  Locker did well to find the open man, and proved that he is able to execute against bad Defense.  Likewise, Locker made a great play on the TD play, rolling away from Chandler Jones, who hit him as he released it.

I anticipate that the Defense will give up passing yards this season, but we cannot allow opponents to score on 4 and 5 plays.  Our defense must force the other team into 3rd downs, forcing the opponent to execute short passes.  The Safety play was not up to par on the Titan's TD drive.  Tavon Wilson seemed to give Cook too much room on the 35 yard play.  Likewise, Steve Gregory was beat by Nate Washington for 20+ and a TD.

The secondary needs some time to come together as a unit, but overall they played well.  There were a few instances of broken coverages, but there were hardly any missed tackles.  Tackling seems to have been a major focus in training camp.  The LBs and secondary did not surrender much YAC, and this helped them get off the field on some 3rd and longs earlier in the game.

Mayo was an absolute vacuum in the middle, registering 13 tackles.  The Patriots LBs did not let underneath routes beat them for big gains.  The only instance of an underneath route going for 10+ yards was on the Titans' TD drive, where Johnson gained 12 yards.

Offensively, the Patriots did not look dominant.  However, they certainly did more than enough to get the win.  Brady was efficient completing 74% of his passes, going 23 for 31 for 236 and 2 TDs.  The deep incompletion (that should have been a TD) to Brandon Lloyd may have jump-started a high scoring affair, but Brady still managed 5 completions for 69 yards to his new target.  That missed connection would have put Brady's day closer to 300, but as always The Golden Boy is not fazed by stats.  Winning by 21 points is good enough for Tom, and its good enough for me.

Really though, the star of the game was Stevan Ridley.  He was absolutely explosive in this contest, managing to average out at 6.0 yards per carry on 21 touches for 125 yards and a well earned TD.  This kid absolutely lived up to my expectations of him in my Keys To Victory segment on Friday.  I asked him for "an element of explosion."  Certainly, that is what Ridley brought to the field on Sunday.  He gets my game ball on Offense.

It seemed like Ridley would either be stopped for no gain, or he would break loose for 15.  He did most of his damage on sweeps and cutbacks to the left side, but Tennessee did not always make it easy for him.  Many of Ridley's yards came from great blocking by Logan Mankins, but Ridley did very well at the second level, often making 1 or 2 guys miss.  I am eager to see if Ridley can keep up the good work as the season progresses. His explosive nature does wonders for the play action pass because the secondary is forced to account for a RB that can get to the second level, as Ridley proved he can.

Defensively, I give the game ball to Dont'a Hightower.  Not only did he have a fumble return for a TD, he played extensively, showing up positively often.  On the play just before the fumble recovery, Hightower made a great play on Chris Johnson, to stop him for a loss, and back up the Titans near their own endzone.  Hightower took his blocker head-on, driving him into the backfield to blow up the running lane.  To top it off, Hightower used his free hand to grab Johnson's jersey, dropping him for a loss.  He is almost too big to be that fast.

Likewise, I have gotta give an honorable mention to Vince Wilfork and Chandler Jones.  These guys brought the heat on passing downs, and played stout against the run.  Chandler Jones didn't make any mistakes with gap assignments, and held the edge well all day.  Wilfork obviously played well, getting a couple QB hits, and a huge tackle for a loss on the Patriots goal line stand.