The New England Patriots didn’t expect to be in this situation. They should have stopped the Miami Dolphins and Ryan Fitzpatrick on their final offensive drive in the fourth quarter in Week 17. Frankly, the Patriots shouldn’t have allowed it to get to that point. But it did. And the Dolphins scored a touchdown to complete the upset victory, which knocked the Patriots out of the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff standings.

New England fell to No. 3, which slated them to play the Tennessee Titans in the wild card round at Gillette Stadium. (Day and time is to be announced.) So Bill Belichick will match up against coach Mike Vrabel, who played for Belichick in New England, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

There’s legitimate reason for concern for the Patriots. Here are four initial thoughts on the matchup.

1. Titans QB Ryan Tannehill is a whole new man (in a good way) — and so is Tom Brady (in a bad way)

These two quarterbacks seem to be headed in opposite trajectories.

Tannehill has experienced a renaissance in Tennessee after flunking out of the Miami Dolphins offense under Adam Gase. It’s beginning to seem like that was more a testament to Gase’s shortcomings than Tannehill’s. So maybe he’s 4-7 against the Patriots with 61 completion % for 2,851 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interception. But maybe the story will continue to be different. Maybe Tannehill’s hot streak will continue.

Brady, meanwhile, continues to look less-than-stellar. He threw a pick-six on Sunday against the Dolphins, his first since December 2017. His vision has been off — his accuracy isn’t what it has been in past seasons. Perhaps we’re witnessing Brady’s decline. Perhaps it’s a product of his weak supporting cast. Regardless, the quarterback doesn’t look ready to carry his offense past the Titans. Instead, he’ll need to rely upon his defense and special teams units. That has been the Patriots’ recipe for success in 2019.