Image courtesy of New England Patriots/Eric J. Alder

Winning or losing was the last thing on New England’s mind for the last preseason game of the year against Tennessee in scorching Nashville Saturday night.

With a ton of guys sitting and only a few roster spots truly up for grabs still, it was a ‘get out as fast as you can as healthy as you can’ kind of night. Ultimately, the Titans took home a 23-7 win.

There were 17 Patriots not in uniform for this one, while Tennessee started their “one’s” except for DeAndre Hopkins and Derrick Henry, but only for the opening series. Both teams traded three-and-outs to open the game, with Matt Sokol dropping a pass from Bailey Zappe on third down. With a big punter battle going on, it was Bryce Baringer and not Corliss Waitman booming the first punt of the night with some fantastic hang time for the Pats.

Marte Mapu saw his first NFL game action and stood out – particularly in the run game – early on, as did Anfernee Jennings and Jack Jones. The Titans caught the first big break of the game on their second drive when Jack Jones had a pretty obvious PI penalty downfield with Malik Willis in the game at QB, moving Tennessee across midfield. Four plays later, Ronnie Perkins and Daniel Ekuale combined for a sack, forcing a Marvin Badly field goal that banked off the upright and through.

Zappe had an ugly strip sack seemingly seconds later, setting up Tennessee with a first-and-goal inside the 10, but more impressive run defense – this time by Calvin Munson – forced another field goal to make it 6-0 with a little over six minutes left in the first. JJ Taylor – who was one of the guys in a position battle in a crowded running backs room – had an impressive kick off return that he nearly broke for a TD, setting Zappe and the offense up for another series around the Pats’ 30. Taylor also had an impressive gain on a screen during the drive, but Zappe was sacked a few plays later and New England had to punt. Baringer was up next again and pinned Tennessee inside its own 10.

One play after New England lost a challenge on what appeared to be a clear sack of Malik Willis, Munson made his presence known again with a shoe-string interception inside the Titans 40 heading to the second. Thryick Pitts made a strong case to earn a practice squad spot with a catch on a slant from Zappe that he turned into a 23-yard gain, driving his way down inside the 10 in LeGarrette Blount-esque fashion. Kevin Harris punched it in a play later and Ryland made the PAT to put the Patriots ahead by one.

The Titans embarked on a lengthy drive – highlighted by a big run from former Sacred Heart star running back Julius Chestnut – but once again had to settle for a field goal attempt inside the 20, this time shanking it wide left. Trace McSorley made his first appearance with 7:09 left in the half and promptly went three-and-out. Baringer then had an absolute missile (69 yards) but it went through the end zone for a touchback, his first mistake of the evening.

Tennessee chewed up the majority of the clock with another drive that included Ronnie Perkins puking on the field at the snap during one play and then making the tackle on the same play. Diego Fagot made a huge hit on Chestnut to force a fumble after the two minute warning, but the Titans recovered and Chestnut took a dump off on third down, racing inside the Pats’ 20. A play after that, Chestnut continued his outstanding preseason – he entered the game with 160 all purpose yards this summer – with a TD catch and run to make it 13-7 Titans at the break.

Belichick decided to have a little fun at halftime apparently as Zappe was the guy under center to open the third quarter, but he only played a handful of snaps before Malik Cunningham entered the game. Cunningham ran the ball three times – once for a third down conversion that was called back – before Zappe came back in and threw an incompletion. Baringer handled the ensuing punt yet again.

Linebacker Joe Giles-Harris picked off a Willis pass with 7:09 left in the third at the New England 28 and Zappe was back out again, but nothing really came of the drive and Baringer pinned Tennessee inside the 20, seemingly solidifying it’ll be his job as Waitman continued to get shut out of the action.

Early in the fourth, Willis found Kearis Jackson for a TD from about 25 yards out to push the Titans lead to 20-7. Somewhat stunningly, Zappe remained in the game for the next Pats drive and was eventually strip sacked again on third down, but the Pats recovered. Waitman finally got a shot to punt with a little over 11 minutes left, but it wasn’t anything special.

The boneheaded play of the night – and very fourth quarter of the last preseason game-ish – came from Taylor who fielded a 63-yard punt in his own end zone and brought it out, pinning the offense and Zappe at their own five. Zappe was sacked on third down and nearly fumbled yet again, adding on to an extremely ugly night for No. 4.

The Titans added another field goal with 3:01 remaining. Cunningham played the final drive for New England – a turnover on downs – before Tennessee officially closed out the preseason, running out the final two minutes.

All eyes now shift to September 10th and the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles for the opener at Gillette. Oh yeah, and some guy named Tom Brady will be in the house that day too.