Team Notes Week 11 2018

As ESPN.com's Mike Reiss pointed out, from the opening kickoff of the game, when they surrendered a 58-yard return, the New England Patriots didn't look like themselves against the Tennessee Titans.

It was a bury-the-football type of game. The Patriots were outplayed on offense, defense and special teams, Bill Belichick was outcoached by his former player Mike Vrabel, and they had multiple players leave the game with injuries. And it might have buried their bigger-picture hopes of earning home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs.

Having entered on a six-game winning streak, the Patriots fall to 7-3, while the team they have been keeping pace with -- the Kansas City Chiefs -- improved to 9-1. The Patriots have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chiefs, so they would need to win out, and hope the Chiefs lose at least two games, to earn the top spot.

The odds of that happening aren't favorable.

The Chiefs play the Rams next weekend in Mexico, followed by their bye. Then they finish against the Raiders (away), Ravens (home), Chargers (home), Seahawks (road) and Raiders (home).

Meanwhile, the Patriots limp into their bye, and then face the Jets (road), Vikings (home), Dolphins (road), Steelers (road), Bills (home) and Jets (home).

Of course, after what unfolded Sunday when the Titans whipped the Patriots for a thorough 60 minutes, the top seed is the least of the Patriots' worries. When Belichick pulls quarterback Tom Brady with 7:06 remaining in the fourth quarter in favor of Brian Hoyer, you know things are out of hand.

For the record, Brady suffered through his worst game of the season, completing just 21 of 41 passes for 254 yards and no touchdowns.

It was the second time in three weeks he was held without a touchdown and has just one in that span. At one point with Brady at the helm the Patriots went seven straight drives without registering a single point, which is the longest stretch without points for New England since 2015 in a loss to Philadelphia.

"Winning football takes a lot of things, takes a lot of good performance by a lot of people, and losing football is the exact opposite of that," Brady said. "Not that we do this, but in the NFL it's hard to win and you can't expect just to show up and win. That doesn't give the other team enough credit. Today we just played a bad game, and you see what happens.

"Hopefully there's more urgency as we go forward. Our whole season's ahead of us, and we'll see what we do with it."

The game was a slap in the face to the Patriots, a reminder that if they don't play with energy from the outset, get off blocks more consistently, tackle better, coach better, protect Brady more consistently and -- fill in the blank of any part of the game, really -- they are capable of losing to anyone.

"You'd better learn from a game like this, because the weeks get harder and harder," receiver Julian Edelman said. "You tip your hat to them, but we've got to fix it because this is when you start separating or you start falling behind."

It is also when injuries can start piling up.

The bye week comes at a good time for the team, as starting left tackle Trent Brown (back), tight end Dwayne Allen (knee) and Edelman (ankle) all left the game in the second half and didn't return. Brown and Edelman don't appear to be long-range concerns, but the run of ailments probably contributed to pulling Brady.

Entering the game, Brady said the hope was that the Patriots would empty the tank and go into their bye on a high note.

"Instead," Reiss summed up, "they turned in a forgettable performance, a battered team that looked tired and in need of a break. ..."

Meanwhile, as NFL.com's Nick Shook reminded readers, Josh Gordon has made his career -- no matter how many interruptions it has seen -- on a foundation of having excellent hands.

He can catch passes at all levels of the field and win a jump ball over pretty much any defender, and when combined with his speed and overall athleticism, he makes for one tough cover on a typical Sunday. This is precisely what makes what happened in Sunday's loss to Tennessee (and the initial information disseminated afterward) so unusual.

First, let's set the record straight: No matter what you read, Gordon did not drop eight passes Sunday.

According to Shook, a review of Gordon's 12 targets show only two passes that can be fairly counted as drops, and they both came within the same minute in the first quarter. The first was on a throw attempted by Tom Brady down the sideline, which Gordon timed properly and simply saw it go right through his hands. The second was on a quick slant on third and short, a very catchable pass that again went through Gordon's hands.

Gordon entered the game with a finger injury suffered just a week ago that required popping it back into place. He went with a usual glove early in the game before buddy taping it to a neighboring finger, per the CBS broadcast. It seemed to help, at least somewhat, as Gordon caught two tight-window passes over the middle later in the game.

New England didn't allow the drops to change its game plan, either, feeding the receiver nine times in the first half. After the game, he downplayed any effect the finger injury might have had on his performance.

"My hand's fine," Gordon told reporters after New England's 34-10 defeat, via Boston.com. "Physically, I feel good. Blessed to walk away with it unharmed, so thankful for that."

The true explanation for Gordon's odd 12-target, four-reception stat line, though, was good defense -- both in covering Gordon, and pressuring Brady.

As Shook pointed out, Adoree' Jackson did a remarkable job of blanketing Gordon when the wideout was targeted, shielding him from getting a good shot at a couple of would-be catches, and coming over the shoulder of Gordon for a pass break-up early in the fourth on Gordon's 12th and final target. And more importantly, Tennessee's pass rush harassed Brady all afternoon, throwing him out of rhythm and forcing a healthy amount of passes that fell well short of their intended targets. Three of Gordon's targets were such throws.

"It's tough for me to give a good perspective because I'm not looking back and seeing the defensive line, but I think that's partially due to the reason, due to the fact that I felt a little rush out there," Gordon said.

A sped-up Patriots offense was uncomfortable, producing an unexpected, blowout loss. But Gordon -- who recorded four catches for 81 yards -- shouldn't shoulder much of the blame.

Other notes of interest. ... The offense received a boost from the return of Sony Michel. The rookie running back had been on the shelf since suffering a knee injury on the first play of the second quarter in New England's 38-31 win over Chicago in Week 7. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported earlier in the week that Michel was on track to play against the Titans provided that he had a good week of practice.

He was limited each day and listed as questionable but was able to go. Michel was largely irrelevant, however, as the Patriots fell behind early and he never got untracked. He finished with 11 carries for 31 yards.

The Patriots were once again without Rob Gronkowski, who made the trip to Nashville with his teammates but was not able to go due to ankle and back injuries.

Gronkowski has now missed three of the last four games, but there were some indications that perhaps the team was taking a cautious approach with the All-Pro tight end. With the Patriots set to enjoy the bye, it's possible that Belichick decided to play it safe and offer Gronkowski an extra week to prepare himself for the stretch drive.

While the Patriots expect to get Gronkowski back in the lineup after their bye, it appears they have other injury concerns to sort out at tight end as well.

Mike Giardi of NFL Media reports that Allen does not need surgery, but he's expected to miss a few weeks as a result of the injury.

Jacob Hollister is the only other tight end on the active roster. He's played 43 offensive snaps in the four games he's played this season. ...

Edelman was one of the few bright spots on offense but even that came with an asterisk. He finished with nine catches for 104 yards on 12 targets. He was the only consistent performer on that side of the ball, but as noted above, Edelman limped off the field.

He was taken to the Patriots locker room with an ankle injury, but Schefter reported on Monday the issue is not considered serious and Edelman is not expected miss much, if any, time. Edelman will be monitored, but outlook for now appears positive.

One final note on the passing game: Chris Hogan has been virtually non-existent recently. Last week against the Packers he was targeted twice and failed to register a catch. On Sunday he was only targeted once and again went without a catch. On a day where the passing game struggled, Hogan wasn't able to pick up the slack.

Brady and the Patriots dropped to 14-3 in their game before the bye week. The last time the Patriots had lost in such a situation was back in 2005 in a 28-20 loss at Denver.

And finally. ... The team released RB Kenjon Barner on Tuesday.

DEPTH CHART
QBs: Bailey Zappe, Mac Jones
RBs: Rhamondre Stevenson, Ezekiel Elliott, JaMycal Hasty
WRs: DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Matt Slater, Kendrick Bourne
TEs: Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki, Pharaoh Brown