FOXBOROUGH — Like most opening games in today's NFL, where it can take teams — even these Patriots, who have started 2-2 in three of the previous six seasons — a month to round into form, Week 1 can be a bit of a mixed bag in regards to both execution and sending signals for the season to come.
The Patriots emerged with a 27-20 victory over the Texans on Sunday but, there will be a ton of questions generated from it, like:
- Can Tom Brady continue to make this collection of misfit toys work?
- Can Rob Gronkowski sustain his 112-catch pace?
- Was it the offensive line that largely shut down J.J. Watt and company?
- Will the pass rush continue to harass other quarterbacks like this?
- Is the defense going to give up 170 yards rushing every game?
Can Tom Brady continue to make this collection of misfit toys work?
can
will
Josh
McDaniels
Rob Gronkowski
James White
Chris Hogan
James Develin
Phillip Dorsett
Can Rob Gronkowski sustain his 112-catch pace?
Julian Edelman
Jacob Hollister
Was it the offensive line that largely shut down J.J. Watt and company?
Jadeveon Clowney
Dante Scarnecchia
Whitney Mercilus
Trent Brown
Nate Solder
Marcus Cannon
La'Adrian Waddle
Will the pass rush continue to harass other quarterbacks like this?
Kyle Van Noy
Trey Flowers
Adam Butler
Adrian Clayborn
Deatrich Wise
Is the defense going to give up 170 yards rushing every game?
Lamar Miller
Alfred Blue
Malcom Brown
Dont'a Hightower
Danny Shelton
Adam Butler
- Phillip Dorsett continued to do what he's shown all offseason. He has been on a slow but steady ascent since he arrived in Foxboro, and he continues to stack success. I'm sure he'll have some rough patches, but people need to stop sleeping on him. Dorsett is a good player.
- Rex Burkhead looked extremely rusty in this game, which was to be expected after such a long lay off. The fear is that he might have a reoccurrence of his lower body injuries after getting that much work.
- That final punt by Ryan Allen down to the 1-yard line is why the Patriots kept him instead of going with the younger and bigger leg of Corey Bojourquez. "That was huge," said Matthew Slater. "Chad O'Shea said to me, 'That might be one of my top three favorite plays as a Patriot!' I mean, you talk about executing under pressure when we really needed it, they were bringing pressure, we went to max protect and then he executed. That was a great job by him."
- I'm not totally worried about Hightower right now, but the opener didn't make me feel any better about where he is right now.
- Thought Ja'Whaun Bentley was terrific in his first NFL game. He's going to be a huge upgrade for them this season.
- I think the best sign for the secondary is that there weren't any busted coverages. That's a huge, huge improvement over last season and they'll only get better with each passing game.