Pats Blank The Hapless Falcons 25-0 On Thursday Night Football For Their Fifth Straight Win

 

    It is going to take much more than a short week and an overmatched opponent to slow down the red hot Patriots (7-4 overall, 5-0 away) at the moment. Tonight they went to the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA and they picked up the 13th shutout in head coach Bill Belichick's tenure in New England with a pretty easy 25-0 victory over the falling apart Falcons (4-6 overall, 1-4 home). This was a very dominant performance by the Pats defense as they held shorthanded Atlanta to 165 total yards and just 11 first downs while they picked off Matt Ryan (19-of-28 for 153 yards, 2 INT), Josh Rosen (remember him!?) and the immortal Feleipe Franks a total of four times and they also sacked Ryan four times. Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon added another sack and he has already reached double-digits and a new career-high (10-5) with six games left to go in the regular season. New England's reward for a job well done is an extended break before Thanksgiving and then their schedule gets way harder down the stretch.

    Aside from linebacker Kyle Van Noy (8 tackles, 5 solo, 2 sacks, pick-6), the best player for the Patriots this evening was kicker Nick Folk (minus that missed PAT in garbage time). Folk started the scoring with his easiest kick of the night-a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter. New England took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter as rookie quarterback Mac Jones (22-of-26 for 207 yards, TD, INT) hit wide receiver Nelson Agholor for a 19-yard catch and run touchdown where he was never even touched by a Falcons defender. Folk's point after made it 10-0 and he added a 44-yard field goal as time ran out in the first half. With no Falcons No. 1 wide receiver Calvin Ridley nor former Patriots great Cordarrelle Patterson in the lineup, the 13-0 advantage by the road team felt like twice that much if not more. 

    This being Thursday Night Football, the second half was a complete bore featuring no points in the third quarter and two additional field goals by Folk to start the final frame (from a season-long 53 yards and 33 yards). Lastly, Van Noy added the laugh track with a 35-yard interception return for a score against Rosen who will probably be out of the league any minute now. Safety Devin McCourty and cornerback J.C. Jackson had earlier picked off Ryan and safety Adrian Phillips made a sweet diving interception on rookie Feleipe Franks who had only one pass attempt. Yeesh. That marked the first time in the NFL since the Chargers way back in 2000 when three QBs on the same team threw INTs in the same game. 

    The next two matchups on the schedule should be the hardest for the Pats in the 2021 regular season: they host the Titans (8-2) a week from Sunday (1, CBS) at Gillette Stadium before going to Buffalo (6-3) for Monday Night Football (8:15, ESPN) on Dec. 6 and their first meeting with the Bills in this campaign. Most would say that those are the two best teams in the AFC so facing them in back-to-back weeks should be a daunting task. Still, after they started this year 2-4, who would have believed that the Patriots could even be in this position? They are clearly a playoff team that should be fighting for an AFC East division title and homefield advantage. How they do in the next few contests will tell us what we can reasonably expect in the postseason this winter.

The Patriots Fumbled Away Their Season Opener Against The Dolphins But Mac Jones Looked Good

 

    Replacing the greatest quarterback of all-time (Tom Brady) is impossible but Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones proved today in his NFL debut that he beat out Cam Newton this summer for a reason and he gives New England plenty of hope for the future. We should be talking about a victory by the Pats but unfortunately, running back Damien Harris (100 yards rushing, 17 yards receiving) lost a fumble deep in Miami territory that was recovered by Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard and that allowed the visitors to walk out of Gillette Stadium with a 17-16 win. For his part, Jones (29 of 39 for 281 yards, 1 TD) outplayed his former Alabama teammate Tua Tagovailoa (16 of 27 for 202 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; rushing TD) but the Patriots repeatedly beat themselves by losing a pair of fumbles (rookie running back Rhamondre Stevenson had the other following a 2-yard catch) and piling up three more penalties than Miami (8-5) for way more yardage (84-28). 

    By almost any other measure, you would have thought that the Pats had won this game: they accumulated 134 more total yards (393-259), they had eight more first downs (24-16) and they possessed the ball for over 13 minutes more than the Dolphins (36:43-23:17). With their best player-cornerback Stephon Gilmore-still sidelined with a quad injury leftover from last season (plus he's not thrilled with his contract situation)-New England's defense lacked playmakers. Granted, linebackers Kyle Van Noy (2 tackles, assist) and Josh Uche each notched sacks and cornerback Jonathan Jones made a timely interception of Tagovailoa (after linebacker Matt Judon destroyed Tua) that should have led to a game-winning drive for the home team. 

    Neither offense ever really looked too dangerous but Tua ran for a three-yard touchdown with 5:29 left in the first quarter to give Miami a 7-0 lead following Jason Sanders' PAT. New England's offense started to come alive a bit in the second quarter as they settled for a 27-yard field goal by Nick Folk with 10:17 left in the frame (after Jones rushed a third down throw to Jakobi Meyers) and then Mac found wide receiver Nelson Agholor (5 catches, 72 yards) with a seven-yard touchdown pass on a quick slant for his first career NFL touchdown. Folk's PAT gave the Pats a 10-7 lead but Sanders hit a 48-yard field goal as the first half expired to knot things up at 10. 

    Another rookie Alabama product made a big play as Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle caught a 3-yard touchdown from Tagovailoa as Miami marched down the field (9 plays, 75 yards, 4:09) to start the second half and grabbed a 17-10 advantage. The Patriots' offense could only manage a pair of Folk field goals (from 42 yards in the third quarter and 33 yards in the fourth quarter) the rest of the way. New England's defense tightened up in the second half as they did not allow another point following the Waddle score but it still wasn't enough to come out on top. Jones was never sacked and he had zero turnovers which helped him finish with an impressive quarterback rating of 102.6. He just turned 23 years old last week but he looks poised beyond his years in terms of calmness in the pocket and knowing where to put the ball to safely get it to his teammates in good spots. 

    The schedule should help Jones and his team out next week as they travel to MetLife Stadium next Sunday afternoon (1, CBS) to face another rookie quarterback Zach Wilson and the Jets (0-1). New York fell 19-14 in their opener at Carolina against their former quarterback Sam Darnold. Wilson was pretty good in his NFL debut as well, going 20-of-37 for 258 yards, 2 TDs (both to Corey Davis) and 1 INT. Still, the Jets figure to be one of the worst teams in the NFL so if the Pats have any desire to get return to the postseason after missing it last year, they need to beat New York twice in 2021 since none of the other AFC East matchups will be more than a toss-up. Anything can happen week to week in the NFL but the Jets are as close to a sure thing as you'll find in terms of a cupcake opponent. 1-1 would look a hell of a lot better than 0-2 for New England so we will have to see what Week 2 brings for Mac Jones and Co.

After A Year In Miami, Kyle Van Noy Returns To New England Where He Became A Standout

 

    In recent years, outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy was one of the greatest success stories for the Patriots. In October 2016, he was rescued from Detroit (along with a seventh-round draft pick in 2017) for the pittance of a sixth-round draft pick in 2017. In 3.5 seasons in New England, he became one of the best players on their defense and helped them win two Super Bowls in the process. Nobody could blame him for taking the money and hightailing it to sunny Miami last off-season but are you surprised that he's coming back here on a two-year deal worth up to $13.2 million? You shouldn't be, after he was released by the Dolphins last week, we all had a feeling that he could be returning to Foxborough even sooner than we could have imagined. 

    Strangely enough, it doesn't seem like he was a bust in his one season for Miami head coach (and former Patriots assistant) Brian Flores. Van Noy played in 14 games (13 starts) and accumulated six passes defended, he forced two fumbles, recovered two fumbles and had six sacks. He made 46 solo tackles, 23 assists, with a career-high 10 tackles for loss and 10 quarterback hits. He'll turn 30 next week so he is in the prime of his career. So what's the catch, why were the Dolphins so ready to get rid of him after they couldn't find a suitable trade partner? It starts and end with the silly deal that they gave him (4 years, $51 million) that they probably regretted from day one not because he's a bad player but rather he's not that type of gamebreaker which you expect at that cost. 

    It was another busy day for head coach/GM Bill Belichick and the Pats on Wednesday as they agreed to a one-year, $4 million dollar deal with another ex-Patriot who spent last season with the Dolphins-center/guard Ted Karras. He could start in 2021 since this afternoon also brought the news that Patriots center David Andrews was going to become a free agent. The team also re-signed special teamer Cody Davis to a two-year deal and they used a second-round tender on cornerback JC Jackson meaning they can match any offer sheet that he signs or get back a second-round pick. 

        Andrews will be missed if he is in fact gone but the headline was obviously Van Noy deciding to come back here. Another sign that like Karras and Trent Brown, there are a few players left in the NFL that see the value of Belichick's rigid system and old school values. I'm sure that Kyle had offers from a host of other teams-most of which probably would have paid him more money-but for whatever reason he chose to return to a familiar place helped to put him on the map. It's also an added bonus that Van Noy is one of the few players for the Patriots under Belichick that had a personality and a sense of humor so in addition to his on-field impact, I look forward to more interesting interviews and soundbites from him.