For the first time since the middle of last season, the New England Patriots looked like a good football team yesterday. They moved the ball, sometimes at will, played aggressive, down-hill defense, and kept Lamar Jackson in check (for the most part)…until it all fell apart over the last 12:39 of the game.
Going into the game, we all knew it was going to be tough to keep the Ravens offense in check, while many figured the Patriots had a good chance to put up some yards and score some points. Both ultimately turned out to be true, but the way in which it all unfolded was a surprise, at least to me. Let’s discuss.
I’ll start with the offense. It looked good for the first three quarters. The Patriots have been a slow-starting team over the past year, especially when playing teams that don’t stink. They hung points at will against the Jets (2x) Jaguars and Browns early and often last year, but when facing playoff-caliber opponents, they usually spent the first quarter feeling things out, making adjustments, etc. That trend has continued this season and was true again yesterday. True to form, things got going towards the end of the first quarter. The Patriots got the ball back with 4:04 left in the first quarter following a Ravens touchdown for the first points of the game. Seven plays, 62-yards, and 4:12 of game time later, the Patriots scored their first points of the game with a 35-yard Nick Foulk field goal on the first play of the second quarter. A first-half field goal drive is generally unremarkable, but this particular series featured something we hadn’t seen in a long time from this offense, a big play from the passing game. On 1st and 10 from their own 40, Jones hit Devante Parker on a crosser that he took all the way to the Baltimore 20. The drive stalled out and the Patriots had to settle for the aforementioned field goal, but that pass play was the first of its kind this young season. Mac ended up finding Parker 5 times on the day for 156 yards. This was the first time we have seen the down-field passing game all season, and boy was it nice to watch. Having a viable deep threat changes so many thing for this team. Not only does it give the opposing defense something else to prepare for, but it gives a sense of confidence to the team itself knowing that they have that in the proverbial bag when they need it.
Anyways, back to the game.
The Patriots and Ravens traded touchdown drives in the second quarter with the Patriots’ coming via a short field gifted to them by a Lamar Jackson interception, his only mistake of the game, that set up the Patriots at the Baltimore 32.
For my money, the most impressive thing I saw offensively from the patriots yesterday was the field goal drive they pulled off before the half upon receiving the ball back at their own 25 with just 30-seconds left in the second quarter. With the Patriots receiving the second-half kickoff, most were expecting Belichick to just kneel on it and be happy going into halftime down by just four. Not this time. He put his faith in Mac and the offense and it paid off with a quick three, on the back of a few nice pitches and catches from Mac to Bourne, as time expired.
The Mac Jones to DeVante Parker connection helped the Patriots set up a Damien Harris touchdown on their first drive of the second half with plays of 37 and 25 yards on the drive to put them up 20-14. Rhamondre Stevenson added a touchdown early in the 4th that was set up by a wild 4th & 1 from the Baltimore 17 that saw Mac scramble and find Janu Smith for 8 yards, but by that point, the game had all but slipped away.
Facing a two-score defisite, the Patriots couldn’t get antying sustained going in the 4th quarter. Mac threw an endzone interception on a ball that was thrown towards DeVante Parker, but there was either a miscommunication between Mac and Parker, or Parker gave up (sure looked like this), that turned the Patriots away with no points. When they got the ball back after a Baltimore punt, again the Patriots looked to be on the march before another turnover, this time a terrible fumble by Nelson Aghalor, gave the ball back to the Ravens. Add in one more interception from Mac on thier final drive, a play in which he got hurt on (more on that later) and you can almost throw out any good feelings you had about the offense based on the first three quarters of the game.
Offense Grade: C–
Following the Damien Harris score at 12:14 of the third quarter, the Ravens rattled off 17-straight points as the Patriots defense straight-up got tired. A Mac Jones interception didn’t help the matter, but the fatigue was palpable. As I mentioned in my preview blog, you can only hope to contain Lamar Jackson as objectively stopping him is impossible. The defense answered the bell in the first half, but the constant stress of covering his receivers, loading up to stop their anemic run game (outside of Jackson), and constantly being aware of Jackson’s running ability proved to be too much. Short of a 4th quarter forced punt (with Baltimore up two scores) the Ravens had their way with the Patriots defense in the second half. Lamar was using his legs to set up the pass in a way I’ve never seen him do it, including his MVP season. He looked like a legit quarterback on Sunday, not just a freak athlete.
Through the first two weeks of the season, the defense had, at the least, held their own, and at best, played well. I’ll concede that the Steelers stink, but the more we see of Tua, the more weight I put in that Week 1 performance down in Miami. The defense, as a whole, took a step back yesterday, but there’s really no way to prepare for Lamar. Their corners played well against an admittedly average passer and their front 7 was able to contain the run from everyone not wearing a white #8 jersey, but that’s looking for silver linings. Going into the game everyone on the planet knew the #1 task at hand was to contain Lamar for 60-minutes which ultimately proved to be something the Patriots defense could not do. I’m not completely throwing out the positives mentioned above but in a results-based business, they were not good enough.
Defense Grade: B-
The coaching was great yesterday. I love nitpicking coaching decisions as much as the next guy, but I have no issue with anything the coaching staff did yesterday. The gameplan on both sides of the ball was solid. I don’t blame Patricia and Judge for mac throwing 3 interceptions or the Aghalor fumble, and the defense was put in the right spots to stop Jackson, but couldn’t.
Moreover, I think Belichick was more aggressive yesterday than he has been in years. Trying to get points before the half, and going for it on 4th down from nomans land are positive coaching developments.
Coachig Grade: B
Then ther was the Mac injury. It did not look good. I won’t lie to you and say that Mac has looked great this year, but he’s 1000% the best option this team has. The early report is a high ankle sprain that will land him on IR, but that’s all unofficial.
Once we get some finite information about #10s status, I’m sure I’ll post a full blog on the prognosis and what that means for the team both this year and moving forward.
until then, we pray.