The Patriots’ Defense Continues Its Streak Of Dominance
Allowing 14 points to the Jets is unacceptable no matter the circumstances, but the good news for the Patriots’ defense is that they were not responsible for either of those touchdowns on Sunday afternoon. The Pats won their match-up with the Jets 30-14 in a game that was actually more lopsided than the score indicates. A second consecutive shutout was in the cards until 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Gunner Olszewski muffed a punt, which was then recovered by New York in the end zone. In the fourth quarter, Jarrett Stidham received the ultimate Belichick treatment when he entered the game as the “human victory cigar” but was quickly pulled after throwing a pick-six with just over six minutes left in the game.
Gunner and Stidham are both rookies who made rookie mistakes. Aside from those two blunders, it was another near-flawless performance by the defending champs. The Pats’ defense is now approaching legendary status, having not allowed a touchdown in four straight games dating back to last year’s Super Bowl. Chiefs running back Damien Williams was the last man that they allowed to cross the goal line, and it happened almost eight months ago.
As for the Antonio Brown ordeal, I’ve stated the same thing multiple times in the past couple weeks. The Patriots were destined for a Super Bowl run with or without AB. They acquired him knowing that there was risk involved. As it turns out, they didn’t realize the extent of that risk. Nobody did. Nobody had any clue of the allegations that would surface following his arrival in New England. His true character continued to be exposed and now he’s gone. Meanwhile, Josh Gordon and Phillip Dorsett look incredible so far, and Julian Edelman is Julian Edelman. The one concern right now is the health of the offensive line, but luckily we still have over a month of extended preseason to sort that out before we see our first real contest (11/3 at Baltimore).