Injury-Ravaged Titans Hung With The Pats Then New England Rolled To Their Sixth Straight Win

 

    Is there anybody left that actually doubts the Patriots (8-4 overall, 3-4 home) this season after they dropped the top-seeded Titans (8-4 overall, 4-2 away) 36-13 this afternoon at Gillette Stadium? New England's sixth victory in a row comes with a rather large asterisk since Tennessee was missing its top three offensive players (running back Derrick Henry along with wide receivers Julio Jones and A.J. Brown) but that hardly matters at the moment when you consider that the Pats were 2-4 earlier in this campaign. Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones (23-of-32 for career-high 310 yards, 2 TDs) was really good and New England's defense pitched a shutout in the second half after head coach Mike Vrabel's Titans were quite frisky in the first half and only trailed by three points (16-13) at halftime.

    New England's red zone issues are still a thing since kicker Nick Folk attempted a whopping six field goals (and thankfully made five of them) but other than that, it is hard to find anything else to legitimately complain about. 

    Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne (5 catches, 61 yards) has surprisingly morphed into the best offensive playmaker on the Pats and he added two more touchdowns. Jones hit him with a four-yard fade pass in the corner of the end zone which coupled with Folk's PAT were the only points of the first quarter. Tennessee's quarterback Ryan Tannehill (11-of-21 for 93 yards, TD, INT; 24 yards rushing) has become a solid player with the Titans but it's hard to blame him for his struggles today with such a lack of weapons. Tannehill threw a one-yard touchdown pass to receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine early in the second quarter but Tennessee's kicker Randy Bullock missed the point after. It was a chilly day in Foxborough so they kept Folk busy with three field goals in the second quarter (from 22, 37 and 44 yards). New England's run defense was terrible to start the year, however they had really tightened things up lately, that is until journeyman Dontrell Hillard (12 carries, 131 yards) scampered 68 yards for a score with 37 seconds left in the half. Bullock made that extra point (but he later clanked a field goal attempt), regardless the Pats had to be frustrated going into the break.

    After losing to Vrabel in their first two career meetings as coaches, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick got to exact a little revenge as his club methodically worked over the Titans. Folk had to settle for another short kick (28 yards) early in the third quarter but Bourne submitted the highlight of the day for the home team as he took a seemingly innocent pass from Jones and weaved 41 yards for the backbreaking score. Folk's extra point gave New England double the points of Tennessee (26-13) and with such a limited offense, you knew that spelled trouble for the visitors. Folk's only miss was a 53-yard field goal attempt late in the first half but he atoned for that by crushing a 52-yard kick in the fourth quarter. He is once again having a fantastic Pro Bowl caliber season and the only thing that makes you worry about him is the thought of having to attempt a long kick like that in a close playoff game. Running back Damien Harris notched a 14-yard touchdown run in pseudo garbage time and with Folk's PAT, the rout was finally on at 36-13 late in the fourth quarter. 

    New England's defense recovered three fumbles (by cornerback Jalen Mills, some linebacker named Jahlani Tevani and safety Kyle Dugger), sacked Tannehill twice (by linebackers Ja'Whaun Bentley and Matthew Judon) and cornerback J.C. Jackson recorded yet another interception while wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (5 catches, 98 yards) nearly had 100 receiving yards. With the win, the Patriots maintained their spot in first place in the AFC East. Their biggest game of the season-at least so far-comes next Monday night (8:15, ESPN) in Orchard Park, NY as they meet the Bills (7-4 overall, 3-2 home) for the first time in 2021. The Patriots and Buffalo play twice in the next four weeks (including a bye for the Pats) so those two matchups should go a long way in deciding who wins the division and also vies for that lone home bye given to the AFC's No. 1 seed. With so few certainties in the NFL this season, the Patriots have suddenly morphed into one of the only teams that you can rationally trust to play well and usually find a way to win. 

The Pats Came Close Again But Couldn't Beat A Good Team As They Fell 35-29 In OT Vs. Dallas

 

    The Patriots (2-4 overall, 0-4 home) had another great opportunity to beat one of the better teams in the NFL this evening at Gillette Stadium but just like the Bucs (5-1) game two weeks ago, they came up short as they lost 35-29 in overtime to the Cowboys (5-1 overall, 2-1 away). In many ways, it would have been a miracle if Pats head coach Bill Belichick and his team had found a way to pull this one out since Dallas is clearly a more talented and much deeper team. The Cowboys recorded nearly twice as many first downs (32-17), they totalled over 200 more yards (567-335), held the ball for over 12 more minutes than the home team (39:17-26:51) and ran a whopping 32 more plays (82-50). So why the hell wasn't this an easy blowout win for America's Team? That was mostly because they were called for an absurd amount of penalties (12 for 115 yards) and they had two backbreaking turnovers in the red zone. 

    Much like the Tampa showdown, I don't think many logical people believed this would be all that competitive so kudos to the Patriots for almost pulling this off. Still, how many times can we pat them on the head for a close loss? This was already the third time this season that they have lost by one score.  That gets old really fast, especially when you have a chance to win in overtime only to stall on your lone drive and have Dallas' star quarterback Dak Prescott (36-of-51 for 445 yards, 3 TDs, INT) hit his speedy receiver CeeDee Lamb (9 catches, 149 yards, 2 TDs) with a walk-off 35-yard touchdown pass. 

    The end of the fourth quarter was insane as the Cowboys looked to have it sealed when their outstanding young cornerback Trevon Diggs (brother of Bills WR Stefon) picked off Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones (15-of-21 for 229 yards, 2 TDs, INT) and ran the pick-6 back 42 yards to put Dallas ahead 26-21 (they failed on the 2-point conversion) with 2:27 left in regulation. However, on the next play Jones hit New England receiver Kendrick Bourne for a 75-yard touchdown catch-and-run. The Pats got the two-point conversion as well with Jones finding wideout Jakobi Meyers on the goal-line. The issue at that point was that there was too much time remaining and the Patriots' defense was completely gassed. Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein had missed an early field goal but he was nails on a 49-yard attempt with 20 seconds left to go that tied it at 29. 

    This is the first time since 1993 (aka Bill Parcells' first year in charge here) that the Patriots have started 0-4 at home. In the past (mostly because they had Tom Brady), this would have been a game that they would have stolen. They scored first and led 14-7 after the first quarter and 14-10 at halftime. New England running back Damien Harris (18 carries, 101 yards) held onto the ball this week and he had a four-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 with kicker Nick Folk's extra point. Prescott and the Cowboys answered as he found tight end Blake Jarwin with a one-yard touchdown pass on a simple play action fake. Zuerlein's point after tied it at seven but New England went ahead 14-7 on the following drive: tight end Hunter Henry caught a touchdown for the third week in a row, this time from 20 yards out and Folk's PAT made it 14-7 in favor of the good guys. The only points in the second quarter was a 30-yard field goal by Zuerlein. Prescott fumbled on the goal-line when he dove on a quarterback sneak but Pats linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley knocked the ball free and fellow linebacker Kyle Van Noy recovered it. Earlier in the frame, safety Kyle Dugger grabbed his first career interception after cornerback Justin Bethel deflected the pass intended for Dallas receiver Cedrick Wilson in the end zone. 

    Dallas took their first lead in the third quarter when Dak found Lamb for a pretty one-yard fade to the corner. Zuerlein's point after gave the Cowboys a 17-14 advantage which they took into the fourth quarter. Zuerlein's 45-yard field goal put the Cowboys up 20-14 early in the final stanza but Patriots rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson rumbled in for a one-yard touchdown run that staked his club to a 21-20 lead thanks to Folk's PAT. Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory sacked Jones twice and nearly killed him both times since he basically got to him untouched. New England's offensive line continues to be a nightmare.  

    The Patriots should finally get that first home win of 2021 next Sunday afternoon (1, CBS) as they host the Jets (1-4) who they beat 25-6 at MetLife Stadium in Week 2. Honestly though, will that prove anything? So far, the Jets and Texans (1-5) are the only teams they have managed to beat this season. That Week 1 loss to the Dolphins (1-5) looks terrible at this point along with their no-show against the Saints (3-2). The bottom line is that this looks like a non-playoff team for the second season in a row. That does not sound like much but remembering how spoiled we were for 20 years makes this particularly painful. The Patriots were the model franchise in sports for most of those two decades and now they appear to be a rudderless franchise filled with so many aging veterans, bad draft picks and a stubborn old head coach who is obviously nowhere near the same guy without the best quarterback in NFL history on his side.

Without Further Ado, Let The Trent Brown Back With The Patriots 2021 Reunion Tour Commence

 

    For the first time in months, we woke up to positive news today involving the Patriots. They re-acquired massive offensive tackle Trent Brown from the Raiders and all it took was a fifth-round draft pick in 2022 sent to Vegas in exchange for the biggest guy in the NFL (6-foot-8, 380 pounds!) and a seventh-round draft pick in 2022. Brown only played in New England for one glorious season but it was a great one as he started every game in 2018 when the Pats won the Super Bowl against the Rams and he was named to the only Pro Bowl of his career. As anybody with half a clue could predict, he quickly bolted in free agency to the highest bidder which turned out to be the Raiders: four years, $66 million contract.

    The truth is that Brown was probably about to be straight up released by Las Vegas any day now but with that said, it's still nice to see New England make a move rather than wait for that to happen where they would have to sift through the discount rack with every other NFL team. To say that Brown's brief time (2 years) with the Raiders was bumpy would be generous. He only played in 16 games combined for the Silver and Black: 11 in 2019 and down to five in 2020 due to a variety of injuries plus multiple trips to the Covid-19 list. We all know head coach/GM Bill Belichick's obsession with a good deal and he certainly got one here with Brown's restructured one-year contract only worth up to $11 million which will likely feature a ton of incentives that he won't reach.

    Clearly signing an offensive lineman isn't going to move the needle too much for Belichick and the Pats who both desperately need some good publicity but all we can hope is that signing Brown is perhaps a sign that the Patriots are ready to fortify even more one of their few areas of strength (the offensive line) which in turn will help a new quarterback-whoever that may be. With his monstrous size, Brown is naturally great in pass protection assuming (a big if with him) that he's in better playing shape but you'll remember during that awesome postseason that New England turned into a power running team and he was instrumental in that aspect too. I won't bore you (or myself) with a deeper dive about offensive linemen but this also likely signals the end of guard Joe Thuney's time in Foxborough; he played under the franchise tag last season but they are not expected to do that again as the price would increase by three million dollars from $14.7 million to $17.7 million in 2021.

    You also wonder what this means for tackle Marcus Cannon who opted out from last season but he is expected to return to play this year and center David Andrews who will probably be signed to an extension sometime soon. Brown was never a big-time prospect coming out of the University of Florida since he was drafted in the last round (7th, 244th overall) in 2015 by the 49ers. He played in 31 games for San Francisco over three seasons before he was flipped to the Patriots along with a fifth-round pick (linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley) for a third-round pick (safety Tarvarius Moore) to San Francisco. As you can see, Brown made a boatload of money and became a household name (haha work with me on this) thanks to his one season here. Judging by his social media posts today on Twitter and Instagram, he seems excited to return but without Tom Brady as a teammate, we'll see how long that lasts for. Bottom line, it's nice to see the Patriots do something after being inactive for so long while plenty of other teams around the league make moves to improve their club-what a crazy concept after a a terrible 7-9 campaign! It's also refreshing to see a guy that's played for the Patriots in recent years want to come back when other notable guys lately (Brady and Rob Gronkowski) want nothing to do with Bill or the franchise anymore. 

The Patriots Kept Their Slight Playoff Hopes Alive With A Thrilling 20-17 Win vs. The Cardinals

 

    Not much makes sense in this crazy year of 2020 and the Patriots (5-6 overall, 4-2 home) fit under that general premise since they are becoming very difficult to predict from game to game. For instance, in the last three weeks in particular, I think that going into each matchup we would have thought they'd lose to Baltimore, win at Houston and lose against Arizona. It turns out that the opposite has occurred in each of those three contests with them pulling out a 20-17 victory this afternoon vs. the Cardinals (6-5 overall, 3-3 away) at Gillette Stadium via a 50-yard field goal by Patriots kicker Nick Folk as time expired in the fourth quarter. New England quarterback Cam Newton (9-of-18 for 84 yards, 2 INTs; 46 yards rushing) had perhaps his worst game as a Patriot-which is saying something-yet they still somehow found a way to win thanks to some timely plays by the defense (including a key goal-line stand) and stellar special teams. 

    After DeShaun Watson of the Texans torched the Patriots last week, you figured that Cardinals star quarterback Kyler Murray (23-of-34 for 170 yards, INT; 31 yards rushing) would similarly tear up New England's subpar defense but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, it was the first time all season that Murray was held without a touchdown since Arizona's running back Kenyan Drake (22 carries, 78 yards; 15 yards receiving) did most of the damage with a pair of one-yard touchdown runs. The ghost of Larry Fitzgerald was out with Covid-19 so the Pats were able to concentrate most of their energy on arguably the best wide receiver in the league-DeAndre Hopkins (5 catches for 55 yards on 7 targets)-and it showed as they mostly held him in check which was a surprise to say the least. 

    New England spotted Arizona a 10-0 in the first quarter thanks to an interception by Cardinals linebacker Markus Golden on the third play of the game as Newton's pass was deflected right into Golden's hands for his first career INT. With incredible field position (starting at the Pats 23), it only took Murray and Co. three plays to find the end zone after a 19-yard catch and run by UMass' Andy Isabella (4 catches, 33 yards) brought them down to the 4-yard line. Late in the first quarter, Arizona's kicker Zane Gonzalez hit a 47-yard to give his team what would turn out to be their biggest lead of the day. Pats running back James White hadn't scored a touchdown all season so it was great to see him take an option pitch from Newton and find paydirt on 4th-and-2 from the Cardinals 7-yard line. That whole drive was set up by a 53-yard kickoff return from Donte Moncrief that put New England in Arizona territory at the 46-yard line. 

    New England's defense stepped up right before halftime after the Cardinals held the ball for almost half of the quarter (15 plays, 71 yards in 6:57). First they tackled KeeSean Johnson at the 1-yard line and then Akeem Spence (recently elevated from the practice squad) and Ja'Whaun Bentley (13 tackles, 6 solo) combined to stop Drake on a run up the middle for no gain meaning that Arizona got zero points from that long drive. I appreciate the aggressiveness from dreamy Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury but that turned out to be a huge three points that they could have used at the end of the game. After forcing a punt on the Cardinals' opening drive of the third quarter, the Patriots appeared to go ahead on a punt-return for a touchdown by Gunner Olszewski. It being this year with this middling club, the six points from the 82-yard run were taken off the board as rookie Anfernee Jennings was ruled to have made an illegal blindside block. That still gave New England more great field position as they began that drive at Arizona's 39-yard line. Newton and the Pats' drive stalled near the goalline as they were forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal which tied it at 10. 

    The momentum kept building for the Patriots as Murray was picked off three plays later when defensive lineman Adam Butler (4 tackles, assist & sack) tipped a pass and it was caught by safety Adrian Phillips (5 tackles). New England's ensuring drive started at Arizona's 31-yard line so even the Patriots' slo-mo offense scored six plays later on a 1-yard run by White to the opposite corner of the end zone from his first score. Trying to keep pace with Seattle (7-3) and the Rams (7-4) in the best division in football-the NFC West-the Cardinals flipped the momentum back on their side as they surged ahead on another short Drake touchdown then cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick read Newton's eyes and picked him off on the next drive.

    It looked for sure that the Patriots were doomed at that point but thankfully, Gonzalez missed a 45-yard field goal by simply pushing it wide. Before Folk's heroics, Arizona committed two fatal mistakes on the same play to essentially put New England in field goal range: on 3rd-and-13, they let Newton scramble for 14 yards and even worse, rookie Isaiah Simmons drilled him with a helmet-to-helmet hit (which itself is a penalty but it was incorrectly called unnecessary roughness instead) as they both went out of bounds. That careless mistake resulted in a 15-yard penalty which moved the Patriots into the Cardinals' side of the field and after two short plays, Folk was called on to deliver with the game on the line for the second time in four weeks (he also won it in NY against the Jets) and once again, he made it count. 

    The Pats will get another chance to reach the .500 mark next week as they travel to Los Angeles to face the lowly Chargers (3-8) on Sunday afternoon (4:25, CBS). By taking on a rookie quarterback in Justin Herbert (granted he's been awesome) and an overmatched head coach-Anthony Lynn of Hard Knocks fame this past summer-your instinct tells you that the Patriots should win that one. I've made that mistake too many times before during this season so I'm going to hold off on any predictions and just say that hopefully New England can build off of this ballsy win and take advantage of an opponent that while talented is going nowhere in 2020.