My daughter's Halloween costume from Amazon didn't exactly work out as planned. The company took the order, said it would arrive on time, and then it didn't. No one is sure where it is. Amazon appears to be going straight-denial that the order ever happened, and now the costume is going to be completely useless when/if it finally arrives.
The Patriots' 2021 season appeared headed toward the same oblivion.
If you were a realist and didn't believe NFL teams work exactly like your fantasy football juggernaut — just pick up a player, plop them in the lineup and they automatically produce — then you understood these Patriots were going to take a while to come together. Scores of new starters, players back from Covid leave, younger players in bigger roles and, to top it all off, a rookie quarterback ... these Patriots were going to be a work in progress. The question was, when were they going to arrive and will it be too late for them to contend for a playoff spot?
For seven weeks, the Patriots appeared to be headed to Amazon holiday oblivion as well.
Every week something else went wrong. The worst part about the Patriots' start was that the facets of the team the Patriots thought they could count on — a great offensive line, a tough running game, a really good defense, top-notch special teams, great coaching/decisions/team intangibles — to be the backbone and carry a developing team, also failed.
Not only should there have been great concern — and there was — but Patriots fans should have been down on their hands and knees thanking the NFL scheduling gods that they delivered the Jets (two of New England's wins) and Texans (one) in the first seven weeks of the season, instead of the Bills and Titans. We shudder to think what the Patriots' record would have been in that case.
It took a very long while, but the Patriots' delivery truck finally showed up in the second half of Sunday's win 27-24 win the Chargers in Los Angeles — perhaps just in time to salvage the Patriots' Hallowe ... err, season.
What was on display was every part of the Patriots' formula we thought would be needed for them to compete this season — with a little bit of an added bonus.
• No. 1. The defense was back to its full potential. The unit stopped the run reasonably well. The Chargers had six carries for 13 yards outside of Austin Ekeler's 28-yard run (How many times are they going to watch Deatrich Wise get completely steamrolled by a double-team?! Sorry, just needed to vent.) They were able to execute different coverages, looks and QB pressures to confuse Wonder Boy Justin Herbert. And they got two huge turnovers that turned into 10 points that were the difference in the game. The defense even stopped the Chargers cold with the lead, which has NOT been the norm to this point against any team outside the Tankathon Twins (Uh, yeah, Bedahd, check out the Jets now. Mike White is not a bum you idiot and the Jets regularly beat playoff teams, moron).
A defense that could get key stops, turn the ball over to set up the offense in good field position, and even score some points was an essential part of the 2021 Patriots Manual.
Arrived on Sunday ... check.
• No. 2. The running game was a foundational part of the offense. Josh McDaniels got away from it in the first half and Mac Jones' resulting jitters due to pass rush and coverage nearly cost the Patriots the game as Jones' completion numbers started to look like Marcus Smart's shooting line from beyond the arc (ducks). McDaniels wisely recognized his MacBook Pro was on the fritz, so he went back to the power game to settle things down. The Patriots weren't great running the ball in the second half (21 for 72), but four of their eight first downs came via the rush — and it would have been a lot better had a few unnamed tackles learned how to block without holding to cost Damien Harris 39 yards and a touchdown. The important factor was that the Patriots' line was physical, and the run was effective enough to allow Jones to drop back just 13 times after halftime. That's the formula.
• No. 3. Special teams had a decided advantage. We knew that going in, and it continued as Gunner Olszewski averaged 20 yards a return on four returns. Chargers' kick coverage is so bad, you wonder why they don't just kick every ball out of bounds.
• No. 4 (bonus). Jones and the passing game didn't need to be special, just effective: Jones was just 8 of 22 in the first half, and thank goodness he had the 44-yarder to Nelson Agholor, or the stats would have been really ugly. But after the break, Jones was 10 of 13 for 92 yards and they picked up five first downs via the air. There were some big plays in there, and they were spread around:
- A 15-yard in-cut to N'Keal Harry would have led to points, if Kendrick Bourne didn't fumble in field-goal range.
- A 14-yard crosser to Jakobi Meyers on 3rd and 8, on a drive that led to points.
- Two-point conversion to Meyers.
- On the game-clinching drive, Jones hit Meyers for 17 yards and then Harry for 15, Nelson Agholor for 9, and Meyers for 2 on a 3rd-and-1 that caused the Chargers to have to burn their timeouts and effectively end the game.
That's some 2001 Patriots stuff right there.
• No. 5. The coaches were able to coax just the right amount of everything out of their units. No, it wasn't pretty all the time, but the coaches realized what they had in terms of personnel, how it was affecting the Chargers, and cobbled it together. The result:
Patriots 19:27 of possession time in second half;
Chargers 10:33 of possession time in second half.
That ... all of it ... that's the formula we knew this team needed. It arrived very late — looked like it might never get here — but it finally show up on the doorstep.
Now we have to see if they can actually wear the thing the next three weeks against the Panthers, Browns and Falcons to set up three possibly titanic matchups with the Titans and Bills (twice) over a four-game stretch.
Look, no one is going to pretend the Patriots have arrived as contenders. They have to go out and earn that moniker themselves on the field with each successive week.
For all we know, the Chargers might have been pretenders. And, yes, Herbert looks like a stud QB straight out of central casting. But he's getting figured out by the better defensive minds (Ravens did the same to him in their previous game), and his/their gig might be up for this season.
The Patriots still had ridiculous game management issues. I mean, they burned all three timeouts in the second half by the 6:38 remaining mark, and two were taken when the clock was stopped — including once when 12 defenders (maybe more) were on the field ... for the first play of a drive. I mean, this is just embarrassing:
Also, someone please tell me that booth review for holding was the brainchild of an overexuberant Matt Patricia and not a central figure to the operation going forward. I mean, in the words of Belichick, "What are we doing here?"
And we may have seen the debut of The Mac Jones Face, which looked hauntingly reminiscent of the good 'ol Peyton Manning Face when the Patriots' defense used to flummox and frustrate him. Talk about a scary Halloween costume.
But, look, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are real playoff contenders who added some 11 new starters and are playing with a rookie quarterback who, while ahead of the curve, is still a rookie and green.
The important thing is that, unlike my daughter's costume, the Patriots We Expected have arrived.
Will it be trick (flash in pan) or treat (a sustained winning streak that matters)?
We shall see.