Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
The Patriots have won four in a row and yesterday’s demolition of the Cleveland Browns is proof that they are a legitimate playoff contender in the AFC.
It might be a little too early to call them a Super Bowl contender but that could change in the coming weeks if they were to beat Atlanta, Tennessee and Buffalo.
It took a while for the offense to start to click but the pieces are finally working and Mac Jones is starting to look comfortable in the system. The Patriots are balanced and can score in a myriad of ways.
Yesterday was proof. The Patriots got a big day on the ground from rookie Rhamondre Stevenson who carried the ball 20 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The Patriots were without Damien Harris yesterday and Stevenson proved that he can thrive in a featured role. Bill Belichick praised Stevenson for stepping up considering the fact he didn’t practice three days this week.
“Caught well, made good yards after contact. He’s been doing that for several weeks. So you know, glad we had the opportunity to get a run call and for him to get the carries that he did. He stepped in for Damien and he did a great job. Again, it’s good to have depth and we have depth in the backfield and count on all those guys and they have really come through for us.”
It helped that Josh McDaniels called perhaps his best game of the season. The Patriots knew they were going to have their hands full with defensive ends Myles Garrett and Jadaveon Clowney so McDaniels used screens, reverses and cut blocking by the tackles to slow them down. The game plan worked as neither Garrett nor Clowney made an impact.
The passing game was once again efficient. Jones completed 19 of 23 passes for 198 yards and 3 touchdown passes. Two of those touchdown passes were thrown to Hunter Henry who has emerged as Jones favorite red zone target. Jones talked about the chemistry he and Henry has developed in the red zone.
“I think just with the red zone, we always have a good plan with Josh [McDaniels], and he does a really good job scheming everybody up. My job is to get it to the person that’s supposed to get the ball, and Hunter does a great job getting open and he has a really good feel for red zone offense and running routes and blocking and finding his little spot in the zone or in the end zone. So he does a good job of that and all our guys do. We have great receivers and at some point, we just have to figure out ways to spread the ball around and continue to get points in the red zone and that’s the most important part is getting the six points versus kicking a field goal and getting three.”
Of course we cannot forget to mention that Jakobi Meyers finally caught his first touchdown pass late in the game from Brian Hoyer. Perhaps the best part of that moment was seeing all the Patriots players coming off the bench to greet Meyers after he scored. It speaks to the strong bond that has developed with this team.
A team that is playing their best football of the season and poised to make a late season run. It is something Patriots fans have become accustomed to around here but it feels like it’s been awhile. This is starting to feel like good old days again.