FOXBOROUGH – Where are the playmakers?
In a defensive evening that could best be described as enigmatic, the revamped New England Patriots looked an awful lot like the 2020 version in Sunday’s opening 17-16 loss to Miami.
The numbers? They will look excellent when the NFL’s first official stat pack of the season is published.
New England allowed just 17 points and held Miami to 74 rushing yards, 259 yards of offense. Tua Tagovailoa’s 79.6 QB rating for the day was at best uninspiring. And the Patriots got off the field, holding Miami to just 3 of 10 conversions on third down … Until it truly mattered.
New England, despite a brutal fumble by Damien Harris, had the chance to grab solo first place in the AFC East on Day 1 and boldly proclaim this defense as a game-changing entity in 2021.
Miami took over the football at its own 9 with 3:31 to play. Get a stop against an underwhelming Miami offense and let a sizzling Mac Jones do his thing.
The Patriots even got a second chance when a Tagovailoa bootleg run for 8 on first down was erased by a ticky-tack holding call.
But the Dolphins, at 1st-and-14, were undeterred.
Tua hit DeVante Parker for 13 on a slant against Jalen Mills – cue the Stephon Gilmore chatter -- and Malcolm Brown moved the chains once.
The more demoralizing and game-clinching first down came right down New England’s gullet with Brown runs of 5 and 4, followed by Jacoby Brissett’s sneak to ice it.
All that attention paid to the front seven. All that cash laid out, Matt Judon’s August highlight reel, the return of Dont’a Hightower, it mattered little when the Dolphins sniffed a road win in the division.
It was 2020 revisited, even with the free-agent frenzy of this past offseason.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game and to affect the game,” said Judon, who finished the day with three solo tackles in his New England debut.
Judon, Davon Godchaux and Mills represent $50 million in guaranteed cash. They added back Hightower from his Covid season hiatus and brought back Kyle Van Noy for another $6 million guaranteed.
“We have a lot of guys who can play some good ball. We just have to cut down on some of the mistakes and keep fighting,” said cornerback Jonathan Jones.
On this day, the Pats even absorbed the Double Belichick, allowing Miami to score on the final possession of the first half and the opening possession of the second. That’s a no-no for winning football teams.
“It was just, you know, certain situations. First drive, beginning of the half, coming out and starting slow, end of the half, we gave up the big play to kind of set them up in field goal range, coming out in the second half and then going down and scoring again,” said Jones, who came up with the biggest play on the defensive side of the football with a late interception.
“From a defensive standpoint, those situations were not handled very well.”
There were positives on the day, Josh Uche’s first sack, in which he steamrolled Miami rookie offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg and drilled Tua, comes to mind. Safety Kyle Dugger (6 solos) played an active role.
Gilmore’s absence wasn’t a giant issue. Miami top guns Parker and Jaylen Waddle were forced to work for their combined eight catches (142 yards, 1 TD by the rookie). The likes of Mills, Jones and JC Jackson competed and won their share of battles.
But the vision of Myles Gaskin tearing away from Ja’Whaun Bentley on a simple swing pass was eerily reminiscent of the recent past. There was supposed to be a major upgrade of the front seven.
Football games are often won and lost in the fourth quarter. That was certainly the case on Sunday.
“We just have to finish the last few minutes of the game,” admitted Jackson.
Money can’t buy happiness, and it apparently can’t buy stops when you need them. At least not yet.