Remembering the Patriots’ epic snowy blowout over the Titans

The New England Patriots were the NFL's dominant franchises throughout the 2000s, largely thanks to the excellent duo of quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick. The two towering NFL figures led the Patriots to hundreds of wins and six Super Bowl championships.

Throughout those years, New England inevitably blew out many teams. And one of the Patriots' most impressive beatdowns came during the 2009 campaign, when they took on the Tennessee Titans in a driving snowstorm.

Unsurprisingly, the Patriots got off to a hot start in 2009. New England began the year with a 3-1 record, with its only loss coming against the rival New York Jets. However, the week before the Titans came to town, New England suffered its second defeat, this time against the Denver Broncos in an overtime affair that saw Denver quarterback Kyle Orton outduel Brady. Even with that loss and a 3-2 record at the time, the Patriots were widely regarded as a Super Bowl contender, if for no other reason than for having Brady and Belichick. 

The team on the other sideline was not having nearly as much success. Titans head coach Jeff Fisher was in the middle of a disastrous start to the season, losing five straight games, essentially removing the team from contention before the campaign was even halfway over. A visit to one of the toughest venues in the NFL, and in the snow, was not what they needed to get the team back on track in the midst of an awful season.

While this contest is known as a classic New England snow game, the elements were not nearly as bad on the field as it looked on TV screens. It was "only" 39 degrees at kickoff, while winds whipped around at 13 mph. But the presence of snow favored the Patriots, who entered the game with an undefeated 10-0 record in games that featured snowfall in Foxborough.

Things got going immediately for the Patriots, who scored less than 10 minutes into the game when running back Laurence Maroney dashed through the snow for a 45-yard touchdown. New England's offense did not look back from that point, continuing to pour on touchdown after touchdown.

The second quarter featured the majority of the action for the Patriots, particularly for Brady. The offense got into the end zone five times in a single period, all of which came on the arm of its legendary quarterback. Brady found wide receiver Randy Moss for two long scoring strikes, one from 40 yards out and another from 28. Fellow receiver Wes Welker scored twice, too, while running back Kevin Faulk managed to haul in a touchdown pass as well.

By halftime, the Titans had yet to put a single point on the board, while New England had managed a historic 45-point explosion in 30 minutes of play. Mercifully, the scoring slowed down in the second half, with Brady only throwing a single touchdown, again to Moss, before Belichick sent in his backups to finish what was an already sealed victory.

All in all, the Patriots scored a 59-0 win over the Titans, punching in touchdowns at will and keeping a hapless Tennessee offense away from the end zone. It added up to the largest margin of victory in an NFL game since the 1970 merger. Not just a big-time snow-day blowout, but the biggest blowout in the history of the league, period.

There are plenty of offensive players who could be highlighted from this game beyond Brady. Moss was a force of nature, accumulating eight catches for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Welker contributed 10 catches, 150 yards, and two more scores, and Maroney had a similarly fantastic game, rushing for 123 yards and a score on 7.7 yards per carry.

But the true highlight of the day was, of course, Brady. In what ended up being easily one of the most productive games of his career, the quarterback put up 380 passing yards and six touchdowns. He actually finished the game with more TDs than incompletions (29-for-34). Additionally, Brady's five second-quarter TD passes remain a league record for a single quarter.

New England's destruction of the Titans ended up being the highlight of an otherwise tumultuous 2009 season. Despite the immense talent amassed on the roster, the Patriots only managed to finish with a 10-6 record, but still won the AFC East crown. Most NFL fans would kill for a season like that, but for the Brady-Belichick Patriots, it was a disappointment.

Even with a divisional title and a playoff home game, New England did not manage to advance past the first round. The Baltimore Ravens demolished them 33-14 in front of the same crowd that had watched the Pats blow out the Titans.

Despite the disappointing end to the year, the Oct. 18, 2009, drubbing of Tennessee stands out as one of the most enjoyable games in Patriots history. Brady had a field day, and fan favorites Moss and Welker put on insanely impressive performances. And visually, the snow and the red throwback uniforms will always be imprinted in the memories of Pats fans as a symbol of their dominance in the dynasty era.