BSJ Game Report: Patriots 29, Lions 0 - Judon, defense blank top statistical offense

FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ win over the Lions in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Defense, Judon dominate top-ranked offense: Lions entered the game with the No. 1-ranked offense in scoring and total yards, and while they had their moments of moving the ball, they completely self-destructed — with a lot of help from Matthew Judon — when they had a chance to do anything, including a strip/sack touchdown that changed the game. The Lions became the first team in NFL history to attempt at least six fourth downs and not convert one. Judon had a tough matchup coming in against two good tackles in Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell, and he completely dominated.

Bailey Zappe does the job: It wasn't anything flashy, and it's sure to start an outbreak of The Fev-ah, but Zappe did his job expertly in this one, as he was an awesomely efficient 17 of 21 for 188 yards and a score. Without the Nelson Agholor drop/INT, Zappe would have completed 86 percent of his passes. His best attribute was his poise in and around the pocket. Never flustered. Now, he was backed by a great running game, the scoreboard and was going against an atrocious defense, but played great. The game ended with Zap-pe chants all over the place. Don't worry, be Zappe.

"He does a good job," Bill Belichick said. "He does a good job of seeing the game and can come off and identify and articulate what he saw, what happened. That's usually right. What he saw is usually what I saw or maybe when you look at the film, maybe there's something that's a little gray in there that his explanation is actually good. It was the way he saw it. Maybe he might not have done the right thing, but he saw the game. That goes all the way back to preseason. He played a lot in preseason. I think those snaps were good for him. He learned a lot. We learned a lot. I think there's definitely some benefit to the playing time that he had in preseason in the games that he has played the last two weeks."

Said Jakobi Meyers: "I feel like he did a great job, honestly. That’s just not a testament to him, that’s a testament to the coaches and the team. That’s a group effort, you know. He went out there and did the best that he could. We just had to make sure we protected him, ran the ball well and caught the ball. Like I said, shout-out to the coaches for just having a good game plan, calling the right plays and for him to go out there and execute it for us.”

TURNING POINT

DET-3-2-NE 25 (4:27) (Shotgun) 46-C.Reynolds right end to NE 32 for -7 yards (21-A.Phillips).
DET-4-9-NE 32 (3:40) (Shotgun) 16-J.Goff sacked at NE 45 for -13 yards (9-M.Judon). FUMBLES (9-M.Judon) [9-M.Judon], RECOVERED by NE-23-K.Dugger at NE 41. 23-K.Dugger for 59 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Following the Agholor interception — I refuse to put it on Zappe — the Lions were dangerously close to popping in a TD to take the lead in a 6-0 game while the Patriots were busy kicking field goals.

After a timeout, despite the Patriots being stacked along the line, the Lions didn't check out of the run, or to a better run (into the line if they were going to do for it) ... they ran read option where Deatrich Wise was unblocked. He bounced Craig Reynolds outside and Adrian Phillips took him down for a 7-yard loss.

On second down, Judon beat Penei Sewell and stripped Jared Goff. Kyle Dugger had a scoop and score, and we had our first touchdown of the game. The score was now tilted towards New England and the game was all but over.

"Ju had another great day," Belichick said. "Again, he is a very physical presence for us on the end of the line. This is a very good off-tackle and counter team. They hit us on the one counter. I think that was their biggest run. Then they threw the screen. That was really the big run, but that's been a very productive play for them going all the way back to the Eagles game. All season really. I thought, again, defensively it's team defense. No one guy can stop the run game, but certainly it helped with the good edge play from Ju and Wise to try to slow down those off tackle runs. Two very good tackles, right? That's really where a lot of those off tackle plays get going. So, you have to give a lot of credit to those guys, Bentley, Tavai, D.G. inside. We push a lot of plays back into D.G. and Carl Davis, and those guys did a good job inside. It bled a little bit, but there's some 4- or 5-yarders in there, but not like the 20, 30, 50-yarders that they've been ripping off every week. Yeah, Ju had another solid game. Again, with Wise and Uche, we have two different type of players that generally play opposite of him. That's worked out fairly well for us.

SECOND GUESS

Don't really have one. Wanted them to be a little bit more aggressive on the Lions' side of the field, but Belichick knew it was best to stay out of the Lions' way.

FOUR UP

Matthew Judon: Completely dominated two good tackles for the Lions, Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell. With two sacks, ost-ever for a Patriots player through five games.

Bailey Zappe: Kid showed tremendous poise with a simple gameplan against a bad defense that had DBs leaving with injury at an alarming rate. Stepped up well in the pocket, never got harried, even with Aidan Hutchinson was after him.

Rhamondre Stevenson: When Harris went out, he had to carry the load and he's definitely capable of that. Finished with 27 touches for 175 yards.

"You have to give him a ton of credit," said Belichick. "With Damien out, we only carried two backs for the game, and he put it all on his shoulders and finished with a couple of first downs there at the end of the game in the four-minute offense. Yeah, he is always good. He does a great job with the ball in his hands. He is a strong runner, but he can make people miss. He is a really good football player. Really a good football player. So glad we have him.

"Had a couple of blitz pickup plays right up the middle where he stepped up there. He is a good all-around back. Love him. Love him."

THREE DOWN

Nelson Agholor: Dropped an easy pass and batted it for an interception. I have him for two drops and three turnovers (two fumbles). He's just been brutal. Looked like he got benched after the INT (though a hamstring injury was announced). Good. With Tyquan Thornton back and Kendrick Bourne needing more reps, Agholor should be inactive next week.

Mack Wilson/Josh Uche: Both got idiotic personal foul penalties that were completely unneeded.

Isaiah Wynn: Had a few more pressures and a holding penalty.

TOP PLAYS

INJURIES

RB Damien Harris (hamstring) was ruled out.

WR Nelson Agholor (hamstring/INT) was questionable.

CB Jonathan Jones (ankle). Appeared to be dealing with something and rotated with Jack Jones as a result.

TWO TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

I'm not making more of this game: I'm sure there will be plenty of Patriots optimists who will look at this score, consider it was against the best statistical offense in football, and want to imply that this has some sort of bigger meaning in regards to where the Patriots are going. I would say use your eyes. Do you really think this was all about the Patriots? This was the Lions turning into a pumpkin — they are now 1-4 for a reason, with the one victory over the Commanders — and many of their stats were put in garbage time and/or against bad defenses. This was more about the Lions. Good job by the Patriots not getting in their way, which they tried to at time.

Patriots got their backup QB: Not sure I see the reason for Brian Hoyer, whenever he returns, to be active. Zappe has showed he can handle not only emergency situations, but also a spot start against a bad team. If you want to know what the Patriots coaches really think of his abilities, just looked at how many drives ended up in FGs. They gave him defined reads, ran the ball a ton, used playaction — basically everything they weren't doing for Mac Jones (which Josh McDaniels did a lot last year). If anything, this tells me the Matt Patricia was way too aggressive with the offense in the early going and the entire offense (not just Jones) was not ready for it. When Jones returns, it's time to go back to being simple.