Nissan Stadium was alive in the first half. The team was playing hard, and they held a 13-10 lead with 1:48 left in the game thanks to a Joey Slye 50-yard field goal. But from there, things began to come apart. The Patriots took 49 seconds to score, capping that drive with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Keyshon Boutte to give the Patriots a 17-13 lead. The lead was one the Patriots would never relinquish, as they would win the game, Mike Vrabel’s return to Nashville as the coach of the Patriots, 31-13.
While the final score is the one people will focus on, the most significant number came in the second half and that number is zero. That was the number of points the Titans scored in the second half, as the energy and execution did not seem to be there. And in that, the Titans were outscored 21-0 in the second half. Coming out and not finishing games has been a theme for the Titans for most of the season, and there is still no answer through seven games.
When asked about it, Titans’ right tackle JC Latham did not have any specific answers:
“That is a question above me. I don’t know. “
But in that, he did mention his personal responsibility and the joint responsibility this team has for the second-half struggles:
“I can only speak on the play where I gave up the sack on third and one. And I am not trying to to say that outside of that, it is everyone else’s fault. It is all of our faults and we all have to do better. “
Latham is correct in saying that he has to accept personal responsibility for his mistakes and the team has to take the mistakes they made in the second half. Whether it was a Cam Ward interception, a missed block, a missed run fit, or a self-inflicted turnover, the Titans continue to find ways not to capitalize or sustain energy. And until they can do so, the same results will happen. Titans interim head coach Mike McCoy has been preaching accountability since he became the head coach and will continue to do so. When will those mistakes that hurt this team at critical times in the game begin to disappear? For their part, the Titans did clean up the penalties, only having three of them for 15 yards. But the critical mistakes that cost them games still haunt them as they have haunted them for this entire season.