You want to know why the Patriots had Jacoby Brissett start Week 1? You got your answer Sunday in Cincinnati. There was a synergy with offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, which developed during their time in Cleveland. Do you want to know why Brissett won't be the starter by season's end? The truth was also revealed in that surprising upset win at Paycor Stadium over the heavily favored Bengals.
Brissett gave the game what the game needed in Week 1. He looked every bit like a nine-year veteran with nearly 50 starts under his belt (today was #49). Brissett was smart, managed the offense, and mostly kept the ball out of harm's way. He also used his legs - Brissett looked spry at points - scrambling for four first downs, including three on third down (two on the first scoring drive).
"I think AVP did a good job of - playing against Lou (Anarumo, Bengals DC) so much when he was in Cleveland - understanding his tendencies and things like that," Brissett said. "You line up in certain formations; it simplifies the game and obviously giving me the opportunity to pick up plays with my legs. And the 'O' line doing a good job of creating rush lanes for me.
"So, I thought we had a good plan with those things. And, you know, obviously, want to complete a couple more passes, but I thought we did a good job with that."
Good? That might be a stretch. The Patriots' offense went into a shell after taking a 7-0 lead and only once came out of it - when they needed points up 13-7. Brissett's passing numbers were pedestrian - 15-of-24 for 121 yards. The well-traveled veteran handled continued pressure, especially off the left side of the line, doing it in various ways. He stepped up in the pocket, hitting Pop Douglas on a critical third down on their first scoring drive. He got outside the tackle box, wisely taking a sack to end the first half but preserving field position for three easy points. And Brissett ran for 32 yards (!), tucking the ball when the opportunity presented itself, including a 16-yard scramble on that first TD drive.
"There was one, he kind of stepped up in the pocket, where I didn't know if he was going to run or throw, and I kind of just stopped, and he just took off and got smoked," said center David Andrews. "But I thought he showed great toughness, right? Having toughness for a football team doesn't just come up front. It comes from every position. And a quarterback doing some things like that, doing some dirty work, taking some hits, keeping going, and being steady- that's how they show toughness. Jacoby was that for us today. He did a great job."
"He was just calm, cool, and collected," added tight end Hunter Henry. "He's just played a lot of games, man. This was my first time being out there (with him, Henry had limited preseason reps). Timely plays, making great checks, timely throws when we needed to. That's big-time play."
You would never know it with how composed Brissett was, but the emotion of the day, of being back as a starter in this league, hit the 31-year-old hard. Earlier this week, he mentioned how he nearly gave up the game in 2021 (when he was in Miami). But he rediscovered his love for football a year later in Cleveland, and the Pats benefited in week one.
"Yeah, man, I think I cried three times before the game," said Brissett. "Cried when I got to the stadium, cried when Jerod (Mayo) came up to me before the game, and he started laughing. He's like, 'Man, you're about to win us this game.' And I never heard that from a coach, and that meant a lot to me. And then I cried when I got out there, and they were going out there offense, but, you know, my emotions were definitely high. It's definitely a moment that I just can't take it for granted. These things don't come by often."
Brissett hardly took a star turn in this one. No, that role belonged to Rhamondre Stevenson, who was shifty on one play and a battering ram on the next. He had a career-high matching 25 carries for 120 yards and the team's lone touchdown. Mayo encouraged Stevenson to be more vocal, and he took the head coach up on that offer.
"Rhamondre said, 'I don't want to run outside zone anymore. I want to run downhill," Brissett said following the game. "That's what we did."
"It was just a compliment to the (offensive) lineman," said Stevenson. "They rolled those guys off the ball in duo, so I didn't think we needed to get to outside zone. I voiced my opinion on that; I just told AVP that I wanted to run downhill. He blessed me, and we did just that."
Stevenson's performance and that of a patchwork offensive line — credit to coaches Scott Peters and Robert Kugler — took the heat off a mostly impotent passing game. The Bengals' defense quickly realized they could handle the Pats' weapons and challenged them to push the ball down the field. Brissett only tried once — the first play of the second half — and the throw to Tyquan Thornton wasn't close. That, and another later in the game where Thornton ran past the secondary, but Brissett had decided to tuck and run and never saw him, is why the savvy signal caller will eventually give way to Drake Maye at some point this season.
Being a playmaker while on the move is not in Brissett's normal body of work, and Maye has already shown us flashes of that athleticism and big arm during the latter part of training camp and preseason. They'll be games - perhaps as soon as Seattle at home this coming weekend - where a run first, second, and third plan won't fly. That's where Brissett's limitations - which have popped up every time he's gotten an extended stint as a starter - have shown themselves. But that's okay for now. Everyone in Foxborough knows what they signed on for, which will suffice in the short term, buying Maye time for the long term. Plus, for one day, Brissett did what he was asked, did it well enough, and he and the Pats are being celebrated, as they should be.