Fan Notes from the Patriots’ win over the Falcons

Nothing quite like 4:30 p.m. sunsets, way-too-early holiday decorations, and the complete inability to not trek dead leaves into the house every time you open the door to remind us all that November is

upon us. I have no idea where this year went.

On the plus side — and what a plus side it is — this is the first November in a while where the Patriots were still alive in the postseason hunt. Even better, this iteration of the Patriots is tied for best record in the NFL right now. It wasn’t their best game yesterday, but in other ways, it kind of was; the quarterback didn’t have a stellar day, and it was far from perfect, but New England managed to hold on over the Falcons and are now the winners of six straight.

This is one of those games that I found very hard to get a read on coming into kickoff. I predicted a 20-13 Patriots win, but I wasn’t overly confident in it. The 2025 Falcons are one of the harder teams to figure out; they got blown out by the Panthers, but beat the Bills and 49ers. The Dolphins took them behind the woodshed, but they stomped the Vikings. Though I guess that kind of inconsistency and game-killing errors is just baked into the DNA down in Atlanta.
This is also one of those games that you put firmly in the “escaped with a win” category, which counts just as equally as blowouts and perfect performances do. A more consistent opponent very likely takes this game, as the Falcons have the honor of generating six sacks, two takeaways, a 100+yard receiver, and holding New England to three second-half points in a losing effort. That’s 2024 Patriots-level tomfoolery.
And that Atlanta ended up losing this one on a missed PAT from a former Patriots kicker? Ka really is a wheel.
In terms of actual game analysis, I think my favorite thought about this game is that Drake Maye didn’t play overly well, and I’m able to say that because of the bar he keeps setting for himself week in and week out. That fumble was 100% on him in spite of the protection breakdown, and I don’t know if that INT was a bad throw or a miscommunication, but he also statistically had the best day against that Falcons defense of any QB that has faced them this season.
Which, in my opinion, represents an absolute layup of creamy goodness for allowing the joyous irrationality and unfettered hypocrisy that is sports fandom to really spread its wings and fly. There are few things that we sports fans love more than doubling down on certain narratives and ignoring others. Cherrypicking stats that prove our point while ignoring stats that refute it. Dismissing some storylines while going all in on others. Smugly asserting that we’re right and you’re wrong. It makes it all worthwhile. So to those of you taking this fairly ambiguous Drake Maye performance and having yourselves A Day online, enjoy it.
Make no mistake, though; this Falcons defense gave New England all that it could handle. Yet seven different Patriots all caught at least one pass and the Patriots ran for 110 on the day down their starting RB. In his place was a practice squad call-up who spent several years homeless before finally living out his childhood dream and getting his first NFL touchdown yesterday. What it all comes down to, honestly, is strong coaching. Solid in-game adjustments and putting players in the right position to do their best work. Maintaining a positive attitude and doing whatever you need to do to help your team win.
To that end, I’m still wondering what Jerod Mayo is thinking watching this team. Sure, Maye has made a large leap ahead in his sophomore season, but it’s not like this is some completely revamped roster. There was no top-to-bottom overhaul for this squad. A few targeted free agents, sure, but what it has come down to is a coach who isn’t over his head and a bunch of guys who have all bought in.
Speaking of buying in, I am all in on this Patriots D. The Falcons were able to put points on the board courtesy of short fields, brilliant one-handed grabs, circus catches, and contested end-zone toe-drags. Drake London is a beast who earned almost every single yard he got, and the other team gets paid to make plays too. This game had no gimme scores or completely blown coverages. Tough to get too mad at a team for giving up yards they way that they did.
Though I did find myself questioning the decision to put 5’8” Marcus Jones in single coverage on 6’4” Drake London. Not much you can do with that kind of height disparity.
London even got his against Gonzalez, which is something we haven’t seen all year. The big win there was that Gonzo has cleared concussion protocol after taking a big hit late and should be good to go next week – but sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a team that left it all on the field.
But again – it’s the Falcons. They will always find a way to lose to the Patriots.
Not every game is going to be a blowout. Some games will need all 60 minutes, and they will be slugfests where the team that blinks first loses. The Patriots have not only been the team that blinks first lately, but said to themselves, “well, my eyes are already closed, may as well keep them that way and lie right down on this here soft turf.” But even as the Patriots struggled, and struggled more as the game went on, they were able to hang around and wait for the Falcons to do what they did best. And the offense needed a single first down to close out the game, which they got.
And that whole sequence was simply fantastic: two Jennings dive plays to make third down manageable and kill Atlanta’s remaining timeouts, followed by a Dagger concept with Hollins and Diggs running dig routes to pull the corners to the middle of the field as Henry ran a simple bend route to pick up 17 when they only needed five. Last year we would have seen a run for no gain, an incompletion, then a 15 yard sack that took all of 12 seconds off the clock.
I’ll also say this: had Romo hit that PAT and tied it up, I felt very confident that the Patriots would have driven down and gotten into scoring position with a chance for a walk-off FG. I know that the Atlanta defense was stifling in the second half, but they would have made the necessary plays to get into range.
Which, the way the NFL is trending with yet another record set yesterday, is eventually going to be your own 45-yard line. That means that before too long, a touchback on a kickoff followed by a single first down is going to put you in borderline scoring range.
There were plenty of other things that didn’t go well. I couldn’t help but question the decision to switch to zone coverage when man was working so well. 11 sacks through two weeks isn’t just unsustainable, it’s a recipe for Drake Maye to eventually enter that dreaded blue tent and never come back again. And if Drake Maye wants to model his game after Josh Allen, you’ll get no complaints from me – as long as he doesn’t also adopt Allen’s adamant refusal to slide after a big run. Losing Kayshon Boutte to a hamstring injury hurt this team more than I thought it would, and even in his absence Kyle Williams still couldn’t register a reception. His two catches on six targets for 20 yards on the year isn’t the kind of production you hope for out of a third-round pick, even if the current positional depth and offensive scheme doesn’t provide a lot of opportunity. But enough went well to get a win, and that’s all that matters.
The Patriots are currently sitting at 7-2. They got through the easy part of their schedule 4-0 without truly playing their best football. Given the current AFC landscape, 10 wins should get you into the playoffs, and 11 wins for sure. That means the Patriots need to generate four wins out of the Bucs, Jets twice, Bengals, Giants, Bills, Ravens, and Dolphins. If they don’t go at least 4-4 over these last eight games, they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs anyway.
I always get a little depressed when October ends, as it’s my favorite month of the year by a decent margin (though July is a close second). There simply isn’t a better sports month than October, and weather-wise, it’s as sweet as it gets. Warm days, crisp afternoons, cool evenings. Now we’re all staring down the barrel of winter and that January through March stretch where everyone living in New England questions their life choices. So it’s nice to have a quality football team to enjoy on Sundays as we all gear up for that. Plus, November means Thanksgiving, the best day of the year, so it could be a lot worse.
You could, for example, be a Blue Jays fan. I’m not sure if there are any Patriots fans out there who also root hard for the Toronto Blue Jays, but if there are, you have my sympathies. That was one of the greatest World Series of all time, and seeing how close Toronto came to winning it only to lose on an extra-inning double play that a lot of other baserunners beat out but Alejandro Kirk might be the slowest professional athlete who ever lived…just brutal. I didn’t have a horse in that race, but I would have liked to see Toronto win that one.