The Patriots answered the bell once again. In a tough, hard-fought game against a very good defensive team, New England ran its winning streak to seven in a row, but beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-23.
With the win against the favored Bucs, the Patriots ran their road record to 5-0 and opened up a bigger lead in the AFC East as Buffalo lost 30-13 against the Dolphins in Miami.
The vast majority of national media analysts have given little credit to the Patriots, instead focusing on the team’s schedule as the reason for their hot start. Which is why, most favored Tampa in the game today.
But the Patriots, after another sleep-walking, awful defensive start, took control of the game and weathered the storm as Baker Mayfield is known for his ability to come back late in games.
“In the end, we got the stops when we needed it,” head coach Mike Vrabel said.
Two Rookies Showcase Speed And Production When Most Needed:
The Patriots scored three long touchdowns against the Bucs, and it was their rookies who stepped up in a big, big way.
On the final play of the first quarter, rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams to a Drake Maye pass 72 yards to the house, and tying the score. Williams dusted coverage crossing from left to right and Maye him in stride where he easily cruised for the touchdown.
Williams entered the NFL known for his ability to separate quickly at the line of scrimmage and it was a great time to showcase his ability.
But the star of the day was definitely TreVeyon Henderson. Henderson was drafted with the reputation for having breakaway, homerun speed. That was on great display as Henderson scored on two long touchdown runs.
The first one came on the Patriots’ opening drive of the third quarter where he took a handoff from Drake Maye and burst through the Bucs right side of the defensive line, where he easily beat all defenders down the right sideline for a 55-yard touchdown run. That gave the Patriots a 21-10 lead.
After a Patriots’ defensive stop in the fourth quarter with the game on the line at 21-16, Henderson ran outside to the left, saw an opening and took off. He was so far ahead of his pursuers, that he had time to look to the Patriot’s bench and gesture to ask if he should score or just slide down at the two-or-three-yard line.
On the telecast, Tony Romo of CBS was amazed at Henderson’s speed and the ability to take off and have the wherewithal to look to Vrabel for guidance in the middle of a play.
Henderson finished with 14 carries for 147 yards and two long touchdowns.
“Those were important,” Vrabel said. “Two explosive plays, and I think Kyle’s play early, we really needed that one. That was the one that we were talking about, needing one play, and he hit it.”
“If they get going, you’re not catching them,” Drake Maye added.
Explosive Plays Ultimately Sink A Very Good Bucs Defense:
It has been a long time since the Patriots had such explosive talent on offense. We’ve had to watch them slowly move down the field a small chunk at a time. But this team is becoming incredibly adept at creating explosive plays.
The Patriots had four plays of 50-plus yards against the Tampa Bay defense today. Besides the three scoring plays, Maye hit Mack Hollins with a beautiful 55-yard drop in the bucket play also.
The Patriots had six explosive plays overall, which are defined as a pass play of 20 or more yards or a rushing attempt of 10 or more yards. Maye hit Pop Douglas for a 26-yard completion on third-and-7 in the second quarter and Henderson had another 16-yard rush in the first quarter.
Gutsy Call By Vrabel At The End Of The First Half:
Mike Vrabel made a decision that most coaches wouldn’t even dream of during the final drive of the first half against the Buccaneers on Sunday.
After the Patriots picked up a first down with 1:52 left in the second quarter, Tampa Bay called its third and final timeout.
With the ball on the 1-yard line, Vrabel had Drake Maye, essentially go to the ground on a fake QB sneak. In a deliberate effort not to score a touchdown, Maye dove to ensure that the Buccaneers would have less time on the clock to answer a potential touchdown before half.
The Bucs stoned the Patriots on the next two rushing attempts and on fourth and goal, Drake Maye found Stefon Diggs in the back corner of the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown. It was a great thrown and even better catch by Diggs.
It was a very gutsy call by Vrabel, who simply said, “we wanted to end the half with the ball in our hands,” to the CBS broadcast crew. He wasn’t afraid to trust in his players and they responded with a huge play to go up 14-10 at the half.
Ugly, Slow Start Defensively Again:
The Patriots defense is very good, but you’d be forgiven if you thought the opposite, if you judged them on the opening drives of games.
The Bucs carved them up for 65 yards in just six plays and resulted in a 21-yard touchdown by Emeka Egbuka on a busted coverage. It was not pretty. But then after that, the defense buckled down and held Baker Mayfield to just 1-6 on the next few drives after that.
The Patriots were much better after that, they contested just about everything and forced Mayfield to work much harder, and held Tampa to just nine points until the final touchdown with just 33 seconds left in the game.
Other Observations Include:
-Another big game for Mack Hollins, who led the Patriots with six catches for 106 yards as well as providing good blocking in the running game. Hollins caught that 54-yard bomb from Maye on a third-and-14. But he was more excited about TreVeyon Henderson’s 55-yard TD run than he was on his own big play, which speaks volumes about how this team feels for one another.
-Drake Maye played very well against a very good defense which comes after a QB with a variety of blitzes. Maye weathered the storm early and began doing what he has been; making big plays happen. He finished 16-31 for 270 yards with two TDs and a bad INT in the end zone, that should have just been thrown away.
-The Patriots offensive line deserves a ton of credit for a very good game today. Most people (including here) were concerned that they would have a tough game against a defense that notched 15 sacks in their previous three games. The Bucs could only notch one sack on the day. And the Patriots ran for 166 yards and 2 TDs while averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
– Elijah Ponder came off the bench and got his first NFL sack. The UDFA took advantage of an opportunity. We have been saying they need other players to step up and help with the pass rush. And Ponder did today.
– How about Khyiris Tonga? The big man has been a fantastic addition to the defense with his run stuffing ability. He absolutely rag dolled the Bucs center on a key third down incompletion forcing Mayfield to misfire with the ball.
-But Tonga’s RUN BLOCKING ability is a new-found boon for the offense. Tonga collapsed the edge on Henderson’s 69-yard TD. Tony Romo brought up that the Patriots always run when Tonga is on the field. Which leads me to believe that Josh McDaniels will very soon hit a play-action pass from this.
-Linebackers Robert Spillane and Jack Gibbens were outstanding. Gibbens had 10 tackles, a TFL, and a pass defensed. Spillane had nine tackles, a TFL, and a pass defensed. They were all over the field.
Check back with us soon for our positional report card
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A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
