It started slow for the Patriots after being shutout in the first quarter trailing 7-0 to the Titans Saturday night, but once the offense got going, they steamrolled the Tennessee Titans 35-14 to advance to yet another AFC Championship Game.
The Pats will take on the winner of Sunday’s Steelers-Jaguars game in Pittsburgh, and with the Steelers being favorites it could set up a second straight AFC Championship Game showdown next Sunday afternoon in Foxboro.
The Titans actually led the game 7-0, but early in the second quarter Tom Brady and the Patriots offense got in sync, and the Titans could do little to stop them, as New England scored 35 straight points to win the game going away.
“Our guys did a real good job of keeping the foot on the gas,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game, pointing out that the Titans rallied from down 21-3 a week ago in the AFC Wild Card Game in Kansas City to win 22-21.
Brady threw for 337 yards and three scores in throwing the ball 53 times, and James White ran in two straight scores as the Pats rolled to their seventh straight AFC Title Game, delivering a knockout to the upstart AFC South Titans.
The real big blow in the game came in the second quarter already up 14-7, as the Pats moved the ball 91 yards in 16 plays covering 5:18, as Brady hit Chris Hogan with a four-yard score to put the Pats up 21-7 with 1:52 to play in the half.
That score really seemed to sink the Titans and any hopes they had, as Brady and company had picked them apart with an amazing drive that really sealed the deal before halftime.
New England kept going, scoring two more times in the second half before the Titans scored a late TD to make the final 35-14.
What he said.
A postgame message from @dharm32: pic.twitter.com/ELov6ZXkrc
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 14, 2018
#Patriots head coach Bill Belichick live postgame press conference: https://t.co/lZwbbpDilk
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 14, 2018