Win No. 1 of the Jerod Mayo era is officially in the books for the New England Patriots and in dominant fashion at that. They dominated both lines of scrimmage, made it an explicit point to go after the Bengals' weakness of being unable to stop the run, and even had a return to traditional Patriots football with a fantastic day on special teams.
While not the best offensive football you'll ever see the Patriots play, they had a clear game plan from the jump, stuck to it, and executed well for all four quarters. Rhamondre Stevenson lived up to his new contract, and then some with a 120-yard outing, and Brissett did precisely what he needed to do, with a bevy of solid, timely plays, both as a passer and rusher, to help steer the ship under center. The defense, of course, was spectacular, but that wasn't as much of a question mark coming in. Cincinnati's recievers had little breathing room, and Ja'Marr Chase ended up being a non-factor outside of a couple of zone-beater grabs.
It's not a perfect win, and I doubt 16 points per game will win this team many games, but I could think of worse ways to go 1-0. Here are some of my key game and film takeaways from yesterday.
Run the G.D. Ball
I said it during the week and in the preview for this tilt, but the gameplan from offensive snap one should've been run the goddamn football, and ol' Alex Van Pelt and Rhamondre Stevenson did not disappoint. AVP deserves all the credit in the world for putting him in phenomenal spots to succeed, but this might be the best game 'Mondre has ever played. A crucial early touchdown, 25 carries, 13 missed tackles, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN YARDS AFTER CONTACT, and 120 total yards.
Just watch the contact balance and the ability to make people miss. Cincy's not the stoutest run defense, but this is the kind of stuff you want to see out of a bell-cow back, specifically the after-contact numbers. Additionally, he was one of just three running backs to put up at least four runs of 10-plus yards, joining Joe Mixon and Aaron Jones. That, in my mind, absolutely makes up for some of the net-neutral runs that happened in the context of Sunday's game.
No Polk???
Earlier today, I saw Evan Lazar's tweet about second-rounder Ja'Lynn Polk having a good showing on tape despite a one-catch outing and naturally wanted to see what was there. Once you get into the third quarter, there are instances where he works himself open, but two of these three examples are big because he was getting open vertically on outside releases on the boundary. Focus solely on Polk here and his technique, not Brissett and what he does/doesn't do.
Polk's game at Washington wasn't predicated on him being a downfield burner, so the fact that he was able to create vertical separation (not a gigantic amount, but this is open by NFL standards) is massive. On some other plays not here, I thought he did a good job trying to find soft spots in coverage and was savvy enough when facing off coverage. This isn't nesseciarly a dig at Brissett not getting him the ball (on that scramble play, he would've had no time to get that throw off in time), but if you're the Patriots coaching staff, you can show him some of these plays and say he can be a reliable playmaker for "us" moving forward. That's something I'd like to see in these next two games.
One-Man Wrecking Crew
I want to stress this point before you see this clip: This is Keion White's first (as in opening) pass rush snap of the entire season, and watch what he does to Trent Brown here.
Done and dusted. White does a great job here of timing up his swipe and, more so, forcing Brown into a very ill-timed lunge to beat him badly to the inside. He also showed off some sneaky good bend here, working his way back to Burrow for the strip sack. It was really a great tone-setting play for what ended up being a great game for him.
As we saw in the preseason, the Patriots were very liberal about how they lined White up, and yesterday was no different. Off the edge, several different flavors of 3 and 4-tech, and some stand-up action over center, like the Browns like to do with Myles Garrett occasionally. Take these snaps as prime examples, where White gets his second (and a half sack) to end the Bengals' second-to-last offensive possession and then kicks off their final drive, forcing Burrow into an incompletion by coming from inside to outside, taking away a scramble lane.
This team needed White to step up in a big way after the Judon trade, and although this is just one game, that was a massive, massive performance out of the Georgia Tech/Old Dominion product. So much so that he ended up getting drug tested post-game because, of course, he did.
The Gonzo Steiner Recliner
The numbers don't lie, and they spelled disaster for the Bengals in Week 1. Although Ja'Marr Chase had a couple of nice gains, slicing up some zone looks on Sunday, Christian Gonzalez had almost every answer to combat him in coverage. Only three times did Gonzo allow a Chase grab in coverage: one being a screen that went for no gain, a second being a short curl that went for seven, and then a crosser where Chase got a natural pick that went for eight.
Here's one perfect example of how Gonzalez's technique and IQ came into play in this shutdown performance. You can see the play art here, and this play is good in that it gives Burrow three really quick reads, the first having a ton of YAC potential over the middle in the right circumstances (so...not here).
Chase on the Deep Out appears to be the second read here, and the great thing about Gonzalez is his body positioning. No safety help over the middle of the field, and he's in a perfect spot to redirect in trail if this would've been a post route. Excellent execution here, and Joe Burrow instantly hit the three-yard check-down when he saw Chase was a no-go.
Something else worth noting is that Gonzalez was also traveling into the slot with Chase when he went there, precisely what he did with Garrett Wilson in Week 3 last year, with great results in both instances. Also, they flirted with him as a safety in certain cases, as they did last year. It's absolute insanity that he's this much of a chess piece for the Patriots at his age.
He has another fun, first-time matchup next weekend with DK Metcalf, but add another game to the "Elite Christian Gonzalez outing against All-Pro competiton" column.
Special Teams Matter
I mean, this is incredible. Not only are special teams back in style for the Patriots, but Joe Cardona is out here in Year 10 making winning plays. I don't think this one needs much analysis, but it was a really good day for all the core guys outside of an opening kickoff penalty on Dell Pettus.
Final Score: New England Patriots 16, Cincinnati Bengals 10
Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-Bengals
3rd Star - Christian Gonzalez (Allowed only 3 Catches for 15 total yards against Ja'Marr Chase in Coverage)
2nd Star - Keion White (2.5 Sacks, 1 Forced Fumble, 3 Pressures, 4 Tackles)
1st Star - Rhamondre Stevenson (25 Carries for 120 Yards [ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN YARDS AFTER CONTACT], TD, 3 Receptions for 6 Yards)
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