CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Tennessee Titans will head back to Foxborough to take on the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, Saturday, Jan. 4 in an AFC wild-card playoff game.
This year’s contest will mark the second postseason meeting in the last three years between the two teams.
New England hosted Tennessee in the divisional round of the playoffs during the 2017 season and eliminated the Titans by a final score of 35-14.
That matchup occurred when the Titans were led by former Tennessee head coach Mike Mularkey. Now the Titans have a new Mike at the helm in former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel.
While with New England, Vrabel played in a total of 17 playoff contests, recording eight sacks and a pair of touchdown receptions.
Vrabel also earned six playoff berths and won three Super Bowls during his Patriot tenure.
Patriots owner Robert Craft previously employed another current member of the Tennessee Titans organization in general manager Jon Robinson who spent a large part of his professional career with New England.
Some Titan fans may have been expecting the team to make a trip to Kansas City to play the Chiefs in the wild card round.
However, the Patriots failed to take care of business against the lowly Miami Dolphins at home this past Sunday and lost 27-24.
The defeat dropped New England from the No. 2 overall seed to the No. 3 seed, causing the Pats to miss out on a first-round bye for the first time in a decade.
The Titans wrapped up the No. 6 seed with their win over the Houston Texans on the road in Week 17.
Titans running back Derrick Henry continued his magical season, recording 211 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. The performance gave him 1,540 rushing yards on the year and allowed him to claim the NFL’s regular-season rushing title.
Earlier in the season after starting out with a 2-4 record, hopes of making the playoffs for the Titans were slim to say the least. That was until Vrabel and company made the decision to hand the keys to the quarterback position over to offseason acquisition Ryan Tannehill.
Since taking over under center for Tennessee in Week 7, Tannehill has been superb. He’s thrown for 2,742 yards, 22 touchdowns and led the NFL with a 117.5 passer rating.
Kickoff for Saturday’s game between the Patriots and Titans is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.