The positivity surrounding the New England Patriots following their Week 8 win over the New York Jets lasted just seven days. After all, first-year head coach Jerod Mayo’s team failed to keep the momentum going, in a rather disappointing manner.

In Week 9, the Patriots faced a one-win Tennessee Titans team and came out flat. Their offense struggled to move the ball consistently again, while the defense picked up steam late. The result was a 20-17 overtime loss, dropping New England to 2-7 on the year.

It is not possible to name one specific reason for the defeat; The Patriots’ loss had multiple facets: offense, defense, special teams and – again – coaching. The latter in particular is being re-examined after some strange decisions.

More changes along the offensive line

The Patriots seemed to have found an offensive line worth building around last week, but they decided to switch things up again. While the left side of the line, consisting of tackle Vederian Lowe, guard Michael Jordan and center Ben Brown, remained intact, the Patriots inserted rookie Layden Robinson at right guard and kicked Michael Onwenu back out to play right tackle.

Whatever the team’s intentions were with that group, it didn’t perform as desired early on. Robinson in particular once again proved to be a weak link – a continuation of earlier in his rookie season. As a result, a change was made late in the second quarter with Onwenu moving back inside and Demontrey Jacobs returning to the right tackle spot.

“Mike ended up kicking the guard,” Jerod Mayo explained after the game. “We felt like we had to match up with one of their best players. Again, if you watch the film, you will see that the inside of the bag was soft at times. We thought using our best player was the best thing for the team.”

The new group did not prove to be a particular improvement, but the initial decision to start a Robinson-Onwenu pairing over Onwenu-Jacobs must be questioned. The Patriots knew the Jeffery Simmons-led Titans defensive line would be a problem, so why make this change at all?

Management at the end of the half

The Patriots’ young coaching staff constantly learning is nothing new, but there are certainly areas where there is room for improvement. Managing the end of the first half is one of them, and it was a problem again on Sunday.

Trailing 7-3 with 1:48 left in the second quarter, they settled on their own 15-yard line on a Tennessee punt. The Patriots came out swinging, with two consecutive Drake Maye passes taking them to their own 38 with 1:38 left and three timeouts remaining. The team could have played all its cards at that point, but decided to rely on back-to-back plays.

New England ran the ball on 2nd and 1 and gained no yards. On 3rd and 1, Rhamondre Stevenson lost a yard, forcing the Patriots to punt the ball to the Titans with a chance to increase their lead.

That didn’t happen, but questions still remain. Why Alex Van Pelt decided that two straight runs would be the way to go after the Patriots a) looked solid throwing the ball, and b) gained 8 total yards on five non-scramble carries to that point is anyone’s guess.

Ultimately I won’t go for 2

The Patriots came within an extra point of the Titans on the final play of regulation, a highlight-reel touchdown from Drake Maye to Rhamondre Stevenson. At that point, the team seemingly had its opponent on the ropes – to a point where a two-point conversion attempt to end the game there seemed to make sense.

Ultimately, Jerod Mayo decided against that move. Hindsight is of course 20/20; If the Patriots had won in overtime, there would hardly be any discussion about getting the extra point after the late touchdown.

Still, a 2-6 team once again relying on its best offensive player might not have been the worst idea. Of course, Drake Maye himself may not have been as prepared as he had hoped.

“Shoot, I was just trying to catch my breath,” he said during his post-match press conference. “I couldn’t even think about it. I think when you look back on it, it’s easy to say, we’ve been out there for so long, on such an intense ride, I think it’s hard to go for two. I think it’s easy to look back and say that now. Our defense is fresh and comes out in overtime trying to get a stop. They managed the football well today.”

Ultimately, the decision not to go for the conversion may not be aggressive, but it is certainly justified given the circumstances. The same cannot be said for what happened during overtime.

Riding against the wind

Speaking about his late-game interception after the game, Drake Maye dropped an interesting nugget: the Patriots were driving against the wind in the extra period.

“I think we’re throwing into the wind, we’ve got to put some more effort into it,” he said. “Just a stupid decision; something you would like to have back.”

Why does the part about the wind stand out? Because it’s something the Patriots had control over.

At the coin toss to start overtime, the victorious Titans decided they wanted the football first; this makes sense considering a touchdown would have won them the game on the first drive. In turn, Patriots captain Joe Cardona had to decide which direction each team would go.

In that scenario, going with the wind instead of against it seems like a sensible approach: doing so can increase a kicker’s range and prevent even long pass attempts from hitting the wall, like Maye said. However, for unknown reasons, the Patriots apparently did not consider the wind as a factor at the start of the extra period.