The New England Patriots convincingly won their Week 4 contest 42-13 over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Now at 2-2 on the season, the team is seemingly trending in the right direction with a primetime
game against the Buffalo Bills coming up.
Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live viewing.
Winners
QB Drake Maye: The game script only called for Maye to drop back 21 times on Sunday, but the sophomore quarterback stayed red hot producing +0.86 expected points added per drop-back (99th percentile). Maye’s best throws of the day came when targeting wide receiver Stefon Diggs (more on him soon) converting a 3rd-and-15 in-breaker and later connecting on a beautiful back-shoulder ball on fourth-down.
Josh McDaniels was at it again getting the QB on the move to help lead to another rushing score as Maye finished the day with three combined scores. The arrow is pointing straight upwards for the 23-year-old a month into his second season.
WR Stefon Diggs: Speaking of Diggs, this was the version of the receiver New England likely imagined when he signed a three-year, $63.5 million contract with the club this offseason. Beyond the aforementioned connections, Diggs also hauled in a 33-yard explosive on a backside crosser vs. man coverage. In total, the four-time Pro Bowler finished with six catches for 101 yards in the win – his 37th-career 100-yard receiving game.
PR Marcus Jones: New England’s punt returner was the player of the game on Sunday, as he followed an 87-yard punt return touchdown with another 61-yard return — to help set up a Patriots score — en route to a franchise single-game record with 167 punt return yards. As Maye said post game: “He’s the best in the game at it.”
DL Christian Barmore: After Carolina opened the game running away from Christian Barmore and Milton Williams, the interior duo got to work as the game went on. New England pressured Bryce Young on over 40 percent of his drop backs with Barmore leading the way with five total pressures on 20 pass rushes (25% pressure rate) — his highest pressure rate since Week 3, 2023.
While Barmore has yet to record a sack this season, Mike Vrabel made sure to acknowledge the impact he is making: “Barmore is disrupting the quarterback, and he’s getting holding calls. I don’t want him to be frustrated [with no sacks], but I see those things.”
Losers
Penalties: A minor complaint from Sunday’s blowout, New England was still penalized seven times including another pair of alignment issues (Harold Landry, Anfernee Jennings) and another holding call on TreVeyon Henderson. After five first half penalties, the Patriots were only called for two in the second half working with one of the more flag-happy crews in the league this season, however.
Other performances of note
- While Carolina ranked near the bottom of the league in pressure rate, Maye was under pressure on less than 15 percent of his drop backs. New England’s line held up well even down Jared Wilson, as replacement Ben Brown helped pave the way on a double-team with Will Campbell on Antonio Gibson’s touchdown run.
- From a play time standpoint, it was notable that Pop Douglas played just seven snaps after his up-and-down Week 3 performance. Douglas did, however, throw a key block on Hunter Henry’s touchdown.
- Rhamondre Stevenson led New England’s backfield in snaps after his two fumble game. Stevenson, Henderson, who scored his first career touchdown, and Gibson all averaged 4.0-plus yards per carry with no fumbles.
- Playing 49 snaps in his return, Christian Gonzalez allowed just two catches for 31 yards — including a 16 yarder to Tet McMillan on a comeback early in the game. There were some expected rusty moments, but it was a good site to see Gonzo back in the secondary.
- Jack Gibbens had a team-high 12 total tackles and a strong TFL in the run game.
- Another tip of the cap to Josh McDaniels, who helped the Patriots pick up seven total plays of 20-plus yards with plenty of pre-snap motion and more moving pockets.
