The New England Patriots will head into the second half of the season with an undefeated record, with a ton of credit going to the defense.
New England walked away with a 27-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns in a rainy game at Gillette Stadium. Their defense jumpstarted the game with three turnovers in the first quarter — one of which resulted in a touchdown.
Tom Brady and the offense didn’t look dominant, but Julian Edelman made enough plays to put some points on the board. The Patriots continue to rely on their defense, but the offense will have to make some major adjustments to win throughout the tough stretch that’s coming up.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
The defense jumpstarted the game with three turnovers
As aforementioned, the defense started the game off with three turnovers on consecutive Browns’ plays. Nick Chubb’s first two carries resulted in fumbles and Baker Mayfield followed up with an interception thrown to Lawrence Guy.
Dont’a Hightower returned the first fumble for a touchdown and helped New England score 10 points in a two minute span. Chubb broke off a huge run on his second play, but Jon Jones chased him and punched the ball out. The final turnover was Guys’ interception, that was practically thrown right into his hands from Mayfield.
The “Boogeymen” continued their dominance, and they were likely the reason that the Patriots came away victorious.
Julian Edelman is keeping the offense alive
Without Julian Edelman on the field, this Patriots offense would struggle mightily to move the ball. Brady’s production has been slowly plummeting and the offensive line has struggled to keep a clean pocket.
Edelman finished the game with eight receptions, 78 yards and two touchdowns — leading all receivers in those three categories. He also leads the team right now in all three categories with 53 catches, 574 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. James White is the closest player on the roster in receiving production and he had four catches for 75 yards against the Browns.
The Patriots should have N’Keal Harry in Week 9 and they added Mohamed Sanu, so Edelman should get some help in the second half of the season.
Mohamed Sanu had quiet debut game
Unsurprisingly, Sanu had a quiet game in his debut for the Patriots. He finished the game with two receptions for 23 yards and he didn’t make an immediate impact.
The Patriots acquired Sanu in a trade from the Atlanta Falcons this week and he only had a few practices to get on the same page as Brady. Many past receivers have said that New England’s offensive playbook is one of the most difficult to learn, so it only makes sense that Sanu needs some time to get reps and learn the plays.
It also didn’t help that the Patriots were playing in rainy conditions. Sanu will have more reps going forward, another threat with Harry and better weather conditions to capitalize on his time in New England. He should make a major impact for the team soon.
His first catch did come on a crucial fourth down play.
Mike Nugent didn’t have his best day
The Patriots have a glaring issue with their field goal unit, and it starts with a lack of trust towards Mike Nugent.
It’s evident that New England would rather go for fourth down conversions than let Nugent kick a field goal that’s longer than 40 yards. On the Patriots’ second drive of the game, they elected to pass on fourth-and-seven instead of letting Nugent kick a long field goal.
He finished the day making only two out of four field goal attempts — one of them was blocked. This could be a major issue for the Patriots going forward, because this offense isn’t putting the ball in the end zone like they have in recent years.
The run defense looked like a potential weakness
This Patriots defense has been historically good and doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses. But, Chubb may have provided the rest of the NFL with a blueprint for a potential weak spot.
New England came into the game ranked No. 2 in rushing yards allowed with 74.7. That trend changed on Sunday after Cleveland rushed for 159 yards, with 7.2 yards per carry. Chubb seemed to do whatever he wanted and his only blemishes came from the two fumbles early in the game.
The rainy conditions could have very well played a factor in the inefficient run defense, but it’s something to monitor with some run-heavy teams coming up soon on the schedule. If New England can continue to create turnovers and force running backs to fumble, it could be a weakness that is hidden by the takeaways and the bend-don’t-break philosophy.
