If ever there was a game designed specifically for the 1 p.m. ET slot in the middle of the season, it was yesterday's game between the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans. In fact, after this game, the NFL may want to begin moving certain matchups to the Friday night slot; If fans need a reminder of what competent football looks like, they can watch a series of high school games instead.

Two teams at the bottom of the barrel each tried to show the world who had the biggest chunk of poop on the side of the toilet bowl, and the only real winner is the fact that the game is now in the rear view.

1. There are no moral victories in the NFL. The season is too short and every game is too important for the sentence to have any real meaning. And a loss to a terrible Titans team certainly can't fall within the realm of a moral victory. The Patriots may have solidified themselves as the worst team in the NFL with this latest loss, especially considering what happened around the league yesterday. This team is absolutely horrible and there is no sugarcoating that. I need to get this all out of the way first, because for a good portion of these fan notes it's going to be a lot more positive than it can possibly be, and I don't want anyone to think that I've finally lost something. I'm down to a few marbles left rolling around in the todash darkness that is my brain.

2. Because I'm perhaps more optimistic this morning than I have been all season, and that includes the Bengals' win in Week 1, which briefly gave me the illusion that maybe the Patriots weren't as bad as I thought. And that optimism mostly has to do with a 22-year-old kid who bears more than a passing resemblance to Nelson Muntz.

3. And it wasn't just the way the game ended: Drake Maye managed to qualify for the title of the year if a relevant team had played another relevant team; I'll come back to that in a moment. But strangely, my optimism this morning comes from the fact that yesterday was the first game of Mayes' career in which he made some classic rookie mistakes. New England turned the ball over three times, and all three were on him. His first choice was a terrible throw and a terrible read. He should have felt the pressure better and paid more attention to his internal clock on that strip bag. And he misjudged the coverage of the game-winning interception, believing there was a single high safety against Cover 2.

4. In other words, he did a number of things early in his career that you would expect a rookie to do. And he responded to everyone with strong play in other parts of the game and full responsibility after the game. There was no death spiral or immediate loss of confidence that we began to see with another quarterback, who will remain nameless, but whose name rhymes with “Whack Bones.” He was a rookie who early in his career did the rookie things that virtually every rookie who has ever worn a jersey does, but for the most part it was all canceled out by what else he could do.

5. This is a team devoid of top-notch talent. Their stake in the game is questionable at best. The question of whether the current head coach has what it takes to succeed in the most scrutinized and difficult job in professional sports continues to grow. But despite all that, Drake Maye continues to show, far more than any New England quarterback not named Tom Brady or Drew Bledsoe ever does, that he could very well be our man for the future.

6. Maye's obvious highlight came on the final play of regulation time, capping an 11-play drive that was aided by a huge punt return from Marcus Jones. Maye ran around for nearly 12 full seconds, eluding four different defenders, before making the throw. But even before that, Maye was more or less New England's entire offense. He ran almost 100 meters. He was under pressure on almost half of his dropbacks and still threw for 206 yards. He overcame New England's relentless pre-snap penalties and large-scale, negating hold calls to still achieve positive yardage. These are all the things you want to see every week, and the fact that Drake Maye is doing it all in spite of, not because of, this team has to make you feel good.

7. I also wonder if, if this continues, other players around the league will see what New England has in a young quarterback and be enticed to come here to build something.

8. I'm also starting to see much more clearly which players represent the future of this team. Hunter Henry is one of the better tight ends in the NFL (though that's more praise for the position as a whole than effusive praise) and a consistently reliable receiving threat. Pop Douglas is coming into his own again and his route tree is getting bigger – not to mention his catch radius. The one-handed shot he made on the sideline is a level of athleticism we haven't seen at the receiver position in a long time. Kayshon Boutte is making plays at all levels of the offense despite his limited appearance. Rhamondre Stevenson appears to have solved his fumbling problem and will be a weapon once he can get some slick run blocks down. We will have a solid group of players to build around for 2025 and beyond and that's all this season has been about.

9. Now I know that we are New Englanders and pessimism is as ingrained in our systems as drinking IPAs and complaining about the construction on 84 East. Plus, daylight saving time just ended (or started, I can't remember) and we're looking at five months of 3pm sunsets. In order not to lose any more readers with all this positivity, I should reframe things a bit.

10. The 2024 New England Patriots are simply unable to stop the run. They just can't do it. I don't know why any team would even bother throwing against a team on offense unless they want to give their running back a break for important plays. If I'm New England's opponent, I search Google for “Patriots vs. Bills 2021 Monday Night Football Offensive Game Plan” and do that every week.

11. Honestly, at this point, I feel like opposing quarterbacks could give New England their play right away, tell the defense exactly where to line up, run the ball right into an 11-man zone, and still average four yards could score per run.

12. And when you need a stop to maintain momentum or protect a rare and valuable New England lead, know that scoring drives lasted thirteen plays, nine minutes, and 78 yards in which the running back averaged 5 yards per carry achieved are the rule rather than the An exception will see you greeting the approaching pitch blackness before the games even begin in the late afternoon.

13. Which also leads to a defense that gets gassed late and then gives up big plays.

14. That's one of the main reasons I really wanted the Patriots to go for two after the Maye-to-Mondre touchdown. I had no confidence that the Patriots could stop Mason Rudolph (what a terrible, terrible thing to write), and I didn't believe Maye could work that kind of magic on consecutive drives.

15. I also really didn't want to have to subject myself and the world to another quarter of this game. But oh well.

16. There is no word, phrase, sentence, emotion or facial expression that can accurately describe the depth and extent of my unfathomable, all-consuming disgust at the delayed delivery from the shotgun play call. Every time a team calls the game, a puppy somewhere doesn't get adopted. Every time a team calls this game, a child learns that everyone is out of their favorite ice cream flavor. Every time a team calls this game, a clown dies. Every time a team calls this game, six more political texts appear on your phone.

17. And special thanks to New England for running this play on second-and-long so frequently. There's nothing like a delayed handoff right behind a terrible offensive line on 2nd-and-9 to set up 3rd-and-13 to keep the momentum going and increase my enjoyment of the sport.

18. This seems as good a segue as any to wonder what in Tebow's name the overall offensive strategy was yesterday in terms of game flow and game consistency. I'm trying to stay positive here, so my conclusion is that AVP and company used this game as a great opportunity to give Drake Maye the opportunity to gain or lose momentum on every other play. They see the kid getting comfortable and asserting himself in the field, so they call in a few runs for losses just to calm things down.

19. The best example of this brilliant learning experience came just before halftime when Maye hit Kendrick Bourne for 14 yards and then Bourne hit him again for nine more yards to move the ball from the 15th to the 38th with 1:37 to play – each Lots of time to at least get into the FG area. It was the perfect time to call a late delivery from the shotgun to JaMycal Hasty for no gain, then let the clock run out, then play Mondre again for a loss of one. The decision on those two runs eliminated any chance for Maye to score just before half-time and gave him the kind of false confidence that can completely derail a career.

20. To be fair, many of the limitations in the program are talent-related. The closet is pretty empty, so you can actually only put together a limited number of pieces.

21. But at the same time, I thought the line played pretty well last week. That's probably why the coaches decided to try a new combination yesterday. Really flipping the whole “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage and instead adopting the somewhat controversial approach: “If you fix it, break it again.”

22. The real benefit, at least from a long-term perspective, is that this game will most likely be considered come draft season. New England, Tennessee and Carolina will be fighting for the top three picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, and with this loss the Patriots have a big lead right now. As of this morning, New England is the No. 1 overall pick. With the win, the Titans dropped to ninth place overall. There are currently nine two-win teams, meaning the draft order will be a much more exciting race than the 2024 playoffs.

The Patriots will win a few more games this season, I'm pretty confident about that. But I have no idea what games those will be, and I'm not sure I want to know. Just give me more Drake Maye doing Drake Maye stuff and I'll be fine.