FOXBOROUGH - Now that’s more like it.
After teasing us with pockets of good play, the Patriots largely put it together on Sunday, routing the Panthers, 42-13
This thing was over by halftime. Hell, before halftime. If you want to be a team that’s playing meaningful football games in December and, gulp, dare I say, January, this is precisely what you do to a nameless, faceless franchise like Carolina. Had the Panthers been given the chance, I think they would have exited the visiting players' tunnel at halftime, gotten on the bus, and made a beeline for the airport. No one would have missed them, save for an excitable Gillette Stadium crowd that hasn’t seen too many home wins in the last couple of years (just their 4th in 20 games).
Explosive plays?
Check.
Elite special teams?
Check (more on that below).
Turnover-free?
Check.
Not needing your second-year quarterback to do any and everything (even if he probably could have)?
Check.
But what may get overlooked in this total team effort was the play of the defense. They weren’t perfect, not by a long shot. But buoyed by the return of Christian Gonzalez today, they made a mediocre offense minus several starters look, well, the most mediocre in gotta-have-it situations. Carolina was 5-of-14 on third downs, and 1-of-3 on fourth down, and that came on the final, garbage-time TD drive with the Pats emptying what they could of their bench.
"That's how we do it," someone in the far corner of the locker room shouted. He wasn't wrong, and there's plenty of room for improvement.
This has been a heavy week for that defense. Coordinator Terrell Williams has been absent for several weeks, and on Friday, Mike Vrabel told us all that his long-time assistant and friend had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Though Williams hasn’t been here long, he’s endeared himself to the players. Vrabel and the players sported “T Strong” t-shirts pregame, showing support for the well-liked and well-respected Williams. While it's nice to win — and needed — Vrabel kept it in perspective.
“I don't think that those things are really comparable,” when I asked the head coach about what this meant. “We've got one situation where somebody is fighting, and we're playing a game. We care deeply about Terrell [Williams], and we're going to do everything that we can to help him and to support him and make sure that he gets what he needs and competes and fights, and that we take care of him as people and support. That's the big thing there.
"The other side of it is it's just a game. We understand how critical the wins and losses are, and we're here to win. But I don't look at it like, oh, we have to win because this is a ‘Crucial Catch’ (the league-driven slogan for cancer support). We just have to win so that we can continue to build a program that can withstand everything that goes on in this league.”
Perhaps that emotion weighed on the defense early. They got carved up like a turkey on Thanksgiving during the opening drive, surrendering an easy six. The next series began similarly, and there were murmurs of dissatisfaction from the crowd as the Panthers moved to the edge of field goal range quickly. But the big boys on the interior took over, with Milton Williams and Christian Barmore flushing Bryce Young and forcing an incompletion on second down, then Khyiris Tonga batting down Young’s third-down toss. That forced the first of four punts on Carolina’s next five possessions (the other being a 55-yard field goal that came up well short). What changed?
“Just settled down a little bit,” noticed Vrabel. “They did a nice job early on moving guys around. We have to continue to disguise better and tackle better and all those things. I guess, if that's the tradeoff for playing great defense the rest of the way, then we'll have to go through those growing pains early in the game. I don't anticipate that we should. It was good to see us respond, and we've done that. I'm proud of our guys for not going in the tank or complaining or pointing a finger or anything like that.”
“I say it every week. It just be like the first 15 unscouted looks that we don't like, they don't put on tape,’ Milton Williams noted. “Then after that, they go back to what they originally started running, and then we can start keying in on it. But like I said, we tried to start fast. They just did a good job of trying to keep the “D” line out of the game. Lot of the runs to the perimeter, play action boots, quick game screens and quarterback getting the ball out.”
The defensive line started to get more involved, and the secondary had very few issues with any of the Panthers’ receiving threats, including Tet McMillan (he did draw two calls against Carlton Davis). However, what really put everyone on notice was Marcus Jones and his quick feet.
The veteran cornerback/special teamer broke a longstanding franchise record, with 167 yards worth of punt returns. That broke Mike Haynes’ mark of 156 set back on November 7, 1976. Jones was the one who gave the engine the fuel injection it needed with his 87-yard scamper for a touchdown, shaking off one would-be tackle before reversing field and running through another arm tackle or two on his way to his second career return TD.
‘Whenever one person is getting held, you know, they're either trying to get the ball or do big hits and stuff like that,’ Jones said of the initial wave that swarmed him. “So being able to get out of that first tackle helps out in the sense of getting to the edge and then, you know, go from there.”
“He's not the biggest player, but he's got great play strength,” Vrabel said of Jones. “He's got great vision, and, again, you have to be fearless at some level to catch that punt and know that you're going to make the first guy miss. We're confident in that. I think he kind of just - it's just a natural skill. It's hard to teach. It's hard to teach with all those bodies in traffic and catching it first and making great decisions with it back there. It's a lot of comfort with him back there, and we need to continue to make it a weapon.”
Jones wasn’t done. With the game teetering on night-night time for the toothless Panthers, he ripped off a 61-yarder that appeared destined for the end zone until the punter of all people threw out his arm and had the first-time team captain falling face-first onto the turf. He stayed down for a minute…
“What's crazy is, usually when someone gets tackled, they tackle you right then and there,” Jones said. “But I got clipped and then ran and fell, and I was just like, ‘Oh, I know they're gonna say some stuff.’ So I'm gonna hear it from there. I'm hearing from my family, but it's part of the game.”
Jones left the podium with a smile on his face, and that carried over into the locker room, where he acknowledged that getting taken down there was a little easier to take considering how this game played out. He and his teammates get to enjoy being 2-2 for the next 24 hours or so, but then it’s time to turn the page and lock in on a date with the Bills in Buffalo. But no doubt this performance will give a team in search of confidence the jolt they need. Now, can they turn one week into two?