MORSE: Observations Following Patriots Impressive Opening Game Upset Victory

I really enjoyed watching this Patriots game! The Patriots did what they wanted to do and came away with an upset win. The Patriots were 8-point underdogs going into the game. Davon Godchaux said that they felt disrespected and played with that chip on their shoulders. This was the highest point spread for an opening game underdog to win since 2018.

We need to start with the play of the Offensive line. To start, the Patriots had Chuk Okorafor at Left Tackle, and he was a turnstile against Trey Hendrickson. It took only 12 plays to be replaced by Vederian Lowe. One play stands out for me when Lowe rode Hendrickson past Jacoby Brissett, allowing a big scrambling lane in which Brissett ran for 15 yards. Did you ever hear Michael Jordan’s name called at any time from the opening game introduction? Layden Robinson missed one blitz pickup when he was late coming off a double team, but I expect his rating will be pretty good on Tuesday when PFF posts them.

Cincy DE Sam Hubbard was a Pro Bowl DE. Did you hear his name at all? Mike Onwenu ate his lunch. Bottom line, when the Patriots wanted to run, they did. Even at the end of the game when everyone knew they are going to run they dominated the line. They executed the zone blocking well and it seems that Rhamondre Stevenson likes this blocking scheme! I liked Scott Peters reaction at the end of the game jumping for joy when the Patriots made the 1^st down to seal the win. Congrats to Scott and Robert Kugler for getting these guys ready for the game.

Here are some of my observations from the game:

Offensive line blocked for 39 rushed for 170 yards (including the -2 for the 3 kneel downs)
Jacoby Brissett ran for 34 yards rushing on 4 carries before he had -2 yards on the 3 kneel downs at the end of the game
The Patriots had a very tough and hard Training Camp and it showed in this game. They were in shape and dominated the Line of Scrimmage
Layden Robinson’s block on the Rhamondre Stevenson’s TD was a thing of beauty. It looked like the parting of the Red Sea by Moses
Brissett spread the ball around as KJ Osborn and Rhamondre Stevenson were the leaders with just 3 catches.
The Burrow fumble call was a terrible reverse of the turnover. Burrow was a runner, not a QB giving himself up, and the ball was punched out, then the contact happened. A runner is not down until he is touched and because Burrow dived forward, he was a runner. Terrible call that led to a Bengals TD.
Gonzalez Pass Interference was a bad call too.
Keon White was a beast and had a coming out party with 2.5 sacks. However, I don’t like him as a DT before a 3^rd and long.
This was a Road win with a hostile crowd for Jerod Mayo’s 1^st win
Stevenson is uncanny in his ability to slide into openings. He is going to lead the league in Yards After First Contact. 25 carries for 120 yards and a TD
Patriot won the turnover battle 2-0 despite Jacoby Brissett almost throwing pick on a throw to the end zone off his back foot.
The Patriots had 17 first downs and had the advantage in Time of Possession with 34:03
The Patriots Defense held Joe Burrow to one chunk play as he completed passes underneath. He was 21/29 for 164 yards (5.7 YPC), and a 56.2 QB rating. They also held Cincy to 4-11 on 3^rd down and 0-1 on 4^th down
The Patriots open field tackling was outstanding
Jon Jones 4^th down stop in the 3^rd quarter may have won the game for the Pats. He was 10 yards away from Iosivas and closed quickly to make the hit on 4^th and 2.
JuWhuan Bentley was his usual self with 12 tackles of which 7 were solo
This was a perfect storm for an upset. Alex Van Pelt knows the Bengals Defensive Coordinator Lou Anaruma’s tendencies from having developed game plans against him for three years. Jacoby Brissett beat Cincy in 2022 by a score of 32 -13.
The Bengals are now 1-5 in home openers and Zac Taylor’s team are known for slow starts out of the gate under his regime
Jerod Mayo’s decision making was pretty good except for not challenging an early catch. I believe it was KJ Osborn who made the catch only to have it called incomplete. His attempt to draw Cincy offside at the end of the quarter was pretty lame.
Patriots Special Team were outstanding despite the illegal procedure on the opening kickoff. I blame that on opening game jitters by rookie Dell Pettus. Long Snappers are football players too! Captain Joe Cardona was credited with the Forced Fumble when he put his hat on the ball.
Joey Slye’s three field goals were a blessing after what we had to go through last year. We got into the Red Zone and came away with points.

The Patriots put together a solid game plan on Offense and Defense and executed it well. They didn’t make any critical mistakes, nor did they get penalized much. They will need to score more than 16 points if they want to win in the NFL. It worked against Cincy but that won’t hunt against the rest of the brutal schedule they have. It was improvement and something to be optimistic about.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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JimK

1 year ago

Mark great comments on this pats tackling. They dropped ball carriers like a sack of potatoes for 3/4 of the game. They got beat on the line of scrimmage for a short while in Q3, but otherwise controlled it. Jon Jones 4 and 2 was indeed a great example. When Burrow completed a short pass (and he threw short a lot), the ball carriers rarely got any RAC yardage. Sure and sound tackling. There was emotion in that hard work I’m sure.

JimK

1 year ago

Interesting to see if the pats stick with: Lowe, Sidy Sow, Andrews, Robinson and Onwenu. Where Okorofor is the odd man out. Caeden Robinson hopefully changes the mix when/if he’s ready. Onwenu won’t stay at RT long term is an assumption.