Patriots Week 16 Report Card: No Quit With Team After Upset Win
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 5 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Report Card
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 5 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports) We hope that everyone had a great Christmas. We’re sure the plane ride home to New England was a cheerful one for the team.
The Patriots’ players could care less about your early draft binkies of Williams, Maye, or Harrison. They continue to play hard for their coach, which may end up playing a role in what the owners decide in the Bill Belichick decision.
And their hard work was rewarded in Denver, of all places, on Christmas Eve, where the team pulled off a last-second win, 26-23, over the Broncos when Chad Ryland booted a 56-yard field goal, getting a big dose of redemption after missing a FG and an extra point.
The offense flipped the script from playing plodding and poorly in the first half to opening things up and going on a clutch drive in the game’s final moments for the win. Defensively, Christian Barmore was an absolute beast in the middle of the defensive line, with his best game as a pro, terrorizing Russell Wilson all night long.
So, here are our grades this week for the Patriots-Broncos game.
Once again, for Bailey Zappe, it was a tale of two halves. But this time, he flipped the Darwinian script and played extremely well in the second half and earned his first signature win. A very clutch drive put the Patriots in the position to win the game.
But it didn’t start well. On the first play of the game, Zappe was stripped-sacked, and Denver recovered at the Patriots’ six-yard line. He struggled mainly in the first half, but on the team’s FG drive, he threw a beautiful 28-yard pass to Jalen Reagor. That erased a 2nd and 20 situation.
The third quarter was Zappe’s best work of the season, where he was hot, going 8-10 for 123 yards and two TDs going to Ezekiel Elliott and Mike Gesicki, with that being his best pass of the game.
On the final drive, Zappe nicely avoided the rush and delivered a 27-yard strike to DeVante Parker to get them in FG range. He added two more short passes to move the FG attempt a bit closer for Ryland to win the game. Zappe finished 25-33 for 257 yards and two TDs for a passer rating of 117.1.
Ezekiel Elliott and Kevin Harris had precious little room to run, and the stats played that out. Elliott carried 12 times for 27 yards, while Harris added 21 more on seven carries. Tyquan Thornton added nine yards on an end around.
But Elliott was Zappe’s favorite receiver, targeted 11 times, many as a safety valve due to the pass rush. But his 15-yard TD was a beauty. He took the pass from Zappe, hurdled a defender, and vaulted into the end zone. Just a terrific play and vintage Zeke.
With JuJu Smith-Schuster out, DeVante Parker stepped up in a big way. He caught four passes for 65 yards, including a 30-yarder in the 3rd quarter and the 27-yarder that set the Patriots up for the win.
Demario Douglas hauled in five passes for 74 yards, including one for 41 yards. In the first half, however, he dropped a pass with a ton of empty green grass in front of him. That one would have put him over 100 yards on the night.
Reagor had a 28-yard reception on the team’s first scoring drive, and Thornton added a reception for 11. It was good to see Zappe getting some nice chunk plays with his receivers, with plays of 41, 30, 28, 27, 20, and a 15-yard TD.
Hunter Henry was out with an injury, so the other players needed to step up, and they did just that. The tight ends didn’t get a ton of targets, but they delivered.
Mike Gesicki was only targeted twice but had two huge catches in the game. His 11-yard TD was terrific, where he highpointed a great Zappe pass in the back of the end zone. His second catch moved the sticks closer for Chad Ryland to attempt his game-winning FG. Pharaoh Brown was targeted twice and had two catches for 20 and five yards.
The offensive line had another rough day; Trent Brown was active but didn’t start, giving way to Vederian Lowe. With Cole Strange on IR, James Ferentz took over at LG. Ferentz, just signed from the PS, was immediately trucked by D.J. Jones on the first snap, resulting in a strip sack. Brown came on with Antonio Mafi but did not change much, as Zappe was under pressure all game long.
As we pointed out earlier, the OL didn’t get any push in the running game as the team rushed for just 59 yards on 21 carries.
Christian Barmore was a dominant game-wrecker for the Patriots, as he terrorized Russell Wilson all game long. He registered eight tackles (five solo), three sacks, five QB pressures, a forced fumble, and two TFLs. His stuff on the goalline on a Denver 4th and goal was another tremendous play on a day where he was everywhere. His development in Year 3 keeps on a trajectory upward.
Davon Godchaux chipped in with TFLs, and Keion White is rounding into form with a batted-down pass, a QB hit, and a hurry. Denver rushed for 81 yards on 23 carries, a 3.5-yard average, slightly above the Patriots’ league-leading 3.2-yard average, but still an impressive day. That is the fifth straight holding an opponent to under 100 yards while rushing.
The linebackers were terrific again. Ja’Whaun Bentley led the way with eight tackles while also registering a QB hit. Jahlani Tavai was once again all over the field as he had four tackles, a QB hit, and a forced fumble.
Mack Wilson and Anfernee Jennings continue to make the most of their opportunities on the field. Wilson nearly had an interception in the end zone and chipped in with three tackles, a hurry, and a strip sack. Jennings did his usual solid job of setting the edge and added a TFL.
Meanwhile, Josh Uche had a sack, six QB pressures, a hurry, a TFL, and a QB hit.
The banged-up secondary was missing J.C. Jackson (gone for the season on NFI), and arguably their best player, Jabrill Peppers, but they played well enough to win. Jalen Mills, filling in for Peppers, was solid.
Myles Bryant was everywhere and filled a lot of different roles this week. He was singled out by Belichick in the locker room after the game for some well-deserved kudos.
Shaun Wade gave up the 21-yard touchdown on the Cover-Zero blitz but nearly had a great interception on a deep pass play to Jerry Jeudy. Overall, he wasn’t bad at all. Alex Austin and Jonathan Jones played well too. Kyle Dugger was laying the number on some short completions.
The ST units didn’t have the greatest of starts again. They gave up a 52-yard punt return, and Chad Ryland missed a FG and an extra point. Later, a muffed punt and penalty was added to the mix.
However, Ryland redeemed himself with a last-second game-winning 56-yard FG. And in the third quarter, rookie Marte Mapu forced a fumble deep in Broncos territory that Cory Davis recovered for a TD.
It was good to see Bill Belichick out-coach his friend Sean Payton, whose team was still in the mix for a playoff spot. Now, their hopes are on fumes. But with a banged-up team out of the playoff race for a while, Belichick and his staff came up with a great game plan, and the players executed it very well.
There were some STs’ gaffes and some conservative, head-scratching play calls in the fourth quarter, but overall, this was a really good effort by the team and the coaching staff. It was a testament to Belichick that his players are still playing hard with no quit in them at this juncture of a very forgettable season.
Well, after beating Denver, the Patriots stand at 4-11, and the team is shuffling off to Buffalo for the second meeting with the Bills, who are still very much alive in the playoff picture. We’ll keep an eye on the weather this week.
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected].
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens, and I from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news and game analysis.
SITE SEARCH