Bill Belichick Reveals The Reason For Lack Of A Pass Rush Vs. Titans

The New England Patriots lost their game to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday mostly because of their lack of pressure on the quarterback. The Patriots were able to bring Marcus Mariota down twice for a sack in the game, but the pass rush was not even a factor. Mariota was comfortable in the pocket, and he completed 16 of his 24 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns on a 125 passer rating. Head coach Bill Belichick was well aware of that.

The New England Patriots entered the Week 10 contest after their big win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. In this game, New England had Aaron Rodgers under duress, but they played at a different pace last week. Head coach Belichick talked to media members during his Monday conference call, and explained the situation.

“Quite obviously, the game situation has a lot to do with that. When you’re behind and you’re throwing a lot, like we were yesterday, they were going to get more rush opportunities and get more pressure. When they’re ahead, they can play an offense that is more balanced or maybe even a little more favorable to the run and there were less opportunities, and certainly less predictable opportunities, because of the scoring situation and vice versa,” Belichick said.

The Titans had an early lead and tossed up 17 points in the initial quarter. They carried the ball 36 times and rushed for 150 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

“When you’re playing from behind, you don’t have a lot of opportunities to rush the passer. You know, we sacked Marcus Mariota on a third down play at the end of the third quarter, somewhere in there, but we didn’t create enough of those situations and didn’t do well enough in what we did. That’s a big part of it is opportunities, and we’ve got to do better with the opportunities we have, obviously, however many there are. So, I think I’ve already talked about that,” the head coach said.

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