I feel like this week and last week are in many ways kind of similar. Last week was 'we saw some good stuff, but a lot of things went wrong'. This week is 'we saw some good stuff, but a lot of things went right'.
You can't count on 2 punt returns like that to set up 14 easy points. The Panthers made a fair amount of unforced errors. The biggest being the personal foul when we were something like 2nd and goal at the 25. Add in drops and just really bad play from the QB after drive 1 and it was one of those games where it just came too easy. So the obvious thing to say is the Pats aren't as bad as last week and aren't as good as this week. ...... THAT ALL BEING SAID!!
There were some encouraging signs. The OL was solid and i think only had 1 penalty. The pass blocking was really good. The run blocking was hit or miss but overall solid. That to me is the story through 4 weeks. The OL is not just passable. It has been more or less, dare i say it. borderline average.
The other big story is Diggs. It is so nice to see a WR lead this team in yards. I really like Hunter and i am okay passing to RBs... but WRs are paid to catch the ball. We need Diggs to be this guy for us. This shows how much better this offense looks when it has a WR threat to make the TE and RB pass catching a secondary weapon. Those things work so much better like that (unless you have a Gronk/Kelce type or something). This offense imo will look so much better when things are lined up like that.
As for the defense. It was really solid after the first drive. Solid but not unbeatable by a mile. The first drive the CBs and DBs in general were out of sorts. After that it tightened up and they said 'execute at a high level'. And the Panthers couldn't. Pressure was there... but just enough to make Young uncomfortable or speed him up a little. The windows were tight. But i saw some openings. The run game worked out for them okay, but after the first drive nothing big was broken much and they forced 3rd downs. Basically it was good but not great.
I really dislike the lack of blitzing. I know they can get pressure with 4. But i want them to force things.. and their front 4 can't always force things. Sadly they aren't really built for stunts with Milton and Barmore really playing best at their spots and you don't want to move them much. So i think they should blitz more. We saw this game with Gonzo/Davis they can hold well. Let's lean on that a bit. I don't want to run this same D vs better offenses. I don't think it will get the results we hope. But vs other bad offenses, I think this can work well.