The New England Patriots got in the win column during their home opener on Sunday with a 20-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live-viewing the Patriots’ Week 2 contest.
Winners
OLBs Elijah Ponder & Gabe Jacas: The Patriots young edge duo each played 36 snaps on Sunday as they were relied upon following the injury to Dre’Mont Jones. Success followed. Ponder ended the day with a sack and additional QB hit to go along with three TFLs and a scoop-and-score
touchdown to seal Sunday’s victory. Jacas continued to build upon his early season momentum with a pair of pressures and a QB hit on a bootleg, while also recording his first career interception.
New England’s four-man front saw their pressure production improve this week, and the young pass rushers were a key part to that success.
CB Christian Gonzalez: New England’s top cornerback embraces matching up against other team’s top receivers. He did that with success in Week 2, as he limited DK Metcalf to three catches for 11 yards across 34 matchups — Gonzalez’s most matchups against a single receiver in a game in his career.
Two of those receptions came behind the line of scrimmage, as it was another dominant effort from Gonzalez.
DT Christian Barmore: The Patriots defensive tackle continued his strong start to the season by once again making an impact as a pass rusher. Shortly after drawing a hold, Barmore kickstarted the play of the day by beating right guard Spencer Anderson 1-on-1 with a hump move before swiping the ball loose from Aaron Rodgers.
RB TreVeyon Henderson: After missing last week with an ankle injury, Henderson made his season debut on Sunday and immediately made his impact felt. The speedster took his third carry of the season 39 yards up the middle — behind strong blocking across all three levels — to open the scoring. In total, the second-year back went on to lead the team with 16 carries for 78 yards on the ground.
Losers
Health: The Patriots are coming off of a year in which they had relatively strong injury luck. It’s tough to have such fortunes two straight seasons, which is what the Patriots realized on Sunday. After losing starting right guard Mike Onwenu to what is believed to be a season-ending ankle injury, the Patriots ruled out ED Dre’Mont Jones (shoulder), S Craig Woodson (shoulder), TE Eli Raridon (thigh), and S Dell Pettus (ankle). Woodson, who was spotted in a sling in the post game locker room, and Jones’ shoulder injury appeared more on the serious side as New England’s depth will be tested moving forward.
“We have to get healthy and figure out who’s available next week for a huge challenge,” Vrabel said. “That’s what we have to be able to do is create those opportunities for the next guy in and be able to coach everybody the same.”
QB Drake Maye: The offense remains a work in process early in the year as Maye noted the unit is “not where we want to be” following the victory. In a positive department, Maye generated some explosive plays in the passing attack such as a 63-yard completion to Romeo Doubs on a “dash” pass. But, the turnovers and negative plays continued to keep the unit out of the end zone. That was highlighted by Maye throwing another downfield interception when he failed to localize a dropping linebacker.
Honorable mentions
- It was deja vu early on Sunday after a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble — his second since the Steelers game last season. Stevenson saw limited touches afterwards but made them count, ending the day with 43 yards on just six carries.
- Quiet game for the wide receiver room in their first game with A.J. Brown. It was promising that Romeo Doubs got going leading the team with 96 yards on three catches. A 63-yard explosive on a dash pass was Doubs’ longest reception of his career, but he did see a pass slightly behind him go through his hands later in the day.
- Eli Raridon had an impressive 30-yard catch working through a DPI before exiting with injury. Hunter Henry finished with a steady 3/40 receiving line but took the blame for Drake Maye’s interception after the game.
- It was a bounce-back performance from Alijah Vera-Tucker, who did not allow a pressure in 29 pass blocking snaps. Will Campbell continued to play mostly well while Jared Wilson and the right side of the offensive line were up-and-down against a talented front. Passing off stunts remains a work in progress early on.
- Another impressive showing from Christian Elliss with a strip-sack, TFL, and team-high 12 total tackles. Him and Robert Spillane were effective blitzers.
- Joshua Farmer with three pressures and a sack on just 18 pass rushes.
- Charles Woods also had a solid showing in place of the injured Carlton Davis. Woods allowed just four catches and flashed in run support en route to piling up 10 tackles.
- The defensive game plan was simple against Aaron Rodgers: heat him up. New England blitzed on 18 drop backs and held the Steelers to 43 passing yards (2.7 yards per attempt) and 22.2% success rate while also recording eight pressures, two sacks and one interception on those plays.
- Credit to Cameron Latu, Greg Van Roten, and Jaylen Reed as three newly acquired players who were thrusted into key roles due to injuries.
- Andy Borregales missed a 47-yard field goal but bounced back to connect from 45 the following drive.
- Honorable loser: meteorologists. So much for the rain all game.
