The Patriots will be riding up and down Broadway to face the Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Sunday, looking for their first winning streak of the head coach Jerod Mayo era.

Coach Mayo’s team hopes to make it two straight victories by building on last week’s win over the Jets. Tennessee is currently one spot ahead of New England in the 2025 draft order at 1-6. The Titans are in a similar spot as the Patriots under first-year head coach Brian Callahan. With Coach Mayo being the second-youngest coach, Callahan, age 40, is the sixth-youngest head coach in the NFL. Callahan was hired to replace Patriots legend Mike Vrabel.

Callahan became a hot commodity by coordinating the Bengals offense over the last five seasons. He had a hand in developing star QB Joe Burrow while the Bengals offense stayed afloat in a 9-8 campaign despite Burrow playing just ten games in 2023. Cincinnati went 4-3 with backup quarterback Jake Browning last season. Furthermore, Callahan is a coaching legacy, with his father, Bill, being a coaching legend.

Along with two different stints as a head coach, the elder Callahan is one of the best offensive line coaches in NFL history. We’re proudly Dante Scarnecchia stans here. But young Callahan hired his father away from the Browns to coach the Titans offensive line, with the pairing chiefly responsible for the Tennessee offense.

“When I look at [the Titans], it’s a team that’s really in a similar situation as us. They have good players. They have a good scheme. They just haven’t been able to put it together as far as a record is concerned,” Coach Mayo said this week.

From a team-building perspective, these two teams have been competing for players recently. Both teams wanted to sign prized free-agent WR Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins over the last two offseasons. The Titans landed Hopkins and Ridley, RB Tony Pollard, C Lloyd Cushenberry, and CB Chidobe Awuzie on lucrative free-agent deals while trading for former Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed. Tennessee handed out the third-most money to free agents this past offseason, but it hasn’t panned out.

Last week, the Titans traded star WR DeAndre Hopkins to the Chiefs. Sneed is hurt, and they’ve struggled to get Ridley going, serving as a cautionary tale about building your roster through free agency and trades. We would’ve applauded the Patriots for signing Hopkins or Ridley, so it’s a bit of revisionist history to say they were bad moves in hindsight. Still, maybe we shouldn’t go as crazy over splashes in the offseason as we do.

Now that you’re all caught up on the Titans, let’s dig into the matchups on both sides of the ball in Sunday’s showdown down in Tennessee.

Patriots Offense vs. Titans Defense: Tricky Scheme a Legit Test for Pats O

There are a few layers to unpack before we get into the nitty gritty details in Sunday’s chess match between offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and Titans DC Dennard Wilson.

First, the Patriots have some uncertainty at quarterback, with rookie QB Drake Maye in the league’s concussion protocol. Maye clearing the protocol in time to play on Sunday is a long-shot, which means it’ll likely be veteran Jacoby Brissett under center. Obviously, that’ll change Van Pelt’s call sheet, but Brissett played well against the Jets last week.

Along with likely being without Maye, don’t let the Titans allowing 52 points to the Lions fool you – it was a wonky 52 points. Detroit had a 90-yard punt return touchdown, a 64-yard punt return, and a 72-yard kickoff return that led to another touchdown on a short field. Plus, the Titans offense turned the ball over four times. Here was the starting field position on five of the Lions six scoring drives: TEN 23, TEN 25, TEN 12, TEN 22, TEN 26 – five drives that began inside their own 26-yard line.

Although they’re 29th in scoring defense, the Titans defense is quite good statistically. Tennessee is ninth in total DVOA, 12th against the pass, and seventh vs. the run. They’re also challenging to figure out schematically. When you watch their film, it’s hard to identify the coverage. From that standpoint, it would be nice to see how the Pats rookie quarterback would do against a true spin-the-dial defense. That’s not meant as shade toward Brissett, but Maye hasn’t faced an exotic defense like this one.

Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was most recently Baltimore’s defensive backs coach, and you see some Ravens flavoring with this Tennessee scheme. The Titans major in simulated pressures (3.2%, highest in NFL) and creeper schemes (6.5%, fourth-highest) while also playing the fourth-highest rate of cover zero (8.3%). The Titans are just 18th in team pressure rate but can come after QBs in tricky ways.

“They’re a little bit unpredictable as far as the play calling on the defensive side of the ball, which is a huge challenge for us. As I always say, we have to be able to see the same picture through the same set of goggles,” Coach Mayo said.