8 takeaways from the Patriots’ season-opening win over the Bengals
The New England Patriots stared their 2024 season with an upset win on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s what stood out.
For the first time since 2020, the New England Patriots are 1-0. The Patriots opened their season on the road on Sunday afternoon against the Cincinnati Bengals as the biggest underdog in the league (+7.5 at kickoff) for Week 1 but came away with a 16-10 win.
During the week, head coach Jerod Mayo talked about his team needing to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. His team was able to do that more often than not, and made key plays elsewhere on the margins to escape with the victory.
That was especially true on offense, where the team leaned on a ground-and-pound effort throughout the game. Let’s start there in this week’s takeaways…
Refreshed Rhamondre
Last time Patriots fans saw Rhamondre Stevenson was Week 13 of the 2023 season, when he suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Even before that injury though Stevenson’s expansive workload seemed to be catching up to him, and he was averaging a full yard per carry less than he was the season before.
After what ended up being an extended offseason for him (that also included a new contract), Stevenson showed plenty of burst on Sunday. He ran for 120 yards on 25 carries, and scored the lone touchdown of the game for the Patriots.
Part of what made Stevenson so effective in this game was his ability to find hidden yardage. He was consistently churning his legs after contact, forcing missed tackles to extend runs, and falling forward through tackles when his runs ended.
The Patriots will be at their most competitive this year when Stevenson plays like he did on Sunday, but they will also have to be mindful of his workload. He finished the game with 28 touches (he tied for a team-high three catches). For reference, last year’s league leader in touches Christian McCaffrey averaged 21.2 touches per game. Managing Stevenson’s workload should be easier for the Patriots once Antonio Gibson is fully healthy (he was questionable with a hip injury for this game).
Brissett’s legs a factor
Jacoby Brissett certainly hasn’t been a statue in the pocket during his NFL career, but he’s also never been one to consistently win with his legs either. However, that was the case on Sunday.
Brissett was a factor in the ground game, rushing four times for 32 yards (excluding end-of-game kneel downs). Three of those four scrambles picked up first downs, including two third down conversions.
In the passing game, Brissett was effective at moving in the pocket and scrambling to throw. Despite the pressure from the Bengals being semi-consistent – especially from his blindside – he was often able to maneuver away and either find open receivers or throw the ball away.
When throwing the ball Brissett was mostly controlled and composed. He competed 15 of his 24 pass attempts for 121 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. That being said it wasn’t a perfectly clean game. His biggest miss came late in the first half, when he underthrew a fade in the corner of the end zone to Hunter Henry. Henry had to come back for the ball and ended up playing defensive back, knocking it away from safety Geno Stone at the last second.
Good, bad, and ugly for the offensive line
The Patriots’ offensive line was the biggest concern facing the team coming into this game. In the end, the unit produced mixed results.
When it came to the ground game, they showed up bigtime. Excluding the end-of-game kneel downs the Patriots averaged 4.7 yards per carry, which is almost a full yard better than their average from last season.
Anybody who followed the team closely in camp may not have been surprised by this. Most of the criticism facing the offensive line this summer was in regards to pass protection – they actually blocked well in the run game throughout camp (something we previously touched on here).
When it came to the pass protection, the growing pains were still there. Jacoby Brissett was only sacked once but got hit another seven times in the pocket (not including his scrambles).
That included taking some big shots, the biggest coming on a blitz up the middle from linebacker Logan Wilson. That play was the result of a miscommunication, with Wilson coming untouched up the middle on a 3rd & 3 while rookie guard Layden Robinson went to double team the end. Brissett was slow to get up after the play but stayed in the game.
As for the personnel – despite Jerod Mayo saying during the week that the Patriots may rotate on the offensive line the Patriots mostly stuck with the same group throughout the game. From right tackle to left guard, Mike Onwenu, Layden Robinson, David Andrews, and Michael Jordan played wire to wire.
At left tackle, which has been the toughest spot for the team since the summer, Chuks Okorafor got the start but was pulled just 13 plays into the game after allowing multiple pressures. He was replaced by Vederian Lowe who committed a false start – the only accepted penalty against the Patriots’ offensive line in this game – and didn’t fare much better in pass protection.
The Patriots also used six offensive linemen regularly. Rookie Caedan Wallace was used as the tackle-eligible, a look fans can probably expect to see more moving forwards.
Situational offense
For the most part, the Patriots’ offense did a good job of staying on schedule and ahead of the sticks in this one – a credit to offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. The team averaged 4.5 yards per play and was 6-of-15 (40%) on third downs. That’s 10 percent better than last year’s season average.
However, the offense did get stagnant at times in the second half. Perhaps it was due to lack of faith in the offensive line, trying to set up bigger plays for later on, wearing down the Bengals’ defense, or simply general conservativeness, the Patriots came out run-heavy in the third quarter. Their first three drives in that quarter – including one that started on the Cincinnati 24 after a forced fumble – totaled just 20 yards on 10 plays and resulted in two punts and a field goal.
That was about when the Bengals started picking up momentum. After Cincy’s first touchdown of the game the Patriots got the ball back with 1:10 to go in the third, desperately needing to put together a drive to drain clock, allow their defense to rest, and get the scoring margin back to a multi-possession game. They did just that, going on a 12-play, 52-yard drive that took 7:24 off the clock and ended in a 37-yard field goal.
On that drive the Patriots’ varied the play calling with six passes and five runs. Jacoby Brissett completed all five of his passes on the drive and added a six-yard scramble on a 3rd & 2. The team also did a good job of milking the clock on each snap. That drive was a good showing of situational awareness, and played a key role in the win.
Pass rush presence
Another big question for this team coming out of the summer was what the pass rush would look like without Matthew Judon on the edge. How would the team generate pressure without blitzing?
On Sunday, Keion White look charge in that role. He had two and a half sacks plus a few more pressures that forced Bengals incompletions. The Patriots lined him up all over the defensive line and he seemed to be impactful from every spot. If the Patriots can get that kind of effort from White on a regular basis, it would be a major development and allow defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington to be more creative at the second and third levels.
Along with White, linebacker Joshua Uche is another player who was expected to take a bigger role in the Patriots’ rush plan. He had a quiet day in terms of production. His most notable moments came on a drive in the second quarter. On a 3rd & 6 he lost contain and allowed Joe Burrow to roll out and complete a pass to extend the drive. Three plays later, he jumped offsides on a 3rd & 6.
Uche projects as a pure pass rusher, and third downs are where he is going to make his mark. He’ll need to be better in those situations moving forwards.
Christian Gonzalez versus Ja’Marr Chase
Christian Gonzalez didn’t have the training camp to match the hype coming off of his abbreviated yet impressive four-game rookie season. Right away he had a chance to prove that didn’t matter facing one of the top receivers in the NFL in Ja’Marr Chase – who played despite being limited all week following a hold-in this summer.
Chase did make an impact in a limited role, catching six passes for 62 yards. However of those six catches only two came with Gonzalez as the primary defender (including one on a quick hitch when he was in off coverage). Gonzalez spent a good chunk of the game shadowing Chase, and the rest of his catches were against zone looks.
That kind of performance against Chase from Gonzalez is encouraging, even with the caveat of Chase’s limited practice time. Gonzalez will have a chance next week to prove this performance wasn’t a fluke when he’ll likely be assigned to cover star Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf.
Open field tackling
One more note about the Patriots’ defense – they did a good job of tackling in the open field and limiting yards after the catch. The Patriots were always one of the best tackling teams in the NFL under Bill Belichick, and that continued into Jerod Mayo’s first game.
The best example of this came on a 4th & 2 midway through the third quarter. Trying to extend their drive from just inside the 40 the Bengals tried a bubble screen to Andrei Iosivas. Jonathan Jones – who was lined up at safety on this play – recognized the setup immediately and triggered downhill. Jones (5-foot-9, 185 pounds) met Iosivas (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) head-on a yard short of the sticks, and won the collision pushing him back and stopping the play short.
Dominant special teams performance
New special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer’s first game didn’t start on the highest of notes. On the opening kickoff rookie Dell Pettus moved early, gifting the Bengals five yards on their first drive of the game.
After that? It was a masterclass.
Time and time again the Patriots’ special teams help hold momentum and create opportunities on the margin that the team capitalized on. The biggest came on the first drive of the second half, when Joe Cardona forced a fumble on punt coverage to set up a field goal.
As for the specialists themselves, it was an all-around solid day. Joey Slye, after winning the kicker battle in camp, hit all three of his field goal attempts from 32, 35, and 37 yards.
Punter Bryce Baringer picked up right where he left off after a strong summer. Of his five punts, three were downed inside the 20 with no touchbacks. Baringer averaged 45.6 net yards per punt, as the four of his five punts that were returned were only done so for minimal gain. Brenden Schooler stepped up big in that regard, recording three tackles.
