Tennessee Titans open season with 13-34 convincing loss to New England Patriots – NFL Recap
The Tennessee Titans’ effort against the New England Patriots in the season opener on Sunday night was nowhere closer to their aim of settling the humiliating 0-59 loss of 2009, as they went down against them again in a clear 13-34 defeat, allowing Patriots
to start the season with a win for ninth consecutive season.
The Titans were down at 10-28 at the time quarterback Jake Locker left the field and could manage only three more points later, led by QB Matt Hasselbeck to finish at 13-34.
At the end of first quarter they were 3-7, courtesy of a 23-yard touchdown pass from Patriots QB Tom Brady. By the halftime, the lead was extended to 18 points.
Coach Mike Munchak while ruing the loss said the Titans in a way helped the Patriots ruin their chances of a possible win. He was particularly disappointed with the unmatched performance and overall less competitiveness shown by the team.
He said:
"They're going to make their share of plays, which we knew. We just couldn't help them, and unfortunately along the way, we helped them."
Irrespective of the coach’s consolatory remarks, the result was very much in line of projections made by a majority of media outlets. In spite of some rueful shortcomings the Titans did not match strength of the opponents as much as to come even closer to
a tight finish.
Locker was off to a good start as an offence leader, finishing 23 out of 32 passes for a total of 229 yards, but the performance did not match the impressive figures of Brady who in spite of a nose injury threw for 236 yards plus two touchdowns.
Also, the debutant Titans QB was sacked twice and allowed turnovers, denting his otherwise reasonable performance.
He received the first taste of roughness that the opponents defence can show and was ousted with a shoulder injury at a play, which also hurt receiver Nate Washington and made him to be on the sidelines for the rest of the game.
This played into the scheme of Munchak to bring in QB Matt Hasselbeck, who was left on the sidelines as a precaution, as the official finally conceded he was in favour of Hasselbeck to start with.
Locker later said he wanted to return to the field but it was down on the medical staff to make the decision and they prevented him outside.
He said:
"I felt like I could go back in, and I let them know that. The medical staff made the decision they did."
Munchak hopes Locker should be fine by the next week, as the injury does not sound to be serious one. The player has not been advised to have any scans and all seemed fine the initial inspection on the sidelines.
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