NASHVILLE – The Titans lost 31-13 to the New England the Patriots on Sunday at Nissan Stadium.

Here's a look at six things that stood out in the contest:

Chimere Dike's Day

Titans rookie receiver/return man Chimere Dike continues to be one of the bright spots on the team. Dike caught all four of his targets on Sunday, for 70 yards and a touchdown. It was Dike who was on the receiving end of a 38-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Cam Ward. Dike also returned three kickoffs for 84 yards, and one punt for 15 yards. "Me and Chim, we just see it the same way, from how he sees the field to how I see the field," Ward said. "I think he had an unbelievable day, not only in the return game, but especially at receiver. I think the more reps me and Chim get together, the better we're going to be, but this is only the start." Dike and Ward both said Sunday's touchdown was the result of countless hours they've spent together. "I mean, I think it's just the reps we put in, right?," Dike said. "Obviously ran it throughout camp, and the season and then also just watching film, putting in time, being able to see things the way you see them. It was really nice to connect on that."

Cam's Up and Down Performance

Ward came out firing early, and looked good. Ward was 6-of-7 for 101 yards in the first quarter, with a passer rating of 158.3. In addition to Dike, he connected with rookie Elic Ayomanor for a 20-yard strike, and he found receiver Van Jefferson open for back-to-back completions during a nice stretch. But Ward was also guilty of committing two more turnovers, including a lost fumble that resulted in a defensive touchdown, a scoop and score touchdown for the Patriots. A ball thrown behind tight end Chig Okonkwo also resulted in an interception. "That's something that can't happen," Titans interim coach Mike McCoy said of the turnovers. "We've got to avoid that. You're going to have some mistakes. There's going to be some things like that that come up, but it's happened too often in the last couple of weeks. It's something we harp on, we talk about it all the time, and players got to go out there and play, and we got to do a better job as coaches also. So we are all in this thing together." Ward said he needs to be better, and vowed to keep working without dwelling on mistakes. "I can put stuff behind me fast," Ward said. "I think as a quarterback, you have to be able to play the next play, got to be able flush stuff. And it's really me watching all my bad plays. How can I prevent it? What situation are we in? What down are we in? And even on some good plays, there's some stuff that I can continue to do better, but I just got to be to build off the bad plays and make them into more good plays."

Injuries to Key Players

Losing for the sixth time in seven games was difficult enough. Losing the best player on defense – defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons – made things a lot worse. Simmons left the game early with a hamstring injury, and he did not return. Trainers examined Simmons in the blue medical tent on the sideline, and after Simmons emerged he was visibly upset. Simmons was ruled out for the rest of the contest, and his status moving forward remains unclear. The Titans also lost cornerback L'Jarius Sneed in the game. Sneed left the contest with a quadriceps injury, which he'd been dealing with, and he didn't return either. The Titans were already playing without receiver Calvin Ridley. "Every injury, we're going to come in, give you an update on what it was, and every injury is going to be a day-to-day basis because you never know until you get back to the facility how guys wake up the next day, how they're feeling," McCoy said. "You're always trying. We'll always talk to the players about, hey, at this point in time, it's Sunday to Sunday. We got to do whatever we can to make sure we take care of our players because we're always going to look out for our players' best interest health-wise. Number one. That's always going to be taken into consideration, so they'll do whatever and as the week goes along, we'll give you guys an update if we have any information to share."

Defense Couldn't Contain Drake Maye

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye continued to play at a high level. On Sunday, the Titans didn't offer nearly enough resistance as Maye completed 21-of-23 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. Another killer: Maye also ran for 62 yards, part of New England's 175 rushing yards on the day. Maye extended plays, and drives, with his ability to escape the pocket. "(We) had to do a little bit better job of keeping him in the pocket," said Titans linebacker Cedric Gray, who led the team with 10 tackles. "He was able to get out, and make a few plays sometimes. So that definitely kind of played a factor, in him being able to extend the drives."

Third Quarter Failures

This game took a turn in the third quarter. It was 17-13 Patriots at the half, but New England scored a touchdown on its first possession of the second half. That's when running back Rhamondre Stevenson scored on a four-yard touchdown run, which capped a 12-play, 88-yard drive. Then came the Ward fumble, which was picked up by K'Lavon Chaisson and returned for a touchdown. The Titans had three possessions in the third quarter, and had minus-three net yards on the eight total plays, including three sacks. "I think just with the quick start is just us having urgency," Ward said. "That's how we need to start every game and maintain it throughout the whole game. And the third quarter, really, fumbling the football, I think that was what really set us back. If I don't do that, the game does get out of hand that fast. So just got to continue to have ball security and get better."

No Running Game

While the Patriots had all kinds of success running the football, Tennessee's running game wasn't much of a factor in this one. Tony Pollard ran the ball six times for 18 yards, and Tyjae Spears ran it five times for 22 yards. It didn't help matters that the Titans were forced to abandon the run in the second half after falling behind by multiple scores. But the measly 30 yards of rushing offense in the first half was part of what turned out to be an overall disappointing day for the offense, which managed just 13 points on the day.