NASHVILLE — The Patriots could have attempted a make-or-break two-point conversion after Drake Maye’s incredible extended-play touchdown on Sunday.

Instead, they kicked the extra point, went to overtime and lost to the Tennessee Titans 20-17.

Head coach Jerod Mayo offered an unprompted defense of that choice in the opening statement of his postgame news conference.

“At the time, I felt like that was the right thing to do,” Mayo said. “It’s easy to make a judgment one way or another, but I thought that was the right thing to do at the time.”

Mayo later was asked whether fatigue played into the decision to forgo a two-point try. The offense had just completed an 11-play drive, and Maye scrambled for more than 11 seconds before throwing his touchdown pass to Rhamondre Stevenson.

“I don’t want to get into that,” Mayo replied. “It’s a good question, but I just don’t want to get into it now.”

Maye was asked whether he lobbied Mayo to keep the offense on the field.

“Shoot, I was just trying to catch my breath,” the rookie quarterback replied. “I couldn’t even think about it. I think just looking back on it, it’s easy to say we were out there that long on such a high-intensity drive, I think it’s hard to go for two. I think it’s easy to say that now, but our defense was fresh and coming out in overtime and trying to get a stop.”

New England’s defense did prevent Tennessee from reaching the end zone in overtime, but only barely. The Titans drove to the Patriots’ 6-yard line before settling for a Nick Folk field goal, and Maye’s deep-ball interception three plays later ended the game.