Titans’ performance against the Patriots went exactly like you thought it would

It was almost a foregone conclusion that the Patriots would win this game. The Titans carried a 7-0 lead into the second quarter, but they couldn’t hold off New England at home.

The Patriots don’t often trail after the first quarter. It’s only happened nine times since Tom Brady took over as the starter in 2001, according to NFL Research. The Patriots have won just four of those, including this divisional game against the Titans.

Tennessee drove 95 yards on their second possession and got on the board with a statement score from rookie Corey Davis. Davis hauled in the 15-yard pass from Marcus Mariota with a one-handed catch to take a 7-0 lead.

But there weren’t many glimmers of hope after that for the Titans. The Patriots ran away with it, exactly like everyone expected.

The Patriots scored two touchdowns in a 3:58 span. Both of them were from James White.

The first was a little Tom Brady toss to White that he ran in for a 5-yard score to tie things up 7-7. The second was a six-yard carry that put the Patriots up 14-7 over Tennessee.

White’s at his best in the postseason.

Sure, the Chiefs whooped the Patriots in Week 1. But apparently the Patriots don’t have hard enough feelings about it to keep them from borrowing a play from Kansas City for the second time this season.

The Chiefs ran this one in their Week 5 win over the Texans. The Patriots duplicated it for White’s first touchdown, the little toss that he ran in 5 yards for a score.

We saw this same play — albeit with a slightly different formation — from the Patriots earlier this season, during their Week 7 win over the Falcons.

This one got the Patriots a score both times, so we may see it again in the future.

The Titans were going to need all of the help they could get to keep things close against the Patriots on the road. They didn’t get it from the refs.

The Titans forced a punt in the second quarter, and they managed to get the Patriots to jump for a false start. At least that’s what officials called initially. They changed the call to a neutral zone infraction on Tennessee.

The Titans did jump, but only after Patriots center David Andrews moved his head.

The Patriots got a fresh set of downs, and they turned it into a touchdown on a Tom Brady pass to Chris Hogan. It was a huge blow to the Titans.

The Patriots just kept piling it on. A Brandon Bolden 2-yard run gave New England a 28-7 lead. Rob Gronkowski tacked on another touchdown with this 4-yard catch.

The Patriots went for the jugular. Bill Belichick even challenged a Titans completion with over four minutes to play and holding a 35-7 lead. Even that wasn’t surprising, really. Everybody knows that Bill Belichick doesn’t care about your feelings. The play was upheld, but it wasn’t going to change the outcome either way.

The Titans did get in the end zone with just under two minutes left to play on a Mariota pass to Davis again. But it was way too late. This one was pretty much over at the half.

The Titans did come back from a 21-3 deficit to beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead 22-21 in wild card play. But the Chiefs aren’t the Patriots, and Gillette isn’t Arrowhead.

The Patriots haven’t missed a conference championship since the 2010 season. That won’t change this year, as they’ll welcome the winner of Jaguars-Steelers to Gillette next Sunday for the AFC Championship Game.