For a franchise that's enjoyed its share of lengthy winning streaks this century, six in a row may not feel like much for the Patriots.
Given the change at quarterback, this streak is unlike the others for New England. Which in many ways makes it all the more thrilling that the Patriots are putting the rest of the AFC on notice, their latest triumph a 36-13 takedown of the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium Sunday afternoon to move to 8-4 on the season.
Mac Jones threw for a career-high 310 yards for the Patriots, completing 23 of 32 passes and two touchdowns to Kendrick Bourne in the win, while New England's defense forced four Tennessee turnovers.
"We missed some opportunities in the game but again, we're going up against a good team," Bill Belichick said. "It's going to happen. But in the end we were able to not turn the ball over and take the ball away."
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J.C. Jackson had yet another interception for the Patriots, his seventh of the season, as well as a forced fumble. Jalen Mills, Jahlani Tavai and Kyle Dugger all had fumble recoveries for New England.
Jakobi Meyers finished with five catches for a season-high 98 yards to lead the Patriots and Jonnu Smith had three catches for 49 yards in his first game against his former team.
New England had a so-so afternoon running the ball, gaining 105 yards on the ground on 24 carries. Damien Harris had a 14-yard rushing score in the fourth quarter for the lone score on the ground for the Patriots.
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Nick Folk continued his remarkable season at age 37, connecting on 5 of 6 field goal attempts from 22, 37, 44, 28 and 52 yards and missing from 53. The five field goals made matched a career-high for Folk, who accomplished the feat in both 2010 and 2014 with the New York Jets.
"You can really count on him and he's delivered for us time after time," Belichick said. "Really fortunate to have him, his consistency. Not easy kicking out there as we saw on the other side as well. So yeah, Nick is very professional and very consistent."
The win for the Patriots avenged a loss to the Titans in the 2019 wild-card playoffs, a game which wound up being the final one for Tom Brady in Foxboro.
New England next plays at Buffalo on Monday Night Football next week, with first place in the AFC East on the line.
