FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ victory over the Eagles in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
HEADLINES
Defense steps it up: The collective reaction in all of New England after the first half? Where was this when we needed it in February? Granted, it was a preseason game and not the Super Bowl, but the Eagles started the same quarterback and offensive line, and you couldn't have had two different games when it came to getting pressure on the quarterback. In the Super Bowl, I charted the Patriots for a grand total of 11 quarterback pressures (zero sacks) — nine came from players not on the field Thursday night (James Harrison, six; Trey Flowers, three) for a pressure rate of 25.6 percent. Completely different story at Gillette. New England did better than that in one half. The Patriots, at first blush, had
14 total quarterback pressures — five sacks, two hits and seven hurries — for a pressure rate of 50 percent. Newcomer Adrian Clayborn led the way with 1.5 sacks and two hurries. "I thought we did some good things," said Bill Belichick. "There's certainly some things we need to work on. It was far from perfect. We'll take a look at the film, build on the positives and correct the things that need to be corrected."
Brady, offense get moving: Tom Brady's first preseason action was efficient -- 19-of-26 for 172 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 116.2. Brady led four scoring drives – two touchdowns and two field goals — in his six possessions. Many of his throws were of the high-percentage variety (other than a sharp 22-yard in-cut to Jacob Hollister) and the Patriots were aided by 50 yards in Eagles penalties. But it was nice to see the offense work at a fast pace and to see Brady to distribute the ball quickly.
19/26, 172 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
Every Tom Brady throw from #PHIvsNE! pic.twitter.com/fEWOcfnDMa
— NFL (@NFL) August 17, 2018
First-round pick Isaiah Wynn carted off: The Patriots already saw one of their first-round picks, Sony Michel, have to get his knee drained putting his start to the season in doubt. In the first quarter against the Eagles, the Patriots' other first-round pick, tackle Isaiah Wynn, went back to pass block on his ninth play and came up limping. He left the field and eventually had to be loaded onto the cart to go to the locker room. That's never a good sign. The fear is that he ruptured his Achilles, which would mean a lost rookie season. It was announced as an ankle injury, so hopefully, that's all it is.
FIVE UP
DE Adrian Clayborn: This is why they brought him here. Clayborn was a menace off the Eagles' left side against tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai as Clayborn racked up 1.5 sacks (officially he hasdone, but he set up Adam Butler's sack), two pressures and a forced fumble.
RB James White: Thank goodness he's seemingly built like a tank, because who knows where they would be without Sweet Feet. He looked in midseason form with four rushes for 31 yards (his 22-yarder was a great pin-and-pull from Trent Brown and Joe Thuney) and six catches on six targets for 61 yards and a score.
DEs Deatrich Wise and Derek Rivers: We finally saw a combination deal from the pass rushers of the '17 draft, as Rivers had 1.5 sacks (one officially but he factored into Kyle Van Noy's takedown) and Wise had a QB knockdown and three hurries. To have 5.5 sacks in just a half of action is good work.
QB Tom Brady: Wasn't the most challenging gameplan he's had to operate, but you can see what a difference a real quarterback makes. And his opening TD to Chris Hogan was vintage Brady.
FOUR DOWN
CB Keion Crossen: Things looked promising for the rookie as he opened as the nickel back, but then he had three penalties and gave up a touchdown and a 20-plus pass as things went south very quickly.
WR Eric Decker/CB Jason McCourty: Both veterans got their first meaningful action of the preseason, and it wasn't a great show. Decker had another drop, and McCourty allowed an easy touchdown by someone named Shelton Gibson.
Brady on team's second drive: Out of the team's six drives, this one was a little rough for the quarterback (the fourth drive, a three-and-out was on the offensive line as they couldn't get the Mike blitzes figured out) as he threw late and weak to Julian Edelman in the flat, nearly threw two interceptions to Ronald Darby on Brady's rare deep balls on the night, threw high to Cordarrelle Patterson on a slant, and looked panicky in the pocket on a second-down misfire to Phillip Dorsett. If you were looking for a reason to fret about the passing game — and these were more regular-season throws — than this drive would be it (it was without Rob Gronkowski, of course).
INJURIES
OT Isaiah Wynn (ankle): Was carted off the field and did not return.
OT Ulrick John (unknown): Left and did not return.
S Patrick Chung (leg): Limped off the field and did return.
FOUR TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
This was the "keep Brady clean plan": When the Patriots either know they're either shorthanded on the offensive line or can't afford to Brady to subjected to an assault, this was the gameplan they go to with plenty of quick routes, passes to the backs and some hurry up mixed in to keep the defensive line from teeing off.
Ja'Whaun Bentley will start for the Patriots on opening day: Flashing in the first preseason game is one thing. Stacking success with a good week of practice with the starters then doing it again against the defending world champions is something else. He just looks so natural out there taking the defensive calls and not being afraid to shoot a gap in an attempt to make a play. Plus, Bentley's shown surprising athletic ability to stick with backs out of the backfield. Bad news for Elandon Roberts.
Patriots' screen game will be much better this season: Well, someone has been improving from last season in camp. After a year in which the Patriots were simply wretched on screen passes, New England was on top of its game against the Eagles as they had three screens that went for big gains — White, 18 yards; Patterson for 23 and nearly to the house; White, 20 and a touchdown — in the first half. David Andrews, Joe Thuney and Shaq Mason all blocked well on the screens.