The Titans pulled out a 15-10 home win over the Jacksonville Jaguars

FOXBOROUGH Shareef Miller Jersey , Mass. — Having already survived two win-or-go-home battles, the Tennessee Titans face their toughest test when they visit the defending champion New England Patriots in Saturday night’s AFC divisional round game.
They then went on the road and rallied from 21-3 down and stunned the Kansas City Chiefs 22-21 to advance for the second time.

Now, the Titans are two-touchdown underdogs as the Patriots are expected by most people to take the next step toward their sixth Super Bowl crown of the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Era.

“It just shows that how tough of a team they are under the pressure,” New England’s Rob Gronkowski said earlier this week. “They’ve basically won two playoff games — one to get into the playoffs and a playoff game last week. It just shows how tough they are, how fundamental they are and that they’re ready to bring it in the clutch times.”

The Patriots have won the last six games between the teams and the Titans haven’t won in Foxborough since 1993, when they were the Houston Oilers.

While the Titans were pulling off their major comeback against the Chiefs, the Patriots were going through another bye week, but one that was filled with controversy. An ESPN report dealt with dissension among New England’s power trio of owner Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady — much of it centering around the Pats’ trade of Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for just a second-round draft choice.

So, the Patriots have been dealing with questions all week — as the Titans just prepare.

“You know what, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know anything about it,” Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey said on a conference call with the New England media, regarding the controversy. “I’m not a social media guy. I don’t know enough, I really don’t Devin Bush Jersey , to make any comment about something like that.”

One thing, besides championships, the Patriots have become known for is blocking out distractions. Belichick simply won’t allow any outside stimuli to affect his team.

“Throughout my years here I’ve seen a lot of negative, a lot of positive,” Gronkowski said Tuesday. “The reputation that Coach tries to get us to have is just ignore the noise — ignore the noise from the outside and I feel like that’s what myself and a lot of other players have been doing.

“You just gotta ignore the noise and just focus on what we’ve been doing all year and that’s preparing hard, studying our opponent, getting ready, mentally and physically for the big game, so what’s going on on the outside, as a team, as an organization, just gotta keep grinding, keep going, keep doing our job.”

The New England defense is spending the week preparing for mobile quarterback Marcus Mariota, a third-year pro who can make things happen with his legs. He ran 87 yards for a 2015 touchdown.

“He actually knows when to run and when to pass the ball when scrambling http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-diontae-johnson-jersey ,” Patriots safety Duron Harmon said Wednesday. “It’s a very unique skill because a lot of guys once they get scrambling, they’re not even looking downfield anymore, they’re just looking to run. But he always has his eyes downfield — always knows when to run, when to throw the pass, I would say his touch on the ball, too, that gets people open when he’s scrambling.”

Mariota, who threw 13 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions during the regular season, had two touchdown passes and one pick in the playoff win. One of the touchdowns passes actually went to himself after Darrelle Revis batted down one of his passes before Mariota caught it and scored.

But Mariota was also sixth in the NFL (Brady was first) in third-down passer rating.

Wednesday, the Titans announced running back DeMarco Murray will miss his third straight game with a knee injury, while the Patriots could get both James White and Rex Burkhead back to further fortify a running game that has excelled even without them thanks to Dion Lewis.

Earlier this week, Titans’ All-Pro safety Kevin Byard said the goal of his defense is pretty simple — turn Brady into Blake Bortles.

“It’s a playoff game, so it’s not like it’s the preseason where I can go out there, ‘Oh, it’s Brady Justin Layne Jersey ,’ and I’m chillin’,” Byard said Tuesday.

“This is a playoff game. So I don’t really care if it was Joe Montana. You know what I’m saying? I’m trying to go out there and win the game. I want to make him look like Blake Bortles if I can and try to catch a couple picks.

“Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but it’s a playoff game. I’m not really looking at it like that.”

Cornerback Logan Ryan, a former Patriots player now with the Titans, has been limited in practice with an ankle injury.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers, two struggling teams in last place in their divisions, will open a three-game series Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals have lost six straight and 12 of 13. They have dropped 26 of 36 games at Kauffman Stadium, the worst home record in the majors. Overall, the Royals are 22-49. Only the Baltimore Orioles at 20-50 have a worse record.

The Royals are 27 games below .500 for the first time since concluding the 2016 season at 28 below.

The Rangers (29-44) are not much better. They’re buried in the basement in the American League West, 19 games behind the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, who swept a weekend series in Kansas City to extend their winning streak to 11 games.

The Rangers halted a season-worst seven-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. They scored four in the ninth on Sunday to win a 13-12 slugfest over the Rockies in Arlington for their second straight victory.

While it was a mismatch for the Royals against the Astros, Kansas City and Texas match up more evenly on paper.

“Our guys, they walk in the clubhouse and the clubhouse has got life, has got energy http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-benny-snell-jr.-jersey ,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “These guys are pushing. They understand it’s a struggle for them right now.

“Again, I’ve broken this down to them numerous times. All you can do is show up every day with energy and go out and give your best effort, that’s it. Sometimes your best effort is an 0-for-4. Sometimes it’s a 4-for-4. They’re all incredibly talented. But you go out and give your best effort every single day. That’s what you get paid for.

“The contract doesn’t say, ‘When you sign your contract, you’re going to get X amount of dollars for 40 home runs, 200 hits. No. The contract says you’re going to get X amount of dollars for your best effort every day.’ And these guys are doing a great job of that.”

The Royals made a bevy of roster moves Sunday, bringing up infielder Adalberto Mondesi, outfielder Rosell Herrera and right-hander Wily Peralta from Triple-A Omaha. They optioned right-hander Scott Barlow and infielder Ramon Torres to their Pacific Coast League farm club. Left-hander Eric Skoglund was transferred from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.

Mondesi is the organization’s former top prospect but has not produced offensively in the majors.

“He’s never had success up here,” Yost said. “He’s a young guy. You just try to pace him a little bit, play a couple of games here, a couple of games there and get his feet on the ground, let him start to have some success, which we all know he’s going to have, just let him ease into that.”

Whit Merrifield, however Zach Gentry Jersey , left in the second inning with a bruised left knee after fouling off a pitch and Mondesi was immediately pressed into action. He went 0-for-3 and struck out twice.

Bartolo Colon will try to make history as he starts for Texas in the series opener. Colon has 243 victories, tied with Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for most in the majors by a Dominican native. He is also tied with Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson for 33rd on the career strikeout list with 2,502.

Colon is 1-3 with a 9.51 ERA in his past five starts. Opponents are hitting .336 against him with a .710 slugging percentage.

His season ERA has ballooned from 2.82 to 4.94 during that span while the season opponent’s batting average climbed from .212 to .258 in that stretch.

Colon is 15-11 with a 5.00 ERA in 32 career games, 31 of them starts, against the Royals. He had a no-decision in a May 26 start against the Royals, allowing three runs and five hits in seven innings.

He is 6-8 with a 5.53 ERA in 18 games in Kansas City. He has lost his last four starts at Kauffman Stadium dating to 2009.

Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy has only one win in his last 27 Kauffman Stadium starts. He should have won his last home start, pitching eight scoreless innings and yielding three hits on Tuesday, but the Cincinnati Reds won 4-1 in 10 innings.

Kennedy is 0-3 with a 4.40 ERA in seven career starts against Texas. He had a no-decision on May 26 in Arlington, allowing two runs in five innings.

He is winless in his last 12 starts, going 0-6 with a 5.98 ERA since his last win on April 7.