The New England Patriots won their final regular season game of the season on Sunday, beating the Miami Dolphins 38-10 to finish 14-3 on the year and clinch the No. 2 playoff seed in the AFC. They ended
the game with a franchise-tying four rushing touchdowns, and pulled away in the second half before giving some of their starters a breather down the stretch.
Let’s get into our lessons learned from the game on Sunday.
Rhamondre Stevenson is on a roll
The Patriots won by pounding the rock on Sunday, and Rhamondre Stevenson was the catalyst for that. He had two separate runs of over 35 yards, including a 56-yarder on the first drive of the game, and finished with seven carries for 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns; he added 22 yards and a touchdown on two catches.
It was the type of performance that gets you excited about what we could see from the Patriots in the playoffs. Having Stevenson’s power running, especially if he can break some longer runs too, makes the Patriots tough to stop on the ground, because everyone knows what TreVeyon Henderson brings to the table with his speed.
You also can’t help but feel incredibly happy for Stevenson. After losing his dad this past summer, and then the fumble issues at the beginning of the year, he finished the season with a bang.
Incentives impact the end of the game
Mike Vrabel has fought for his players, and they love playing for him. So, it should come as no surprise that trying to get guys their incentives was a big part of the final game of the year.
The Patriots got Stefon Diggs over 1,000 yards, which triggered a $500,000 bonus for him. K’Lavon Chaisson had a sack, which pushed him over seven for the season, earning him a $500,000 bonus. Hunter Henry went in for the first play with Josh Dobbs so he could catch his fifth pass of the game, which unlocked a $250,000 bonus for him as well.
The Patriots might have ended up paying some of those incentives regardless, but it’s an important thing to get those. The team making it a point to do it in a game that was out of reach shows the commitment they have to their players.
Drake Maye is my MVP
Honestly, I don’t care what the MVP vote ends up looking like, and who ends up getting the award. Drake Maye is my MVP.
The oddsmakers moved Matthew Stafford ahead of Maye after their performances on Sunday, but that doesn’t matter to me at all. I also think it doesn’t matter to Maye or the Patriots either: they had three rushing touchdowns inside the 5-yard line on Sunday, and they could have chosen to try to pad Maye’s stats on all of those occasions, but decided to run the ball in instead.
Regardless of this and how the voting shakes out, the numbers he put up this year are simply outrageous. Maye finished with a higher completion percentage than Tom Brady ever did in a season. He also set the record for number of games with a passer rating over 100 with 13, and tied Patrick Mahomes with the most such games in a single season for a QB under 24.
Every game he seems to make multiple ridiculous plays that simply leave you shaking your head. Patriots fans are lucky to have him, and he, and the team, are rightfully more concerned with other achievements than the MVP award.
Milton Williams makes his impact felt
The Patriots have been without their huge free agent signing for the last five games, and Williams made his presence felt right away on Sunday. He only finished with a single solo tackle, but it was a big one, pushing the Dolphins back for a big loss in the red zone.
The Patriots need to get healthy on the defensive side of the ball. They’re still missing Robert Spillane, Harold Landry, and Khyiris Tonga, but getting Williams back was a step in the right direction. It also was a good opportunity for him to knock some of the rust off before the playoffs.
Rookie class continues to make an impact
With the elevation of Kobee Minor for the game on Sunday, all 11 players in the Patriots’ draft class were on the active roster (if not the game day squad) for the final game of the season. Add in three UDFAs, and they had a whopping 14 rookies dressed for the game.
Elijah Ponder is one of those rookies who has really come along, and he added a sack on Sunday. He finished the season with four sacks, with all of them coming in the second half of the season. Instead of making moves at the deadline, the Patriots decided to trust some of their young guys — including Ponder — and it’s paid off for them.
TreVeyon Henderson finished with over 1,100 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns; Craig Woodson played more snaps on defense than anyone else this season; Kyle Williams had some explosive plays for the Patriots in the second half of the season; Will Campbell is providing quality at left tackle, with Jared Wilson set to slot into the left guard spot once removed from concussion protocol again.
Draft classes like this are what makes a decent team into a potentially great team. Put another one like it together next year, and the Patriots could be looking at an even brighter future.
Will Campbell is truly back
Among the rookies to have a massive impact this year is first-round pick Will Campbell. He missed the last four games because of a knee injury, but was back on Sunday and ended up played all of the snaps with the starters before some of them were pulled. Having Campbell back is huge for the Patriots, and should pay dividends for them in the playoffs as well.
It’s obvious that the team really loves him, too, and the leadership that he provides as a rookie is big and goes beyond his play on the field.
Patriots show some finish
The Patriots started the game with two drives where they just coasted down the field, and made it look like the game was going to be over very quickly. However, they allowed the Dolphins to score a touchdown of their own to cut the lead to seven, and then had a field goal blocked, which led to a field goal by the Dolphins.
Luckily, they were able to get down the field and get a field goal of their own to take a 17-10 lead into the half, but a game that looked like it might be over early was a one-score game with the Dolphins getting the ball to start the second half. When the Dolphins started moving the ball down the field to start the second half, it didn’t look good, but Jaylinn Hawkins ended that drive with an interception in the end zone, and the Patriots would score touchdowns on the next three drives to put the game away.
It was encouraging to see the Patriots respond to the rough play at the end of the half so well after intermission. They obviously can’t afford to have any of the mental lapses next week, but the response was a positive
Christian Gonzalez continues to play physical football
Christian Gonzalez has been the subject of some criticism this season, and some of the criticism has been warranted. He has, however, been playing with a real physicality that a lot of people didn’t believe he was capable of entering the NFL. On Sunday, he made some good plays on the edge, one of them leading to a forced fumble and a turnover.
The Patriots playing more press-man coverage on the outside would seemingly suit Gonzalez better than their zone-focused approach, but it’s hard not to be impressed by what he’s done this year to impact the game in other ways as well. His Pro Bowl recognition is well-deserved.
Special teams plays very well, with one exception
Coming into the game on Sunday, there were questions about both Andy Borregales and Bryce Baringer. Borregales still lacks experience kicking in the cold, and missed a kick in freezing conditions recently; Baringer has been inconsistent for most of the season despite some very good moments.
On Sunday, they were both solid. Baringer had three punts, all of which ended inside the 20, and averaged over 51 yards per kick. Compare that to former Patriot Jake Bailey on the other side who had six punts, with an average of only 40 yards per punt, with none of them ending up inside the 20.
Borregales, meanwhile, went 5-for-5 on extra points and made the longest kick in Gillette Stadium history on Sunday (not counting preseason) when he drilled a 59-yarder at the end of the first half. Both kicker and punter finished the day strong, and should give Patriots fans confidence in them moving forward.
However, it was not all perfect. The blocked kick in the second quarter was a complete breakdown by the blocking on the left side of the line. Multiple guys got into the backfield, with Zach Sieler getting his arm on the ball to block it. Luckily, the Patriots were able to prevent the Dolphins from returning the loose football for a touchdown, but it’s an unacceptable result from a unit that has been pretty solid most of the year.
Winning in the playoffs takes all three phases of the game, so they are going to need their special teams to step up.
The Chargers get their wish
Going into the weekend, the Chargers announced that they were resting a good amount of their starters against the Broncos, which all but guaranteed them a loss. With the Bills playing the Jets, who might have had had the most hilariously bad season of all time this year, that would very much guarantee them the seventh seed in the AFC playoffs, and a matchup in New England.
The Chargers seemingly wanted that matchup, and I would imagine that the Patriots will be supremely motivated to prove them foolish. The NFL is clearly excited about the matchup, too, since they scheduled it for the Sunday night game next weekend.
It’s going to be a tough challenge for the Patriots, as they have to play against an elite quarterback and a very good coach, but it is a matchup that they can win. At the end of the day, though, it is simply exciting that playoff football is back in New England, and, if the Patriots can win, that they will host a second postseason game the following weekend, too.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. Playoff football might be back in Foxboro, but the goal isn’t to get a playoff game: it’s to win one.
