AFC Playoffs: Patriots Remind Titans That There Is a Next Level

Good times visionary Rob Gronkowski called this a great team win.

Dude coulda simply stopped at a great team.

New England did again what they always do, reaching the AFC title game for the seventh straight season with a by-the-numbers demolition of Tennessee, 35-14.

The Titans were literally beaten back to their Tuxedo days.

 

Worse, the last time this franchise won a game in the greater Boston area, it was known as the Houston Oilers.

Tennessee may have weaved and dodged their way to an upset in Kansas City last weekend, but any reassurance Mike Mularkey received as a result just went the way of the dodo bird somewhere in the second quarter of this one:

 

The way Tom Brady held court out there, Jimmy Garoppolo had to be pleased he's getting his shot somewhere else, even though his heart and wallet are surely still in New England for the playoffs.

In fact, the sixth-rounder outta Michigan in 2000 gave the impression he actually could join George Blanda and Jaromír Jágr in a quest to play forever.

Maybe even Dorian Gray.

 

Of course, yet again, it was the Pats' defense that served as the engine room for this onslaught.

New England couldn't have racked up 35 straight points if their D didn't well and truly stifle the Tuxes:

 

So now, the defending champions wait for another challenger next week. In their current form, it doesn't really matter who it is.

Maybe there'll be a rumor or two to spice things up, but even those appear to be topics of amusement more than distraction.