Confidence Game: After loss to Jaguars, Patriots say there's no panic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There is film to be watched. Adjustments to be made. And there has to be improvement across the board.

But when it comes to putting Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars in some sort of big-picture context, linebacker Kyle Van Noy bottom-lined it after the loss. His biggest takeaway?

“That it’s September,” shrugged the linebacker. “That’s about it.”

That was pretty much the vibe coming out the New England locker room after Sunday's 31-20 loss to the Jaguars. It was a game where the Patriots fell behind by 21 points in the third quarter, managed to cut the lead to 11 points on two occasions, but could get any closer the rest of the way on the way to their first loss of the season.

Regardless of the injuries, the fact New England was on the road in ungodly heat against one of the best young defenses in the league, and without one of their best offensive options in Julian Edelman, Van Noy knows the loss will make for an interesting week back in New England.

“Everybody’s going to panic, right? It’s New England,” Van Noy said.



“We’re disappointed in the loss. We have to look at the tape and each other and figure it out. It’ll get done.”

To his point, history certainly appears to be on Van Noy’s side. The Patriots have earned the right to be confident when it comes to situations like this one. They’ve suffered what could best be described as ugly double-digit losses in the first month of the 2014 (“We’re on to Cincinnati”), 2016 and 2017 seasons. There were a myriad or reasons behind those defeats, but the simple truth is that the Patriots went to the Super Bowl on two of those three occasions.

None of this is to suggest the Patriots don’t take what happened Sunday in Jacksonville seriously. (There’s a difference between a well-earned confidence and whistling past the graveyard.) The Jaguars exposed some of New England’s weaknesses, including a need for another dependable pass catcher (which should be remedied after Week 4 with the return of Edelman) and a scary inability to get off the field on third down. (Jacksonville was 10-for-14 in that department on Sunday). And if the injuries to defensive end Trey Flowers and safety Pat Chung are long-term, that adds another challenge for this defense going forward.

But while no one in the locker room afterward uttered “We're on to Detroit,” the lack of panic/worry/concern coming out of the New England locker room after the game was palpable.

“At the end of the day, it’s Week 2,” said wide receiver Chris Hogan, who caught a pair of touchdown passes in the defeat. “Obviously, we have a lot to improve on, and that’s what we’re going to focus on when we go in and watch the film. But we’re going to move on. We’re moving on to the next week.”

“We’re confident,” said cornerback Stephon Gilmore. “(But) we still have to learn from our mistakes and watch the film. This is a copycat league — whoever we play next is probably going to try and do the same stuff, so we have to correct it (and) get better. That’s what football is all about.”

In large part, one of the things that defined those teams from 2014, 2016 and 2017 (as well as the Patriots’ teams that looked a little rough around the edges in early-season losses in 2001, 2003 and 2004) was an ability to learn from those losses and apply that moving forward. Is the 2018 team capable of doing the same thing? Only time will tell. That work will start with Monday’s film session.

“You’ve got to learn from bad days,” said quarterback Tom Brady. “Things just don’t magically happen. You’ve got to make them happen. All of us have to have more urgency to do things right more often over the course of practices and games. Then it’s a matter of us going out and executing.”

“We have to bounce back — we’ve done it before,” said tight end Rob Gronkowski. “We just have to take away from this game the things we did wrong and go back out practice correct everything. The only thing we have to do is bounce back now. (Sunday) wasn’t good at all.”

“Yeah,” added Van Noy with a small smile after being told of Gronkowski's comments. “Whatever Rob said.”