By Cass Teague and Marcus Jones

“The weather might be a little cloudy outside and the trees might be turning orange, and everybody might be down on the Titans. But the players really believe they got something to prove for the rest of this season, and the true fans we always believe the Titans will win. All the fans are asking for is something positive to happen. Now we just want to see something positive happening, and we will never give up on the Titans. We will love them to until the end.”

Sunday, November 3, the New England Patriots visit Nissan Stadium to play our hometown Tennessee Titans. Both teams have suffered six losses through the first eight weeks of the season. The Titans enjoyed one victory so far, a 31-12 rout in Miami against the Dolphins midway through the season.

The Patriots have eeked out two victories and have yet to take their Bye week, which won’t come for them until December 8. They opened their season with a six point win on the road against the Bengals, and lost six straight until last week when they beat the Jets by a field goal.

“The Patriots lost Drake Maye to a concussion and he won’t be back this week,” says Bill Speros, an award-winning columnist with the Boston Herald. “The Titans were annihilated by Detroit 52-14 and are playing musical quarterbacks between Mason Rudolph and Will Levis. Another sad Nashville country song, indeed. The Titans rank first in passing defense and the Patriots rank last in passing offense. And the Titans rank 31st in passing offense. With Jacoby Brissett back at QB for New England, neither team will be in a hurry to score.”

So, we see even the Patriots local media gives us a good shot, and we’ll take it. After losing at home to the Jets, Packers and Colts, the 1-6 Titans are optimistic about mustering a win over the 2-6 Patriots. ESPN gives the Titans a 61.9% chance to beat Patriots on Sunday. The site gives the Patriots a 37.8% shot at winning the NFL Week 9 game, with the remaining percentage accounting for a tie.

Sunday’s game will once again be aired locally on the FOX affiliate station, WZTV, Channel 17, at 12 Noon CST. FOX will also carry the next game, at Los Angeles against the Chargers on November 10, with a 3:25 p.m. CST Kickoff. Note the time change from CDT (Central Daylight Time) to CST (Central Standard Time), as we set our clocks back one hour Sunday morning for what will feel like an 11 am kickoff. Later in November, the Titans host the Vikings on the 17 th and visit Houston to play the Texans on the 24 th (both games at 12 Noon, on CBS/WTVF NewsChannel 5).