2018 NFL Power Rankings: Divisional Playoffs edition

7. Tennessee Titans

10-7 (Wild Card)

No. 5 Seed in AFC

Last week: Defeated Kansas City Chiefs, 22-21, in AFC Wild Card Playoffs

This week: at New England Patriots in AFC Divisional Playoffs

If you turned off last Saturday afternoon’s tilt between the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs at intermission, you were obviously in for a big surprise roughly two hours later. Mike Mularkey’s team rallied from a 21-3 third-quarter deficit to stun the AFC West champions, 22-21. The victory wound up earning the club a trip to New England after the Jacksonville Jaguars held serve at home and knocked off the Buffalo Bills.

So now the Titans make their way to Foxborough for the second time in three years. And be it Gillette Stadium or Nashville, the Patriots have owned this series as of late. Including a playoff loss in 2003, the club has dropped six straight in this series and the team has allowed 33 or more points in five of those losses.

Of course, that’s ancient history and this is a Tennessee club that shoved the ball down the collective throats of the Chiefs last weekend. Led by running back Derrick Henry and minus DeMarco Murray, the Titans rolled up 202 yards on 31 carries. The second-year pro totaled 23 attempts for 156 yards and one score, with quarterback Marcus Mariota adding 46 yards on eight attempts.

That’s the kind of production and game plan – even down by 18 points – that could keep the Patriots’ offense off the field. Mularkey’s club owned the ball for 32:28 and held Kansas City’s offense to 61 total yards. Can Mariota and the Titans put it all together and pull off one of the bigger postseason surprised of recent years? It’s certainly not impossible but a lot of things will have to go right.

Next: No. 6