![](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/images\/us-presswire\/600w\/2020-Week-10-Cam-Newton-krbJf-600w.jpg\")
It was a terrific night for Newton, who helped his team win their second-straight game.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
2) There’s not much more you can say about quarterback Cam Newton, who put together another solid outing Sunday night.\u00a0 It wasn’t flashy by any means, but he made a lot of smart decisions on a rainy, miserable contest where ball security ended up being so important.<\/p>\n
Baltimore didn’t exactly make it easy, with the Ravens blitzing Newton throughout the game but he did a good job making his reads and getting the ball out of his hands.\u00a0 Overall, he finished 17-of-13 for 118-yards including a touchdown pass, missing just four passes during the contest.\u00a0 He was also 6-of-7 throwing the football on 3rd down for 22-yards, including 3 first downs while also rushing for another.<\/p>\n
But more importantly, Newton avoided giving the football away and making key mistakes, which was something the Ravens couldn’t avoid.\u00a0 Lamar Jackson was picked off once and dealt with a couple of bad snaps that completely killed drives and helped keep the Patriots in the game.\u00a0 Newton helped his team do the little things and he definitely deserves plenty of credit for that.<\/p>\n
What stands out about Newton has been his perseverance and his continued determination after a tough stretch that could have completely derailed him.\u00a0 However, for any fan who may have had questions about his mental toughness and his work ethic, so far Newton has certainly done enough to convince fans that the baggage he seemingly brought with him from the Panthers was left in Carolina and Bill Belichick has gotten the best out of him.\u00a0 Even better, there’s an arc of improvement that’s continuing to grow and that’s a good sign for a team that seems poised to make a final push over these final 7 games.<\/p>\n
3) Jakobi Meyers continues to endear himself to fans in New England and Sunday was another good example of how far he’s come.\u00a0 He went out against a tough defense and hauled in 5 receptions for 59-yards, including 3 receptions on 3rd down, two of which moved the chains.<\/p>\n
But his biggest highlight in this one came right before the end of the first half when his number was called on a double-pass play, which saw Meyers throw a perfect strike to Rex Burkhead for a 24-yard touchdown with just over 1-minute left to play.<\/p>\n
Meyers, who is a former quarterback, caught the quick throw from Newton and then rolled out before planting his feet and throwing a beautiful high arcing pass to Burkhead, who ran underneath it and slid into the end zone for the touchdown.\u00a0 Meyers watched the play from the ground, as he was hit hard as he released the ball but by then, the ball was already on its way to his teammate, with Burkhead making a terrific reception.<\/p>\n
Sunday night’s performance now gives him the team lead in receptions with 28, along with 353-receiving yards.\u00a0 With Julian Edelman sidelined the Patriots needed someone to step up and take advantage of their opportunities and Meyers has definitely done that.\u00a0 It’s been fun to watch, and seeing him fill in with his arm was definitely one of the best moments of the night.<\/p>\n
4) One of the biggest discussions this week centered around the Ravens defense, which many thought would come in and stifle a limited Patriots offense and potentially run up and down the field.\u00a0 Instead, it was New England’s defense who made a statement.\u00a0 They held the Ravens to just 17 points and snapped a NFL record streak that had seen Baltimore score 20-points or more in 31-straight contests heading into Sunday night.\u00a0 They also snapped a Ravens 10-game road winning streak.<\/p>\n Baltimore had their moments and didn’t make it easy, but New England’s defense made some key plays when they needed them.\u00a0 One of those plays included a huge interception at the end of the half after the Patriots had taken the lead thanks to Meyers’ TD throw, with Jackson throwing deep to Marquise Brown but Jackson ran down the pass and picked it off, setting a new Patriots record with what was his 5th straight game with an interception.\u00a0That play was big, as it killed any momentum the Ravens might have been able to put together and sent them into the locker room at the half completely frustrated.<\/p>\n In the fourth quarter, they held the Ravens scoreless, forcing the Ravens to punt on two of their final three possessions, the last of which saw them turn the football over on downs.<\/p>\n For New England, they’re now 5th in the AFC in points allowed per game and they’re tied for 2nd in the league with Pittsburgh in interceptions with 11.\u00a0 They’ve really done a good job up to this point and it’s obvious that when they can score points and not turn it over, this unit is more than equipped to keep them in football games.\u00a0 If they can continue improving on offense, it should be interesting to see how much better this group might become to close out the year.\u00a0 Given their personnel losses with opt outs and injuries, it’s slowly becoming a pretty good story for this club.<\/p>\n 5) Speaking of the defense, it was a big night for Chase Winovich, who played all but one snap in this game.\u00a0 He finished the evening third in tackles and was spotted flying around the field and making some pretty good hits.<\/p>\n Winovich has shown some pretty good quickness for his size and on Sunday night, he did a pretty good job of pressuring Jackson and making his life difficult.\u00a0 While Winovich didn’t register a sack or a QB hit, he did a good job of flushing Jackson out and opening up opportunities for his teammates.<\/p>\n One of the things he was known for at Michigan was his high-energy style of play and that was definitely on display, especially for a Ravens team that makes things so difficult on the ground.\u00a0 But the second-year player did his part in disrupting things and it was great to see a frustrated group of Ravens players leave Gillette Stadium completely miserable and making excuses after New England completely blew up their playoff seeding after the loss saw them fall to the third and final wild-cart spot in the AFC.\u00a0 The pressure remains on as Baltimore is now one of six teams who currently sit at 6-3 and they’ll face another 6-3 team this weekend against Tennessee.<\/p>\n As for the Patriots, they’ll now get set for a battle with the Texans out in Houston next Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Patriots suddenly find themselves with a reason to believe that there is still plenty of unfinished business after beating the Ravens Sunday night and here are a few thoughts coming off a terrific win for Bill Belichick’s team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/images\/us-presswire\/600w\/2020-Week-10-Bill-Belichick-yFIm6-600w.jpg\")
Belichick has seen his defense become one of the best in the NFL at points per-game and interceptions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n