FOXBOROUGH — This is sacrilege to say in these parts, especially after a meaningless third preseason game, but it might be time for Tom Brady to embrace the idea of being a supporting actor instead of a leading man.
His side of the ball is no longer paying the freight for the longest-running success story in NFL history.
These Patriots ... they run on defense now. The offense is a bit player.
No, this didn't just start to happen on Thursday night in the Patriots' 10-3 victory over the Panthers.
It certainly didn't hurt. The Panthers' offensive starters played most of the first half. Cam Newton left with a sprained ankle — inflicted on a Patriot sack — but he had three full series. And went nowhere. Repeatedly.
Forget midfield — the Panthers didn't even cross their own 35-yard line in the first half. They ran 17 plays and totaled 29 yards (1.7 average). They were 0-for-5 on third downs. Newton and Kyle Allen combined for 41 passing yards, but were sacked three times and lost 26. They didn't have a play over 13 yards until there was 6:32 left in the third quarter.
"Offensively, we were not very good," said Panthers tight end Greg Olsen. "We didn’t check any of our boxes as far as the third preseason game goes."
Oh, but the Patriots' defense did. And it was awesome.
On the first play of the game, there's Lawrence Guy and Michael Bennett stuffing the A gaps on either side of the center. Kyle Van Noy is standing up on one edge, impressive rookie Chase Winovich is on the other. There's Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins 3 yards off the line inside. Devin McCourty is in the box, running in motion with a tight end.
Talk about an intimidating sight.
Whack. Christian McCaffrey can only get 3 yards as Van Noy, Collins and Terrence Brooks fly to the ball.
On second down, they go to their base 3-4 with Elandon Roberts, Danny Shelton and rookie Byron Cowart into the game.
Whack. McCaffrey goes for no gain as Collins dips a block and flies into the backfield, and Cowart tosses starting left tackle Darren Williams to meet McCaffrey at the line. Hightower was right there too.
On third down, Bennett is the only player with his hand in the ground with six other players capable of rushing the quarterback. Who's rushing the passer? Who's dropping into coverage? Who do we block?!
Whoosh. Newton gets rid of the ball in 1.81 seconds he's so spooked. D.J. Moore is immediately tackled by Duron Harmon with no yards after the catch.
Punt.
And it just kept going from there.
(Adam Richins for BSJ)