I'm not going out on a limb here when I say that the 2020 Patriots (2-1) are not going to win many beauty pageants: there most likely will be many games this season that are clunky and frustrating at times but I'm also willing to bet that they still find different and interesting ways to win more than their fair share of those. This afternoon at Gillette Stadium, they got off to a bumpy start as they were blanked in the first quarter but they steadied themselves enough to take a 13-10 halftime lead before absolutely running over Las Vegas (2-1) in the second half on their way to an impressive 36-20 victory. We all know that the Raiders were a fraud 2-0 team but needless to say, the Patriots have to play much better next Sunday afternoon (4:25, CBS) to have even a slim chance to beat the defending champion Chiefs (2-0 going into tomorrow's Monday Night Football showdown in Baltimore).
For the first time in his brief New England tenure, Cam Newton (17-of-28 for 162 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 27 yards rushing) was mediocre but that didn't matter since Rex Burkhead (6 carries, 49 yards, 2 TDs; 7 catches, 49 yards, TD) had the game of his NFL life. It was his first career three touchdown performance as a pro and the Patriots used a punishing ground attack (250 total yards rushing!) to wear down Vegas who played last Monday then had to travel across the country during a pandemic. Fun! Patriots running back James White remains out as he deals with the loss of his father but surprisingly, New England more than made up for his absence thanks to Sony Michel (9 carries, 117 yards-5th career 100+ yard game; 2 catches, 23 yards) showing he deserves to still have a decent role on this team. Undrafted rookie running back J.J. Taylor also got 11 carries and ran for 43 yards because Bill Belichick doesn't give a shit about your silly fantasy football team.
When you look at Derek Carr's numbers (24-of-32 for 261 yards, 2 TDs) from this afternoon, you might be fooled into thinking that he had a pretty decent outing. Not quite, he lost two fumbles and he piled up much of those stats in garbage time when the Pats were up 36-13 with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter and they no doubt were starting to look ahead to their matchup with Kansas City. Tight end Darren Waller (2 catches, 9 yards on 4 targets) and running back Josh Jacobs (16 carries, 71 yards, fumble lost; 3 catches, 12 yards) are two bright young stars in the league but the Patriots did a great job of shutting both of those guys down. The only Raiders offensive player who was that consistently effective was their slot receiver Hunter Renfrow (6 catches, 84 yards, TD) who at some point in his life is guaranteed to be a Patriot.
The first quarter was straight out of a high school JV football game as the first three possessions resulted in punts then the Raiders drove to the red zone only to see Jacobs fumble at the 12-yard line (caused by former Raider Shilique Calhoun and recovered by J.C. Jackson). Cam returned the favor on the ensuing drive by throwing an awful interception right to Johnathan Abram. Las Vegas couldn't really take advantage of the great field position though as they settled for a 29-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson.
With a drive (9 plays, 60 yards, 2:46) that started in the first quarter and extended into the second quarter, New England finally started to find its footing. They also stalled out in the red zone-something that figures to be a major issue all season with no legitimate tight end and no dependable wide receiver outside of Julian Edelman (2 catches, 23 yards on 6 targets) who was invisible after his incredible game vs. Seattle last Sunday night. Nick Folk got them on the scoreboard with a 33-yard field goal then struck for another from 23 yards shortly after that as Chase Winovich caused a Carr fumble and Lawrence Guy recovered it. The Pats put together their best drive (12 plays, 86 yards, 5:04) of the day late in the second quarter that culminated with a screen pass to Burkhead where he juked, spun and crashed his way into an 11-yard touchdown. The Pats defense fell asleep at that point as the Raiders answered with a touchdown of their own in 28 seconds. Stephon Gilmore had a brutal pass interference penalty and two catches by Renfrow got them down to the 1-yard line where Carr threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Foster Moreau. 13-3 Patriots at halftime would have been nice but 13-10 was much harder to swallow.
Proving that they are listening to their legendary head coach, New England made some adjustments and played lights out in the second half. Burkhead added a five-yard touchdown run and Folk had a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter as the Pats extended the lead to 23-10. Vegas' red zone failures continued to plague them as Carlson kicked a 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut it to 23-13. Burkhead put it to bed with a two-yard touchdown run (Folk missed the PAT) then on the next play, Carr fumbled in the end zone and Deatrich Wise Jr. recovered the football for the biggest play of his forgettable Patriots existence.
For New England to have any chance to upset the Chiefs, Newton will have to go crazy similar to the way that he did against the Seahawks. Likewise, Edelman will need to ball out along with some big plays by the defense and maybe an unlikely other source or two. Fall is officially here though: the Red Sox' miserable 60-game horrorshow mercifully ended today and the Celtics bricked their way to another Eastern Conference Finals loss (more on that later!) so if you want to watch a local team for the rest of 2020 this is your squad. Sorry Revs, you couldn't matter less to anyone besides the players, the coaches and their families. You can already tell that it's going to be a two team race in the AFC East this season: Buffalo (3-0) stayed perfect with a referee assisted 35-32 win over the Rams (2-1) while the Dolphins (1-2) picked up their first win of the season on Thursday 31-13 at Jacksonville (1-2) and the Jets (0-3) got curb-stomped by the Colts (2-1) 36-7 this afternoon. The Bills are legit, the Pats are good, the Dolphins are going nowhere as always and the Jets might be the worst team in the NFL.
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