Pats' Late Rally Cuts Down Oilers

raced into the end zone after catching Bledsoe's short pass as the New England Patriots scored two touchdowns in an 18-second span in the final five minutes to beat the Tennessee Oilers 27-16 Sunday.

"Before the game, I went to him and told him it's time for you to have a big game," Bledsoe said. "Terry was never a guy I was worried about. I knew he was going to be there."

Glenn struggled through an injury-plagued 1997 season after catching 90 passes as a rookie first-round draft pick in 1996. Eddie George -- his teammate at Ohio State and another 1996 first-rounder -- had outplayed him the past two seasons.

George did on Sunday, too -- rushing for 100 yards on 23 carries and catching a 22-yard scoring pass for the Oilers -- until Bledsoe caught Tennessee (1-2) in a blitz and hit Glenn on a slant pattern at about the Oilers' 40-yard line.

With 4:25 left, the Patriots had their first lead, 20-16. P>"I

Drew Bledsoe is sacked by Tennessee's Lonnie Marts and Blaine Bishop (left) during the first quarter. (AP)

don't know if it's a confidence thing or a pride thing, but the first year felt like the pressure was off," Glenn said. "Now it's not like that. You have to go out and make plays."

George has seen it before.

"Knowing him, when the game was on the line like that, I knew they'd go to him sooner or later," George said, "and the nightmare happened."

It got scarier for the Oilers 18 seconds later when Lawyer Milloy broke Steve McNair's string of 100 passes without an interception by returning one 30 yards for a touchdown and a 27-16 lead with 4:07 left.

"This game hurts bad," McNair said. "They shouldn't have beat us. We had the game."

The Oilers kept the ball away from the Patriots (2-1) with a conservative offense and held the ball 13 minutes longer.

"Somewhere along the line, someone from our club is going to have to make two plays at the end of a close ballgame to win," Oilers coach Jeff Fisher said.

"It just shows the type of team we are," Patriots wide receiver Vincent Brisby said. "Every time they scored, we came back."

The late burst overcame the patience of an Oilers offense that improved since gaining just 250 yards in a 13-7 loss to San Diego a week earlier.

George, who matched his career-low with 11 yards rushing against the Chargers, scored on the 22-yard hookup with McNair early in the third quarter, breaking a 6-6 halftime tie.

New England came right back to tie the game 13-13 with a 77-yard drive capped by first-round draft choice Robert Edwards' third touchdown of the season, a 7-yard run.

Tennessee went ahead 16-13 on Al Del Greco's third field goal, a 45-yarder with 10:54 left. The Oilers punted on their next series and the Patriots, after waiting all game to take control, did it in a hurry. Edwards ran four yards to the New England 49.

Then Bledsoe hit Glenn, slanting from left to right.

"I got it out to him and he did the rest by himself. Those are the fun ones as a quarterback," Bledsoe said.

The Oilers' comeback hopes faded when McNair looked for Yancey Thigpen but found strong safety Milloy, who scored the Patriots second touchdown on an interception in as many games. Ty Law had one in a 29-6 win over Indianapolis.

It was the first turnover by the Oilers offense all season. The Patriots still haven't turned the ball over. The win was their 15th straight in games in which they had a positive turnover ratio, and they've won 15 of their last 16 games in which Bledsoe didn't throw an interception.

The Patriots struggled wit their running game for the third consecutive week. They gained just 46 yards on 14 plays until their final drive of the first half began with 1:53 left. On the next 11 plays, they gained 65 yards and ended the half with Adam Vinatieri's 41-yard field goal that tied the game 6-6.

Notes

The teams met for the first time since Oct. 17, 1993. Bledsoe missed that game with a strained left knee and hadn't faced the Oilers before Sunday.

Bledsoe extended his consecutive games streak to 47 games, third in the NFL behind Brett Favre and Trent Dilfer .

The Patriots haven't lost a fumble in seven of their last eight regular-season games.

New England gained 214 yards on its first 47 plays, 108 on its last five.

McNair had a career-high 28 completions.

Del Greco, whose streak of 12 consecutive field goal attempts ended in the season opener, went 3-for-3 and extended his club record to 142 consecutive extra-point kicks.

George rushed for at least 100 yards for the 13th time, eight after a loss. He can make that nine times when the Oilers play Jacksonville next Sunday.