Their active three-game losing streak includes a 20-17 loss to the Colts, a 34-10 loss to the Bills and last week’s 52-14 defeat at the hands of the Lions, who scored 38 unanswered points after the score was tied. 14- 14, early in the second quarter.

Like the two-win Patriots — who are coming off a 25-22 win over the hapless Jets that ended their six-game losing streak — the Titans have some uncertainty at quarterback. Backup Mason Rudolph has started the past two weeks while Will Levis has been sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Rudolph put up plenty of numbers in the loss to the Lions (22 of 38, 266 yards, 1 passing TD, 1 rushing TD, 2 interceptions). He has just 133 fewer passing yards than the error-prone Levis this season, despite starting three fewer games. But Levis, who has five touchdown passes and seven interceptions, is expected to start Sunday if healthy.

The Titans have the 31st ranked passing offense in the NFL (161.9 yards per game). The only one worse? Like you don’t know. The Patriots rank a distant last (149.9 passing yards per game). Their QB situation was also unsettled for much of the week, with rookie Drake Maye going through the stages of concussion protocol after being knocked out of the Jets game with a blow to the head early in the second quarter.

Jacoby Brissett did solid work as a relief pitcher last Sunday, throwing for just 132 yards but leading the Patriots on a game-winning touchdown drive. One thing is certain, regardless of who plays for either team on Sunday: Maye gives the Patriots one much better long-term prospects at quarterback than the Titans do at Levis.

Both teams should be able to run the ball, although the ground game prognosis looks better for the Titans. Tony Pollard (494 yards, 4.3 average, 3 touchdowns) ran for 94 of the Titans’ 158 yards against the Lions. The Patriots defense had been a mess in Weeks 5 through 7, allowing every opposing team to rush for at least 173 yards in that stretch. But they held the Jets to 112 yards on 28 carries, which counts as either progress or an indictment of New York’s coaching staff.

The Titans boast a fairly stout run defense and rank 12th in the league at 113.9 yards per game, but things are going in the wrong direction after allowing 164 yards to the Lions. Could this be the week Rhamondre Stevenson breaks out? He had two touchdowns – including the winner – but only 48 yards on 20 carries against the Jets. He has four games of 48 yards or less this season and only one, the opening win over the Bengals, with more than 100. He’s late for a breakout.

Kick it off, Slye, and let’s get started. . .

Three players worth watching aside from the quarterbacks

Calvin Ridley: By all accounts, the Patriots were serious suitors for the productive former Falcons and Jaguars receiver when he hit free agency in the offseason. For a while it even looked like they were going to get him.

Amid reports that Ridley would come to Foxborough or return to Jacksonville, the Titans stepped in and gave him a massive four-year deal worth $92 million, including $50 million in guarantees.

Losing Ridley felt like a disappointment at the time. (The Patriots reportedly offered $22 million per year, with owner Robert Kraft saying after the fact that Ridley’s girlfriend was not in favor of New England.)

But maybe it’s the best for them.

Oh, Ridley is a very good player, and he’s having his best game as a Titan, with 10 catches on 15 targets for 143 yards last week.

But Ridley hasn’t been consistent, largely because of a messy quarterback situation in Tennessee that is worse than the one the Patriots have now and will continue to be. far worse as Maye develops. Through his first six games as a Titan, Ridley had just 12 catches for 183 yards and a touchdown.

At his best, Ridley is a B+ as a receiver. For the kind of money he made, he should get an A grade and play like a real number 1. . . but that’s not his ceiling anymore, and hasn’t been since 2020, when he had 90 catches for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns for the Falcons.

Oh, sure, the Patriots could have used him. He would have helped with their entertainment value and given Maye a proven target. But given the context of where this team is, missing Ridley shouldn’t be a disappointment that lingers.

Instead of paying a ton of money for a receiver at age 30 who will be out of his prime when the Patriots return to contention, they actually need to draft and develop their own cornerstones.

Kayshon Boutte: It may seem strange, at least to people unfamiliar with the Patriots’ receiving corps, to suggest that a player who has suffered two glaring losses in his last game is actually heading in the right direction.

But it’s true when it comes to Boutte, the second-year receiver and former sixth-round pick. Despite not making his season debut until Week 3, he now ranks second among Patriots wide receivers in receptions (11) and yardage (185), trailing only DeMario Douglas (28 catches, 271 yards). And Boutte is one of four Patriots wideouts with a touchdown this season.

Sure, those numbers are modest, and many of us would be tempted to trade the entire reception area for Randy Moss – not the 2007 version either, but the current 47-year-old version. But there is little doubt that, barring bouts of heavy-handedness, Boutte is making real progress.

Last Sunday, he had three catches for 46 yards, including a crucial 34-yarder to set up the winning touchdown. That continued a nice run of games with periodic big plays, including a 40-yard touchdown catch in Week 6 against the Texans and a 33-yard reception in Week 7 against the Jaguars.

The Titans’ defense ranks as the best in the league (265.4 yards per game) and in terms of pass yardage (just 151.6 per game), but they would be without top cornerback L’ for the third week in a row. Jarius Sneed (quadriceps injury).

The Jets game marked the third straight week that Boutte led the Patriots receivers in short time (this time with 55 of a possible 67), so he should get his chances against the stingy Titans.

All of this is real progress for a player who wasn’t sure he would leave training camp. This season is all about player development for the Patriots, and Boutte is starting to look like a success story.

Jeffery Simmons: Not-so-fun fact: The Patriots did not have a single player in the NFL’s top 100 entering 2024, according to the time-fill programming that NFL Network runs in July and August.

The Titans? They had one, their 27-year-old defensive tackle, reporting at No. 73. This match is loaded with elite talent, I tell you.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection, who had his 2023 season cut short by an elbow injury, hasn’t been as productive as usual this season: He has just two sacks, two quarterback hits and 21 tackles. But he had a strong game in the loss to the Lions, when he had four tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

Against a Patriots offensive line that has been a little more cohesive of late but remains inconsistent, he could be in line for his best game of the season.

The flashback

The best running back I ever saw in an entire career was Walter Payton. The best in a volatile burst of Bosworth trucks was Bo Jackson. But best over a period of two or three years? Earl Campbell. The former Oiler had some fantastic games against the Patriots. But his best might have come on “Monday Night Football” on Nov. 10, 1980, when Campbell blasted, burst and ran his way for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Houston’s 38-34 win.

Complaint of the week

This is less of a complaint and more of a bafflement. It was always a mystery here why Bill Belichick spent a second-round pick, No. 60 overall, on Joshua Uche in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Uche had and has obvious talents as a pass rusher, and he was productive in that regard while playing opposite Matthew Judon during the 2022 season, contributing 11½ sacks. But Uche’s inability to contribute against the run made him a two-down player at best, and his skill set didn’t meet the requirements to play on the edge in a Belichick defense.

A second-round pick for an undersized pass rush specialist was an odd choice, and it should have come as no surprise that Uche — who was traded to the Chiefs last week for a sixth-round pick — just four games into his career started. five seasons here.

He will help the Chiefs in his role. But he was never a good candidate here, even though he had his production levels.

Prediction, whether Eddie George belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. . .

Does two in a row count as a winning streak? When you’re in the state the Patriots are in, that’s absolutely the case. Marcus Jones goes the distance with a kick return, and that makes the difference. Patriots 20, Titans 16.

Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.