For the second straight week the New England Patriots dropped a game on a late field goal. Tennessee took over behind Tim Ratay (4 of 7 for 49 yards; 0 TD 0 INT) with 6:12 to play. The former 49er quarterback would complete a huge 3rd and 2 with a 9-yard pass to keep the chains moving. Then on 3rd and 9 he would hit Justin Gage with a 20-yard pass to get the ball to the New England 28. Dontrell Moore would make two runs for a first down that brought the Titans to the two-minute warning. After a pair of incomplete passes, John Vaughn would kick a 22-yard field goal to give Tennessee a 27-24 lead with 1:19 left.
The game started ugly for the New England Patriots when on their first drive Tom Brady (10 of 19 for 145 yards; 1 TD 2 INT) threw an interception that turned into a 51-yard return for a touchdown by Cortland Finnegan. The interception return gave the Tennessee Titans a 7-0 lead. Brady, who had on the first play of the drive completed a 15 yarder to Donte` Stallworth, tried to go back to Stallworth for a short pass on 3rd and 6 and Finnegan stepped in front and cruised to the end zone.
The Patriots and Brady got even pretty quickly. On the next drive they went 58 yards on 5 plays capped when Brady hit wide receiver Wes Welker for a 28 yard TD pass and after the Stephen Gustkowski extra point we had a 7-7 tie.
The Pats got the ball back quickly after Jarvis Green made Vince Young (5 of 17 for 102 yards; 0 TD 0 INT) cough up the ball at the Titans 23. New England then made Tennessee pay for their mistake. Sammy Morris (7 carries for 23 yards) had carries of 8 and 3 yards to get a first down at the Titans 12. Morris then carried twice more for another 8 yard and on 3rd and 2 a Titans penalty gave the Pats a first down and the ball on the Tennessee two-yard line. Heath Evans (6 carries for 23 yards; 1 TD) then rumbled two yards, Gustkowski added the PAT and it was 14-7.
In the second quarter the Patriots would add a Gustkowski field goal with 4:21 to go before the half. The Pats would go 43 yards on 8 plays in 3:08 for the score. In the drive the Patriots would get completions of 6, 15, and 26 yards from Brady to Kevin Faulk and 8 yards to Jabar Gaffney. After a few plays that went no where and a motion penalty, Gustkowski hit the 32 yarder for a 17-7 lead going into the half.
Prior to the 32 yarder Gustkowski had missed a 33-yard try after a long sustained Pats drive to start the second quarter.
The Titans climbed back into the game on their first drive of the second half after a defensive stop that saw Matt Cassel (6 of 12 for 56 yards; 0TD 2 INT), who took over in the 3rd quarter, intercepted by rookie safety Michael Griffin. Kerry Collins (8 of 12 for 96 yards; 1 TD 0 INT) who replaced Young at the half ran an efficient 6 play 44 yard drive that was capped by a 15 yard touchdown pass to Roydell Williams in just 2:08. After the extra point Tennessee had cut New England’s lead to 17-14.
After the Patriots were unable to sustain a drive and had to punt the Titans would end up tying the game 17-17 with 3:39 left in the 3rd quarter when Vaughn would kick a 31-yard field goal to cap a 10-play 76-yard drive.
The Titans would start a late third quarter drive and sustain it into the fourth that would lead to the go ahead touchdown. They would intercept Cassel for the second time at midfield and in 9 plays they would take a 24-17 lead. The drive was capped by Moore’s (9 carries 40 yards; 1 TD) 4 yard run.
Matt Gutierrez (4 of 9 for 44 yards; 0 TD 0 INT) would lead New England on a fourth quarter scoring drive completing 4 passes and capping it with a 2 yard scamper that tied the game at 24-24.
But Tennessee wasn’t done and for the second week in a row the Patriots would give up the late field goal.
Gutierrez would attempt to lead the Pats on one last drive but after a pair of incomplete passes he would hit Garrett Mills for 5 yards to get the ball their own 37 but on 4th and 5 his pass would fall incomplete.
Tennessee would run out the clock and come away with its first win of the preseason to even its record at 1-1 and New England would drop to 0-2.
Notes and Musings:
Randy Moss and Lawrence Maroney did not play.
Next week Tennessee visits Buffalo, while New England travels to Carolina.
Other scores from tonight: The Atlanta Falcons bit the Buffalo Bills, 13-10; the Philadelphia Eagles clawed Carolina Panthers,27-10 and the Minnesota Vikings pillaged the New York Jets, 37-20.
