I'll respectfully disagree on the defense's performance in the 2nd half. Situational defense matters.
Ignoring penalties, Tannehill was 3-8 with a sack and an interception for only 29 yards. But two of those completions went for first down, and one was on a third and long. But the key fact is that Tennessee only called 11 pass plays (one was nullified by an offensive penalty, one resulted in a DPI, and one resulted in a fumble that was recovered) in the 2nd half.
The reason why the Titans only called for 11 passes all 2nd half is that Derrick Henry ran 20 times and Dion Lewis ran it once for a total of 81 yards. The 3.9 ypc doesn't seem horrible. However, 3 of those runs took place after Henry had effectively iced the game with an 11 yard run for a first down on the Titans final drive, after which point Henry's job was simply to run to the line and not fumble. Take out those 3 runs, and Henry himself ran 17 times for 75 yards, or 4.4 ypc, with 3 of those runs going for first downs. The Titans had the ball for over 20 minutes in the 2nd half despite punting 4 times.
I get that. But the Pats' offense was handed the ball time and time again after Tennessee failed to score, and the Pats' offense did nothing with it.
New England's second half possessions:
- 6 plays, 15 yards, punt
- 6 plays, 32 yards, punt
- 4 plays, 12 yards, punt (this was after getting great field position following the Harmon pick)
- 4 plays, 26 yards, punt
- 1 play, PICK SIX
I mean, that's INEPT offense. 21 plays, 85 yards of offense in the second half.
I do agree that field position in this game was enormous, but only in certain situations. Here's the data:
NE's starting field position: 25, 25, 24, T47, 25, 13, 7, 41, 11, 1 (avg: NE 22.5)
Ten's starting field position: 25, 15, 10, 25, 27, 43, 20, 20, 13 (avg: Ten 22.0)
So NE had *better* average starting field position than Ten did. Yes, largely based on two very favorable field position situations, but in those, the Pats only scored ONE FIELD GOAL. But yes in the second half, they really didn't have a lot to work with, but credit to Tennessee's punter who KILLED the Pats last night (and conversely, Bailey kind of killed the Pats last night too).