Ideas of tanking? The Patriots’ upset of the Payments was a comeback in each sense.

Patriots

The Patriots didn’t fold after letting a 12-point lead slip away late within the fourth quarter.

By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe

October 23, 2023 | 8:24 AM

Welcome to the Unconventional Evaluation, an instantaneous response to standouts, stats, and story traces from the Patriots’ most up-to-date sport …

Right here’s what needed to occur Sunday — what did occur Sunday — to have the dialog across the Patriots change from “they should tank” to “hmm, you realize, possibly they will flip this factor round.”

The offensive line seemed linked and competent. The road’s play — with Michael Onwenu at proper deal with, the place he ought to stay —- was the spine of the Patriots’ 29-25 win. The efficiency, even when unintentional, was a becoming tribute to new Patriots Corridor of Famer Dante Scarnecchia.

Mac Jones performed with a long-absent poise, and on the events that the Payments — who entered tied for the league lead in sacks — pressured him, his instincts didn’t go on the fritz and he threw the ball with confidence. He completed 25 of 30 for 272 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and persistently made higher choices than his Payments counterpart, Josh Allen.

The Patriots didn’t fold after letting a 12-point lead slip away late within the fourth quarter. Mike Gesicki’s 1-yard landing catch with 12 seconds left gave Jones the primary come-from-behind win towards a genuinely good crew in his three seasons.

If we’re being completely trustworthy with ourselves, the very best consequence in the long term for the Patriots most likely was to lose. Their roster requires an infusion of younger expertise that may solely come from the draft.

However for the second, who cares about that? The Patriots snapped a three-game shedding streak with their second win of the season, and it felt darned good for followers at Gillette Stadium to have one thing to cheer for once more.

The Patriots are resilient. They haven’t stop. And hey, Invoice Belichick has led surprising turnarounds earlier than. This can be a win price having fun with, whether or not it results in the salvaging of a season.

Some additional ideas, upon quick evaluate …

Three gamers who have been price watching

Gamers urged within the Unconventional Preview: Stefon Diggs, Rhamondre Stevenson, Malik Cunningham

Demario Douglas: The nimble rookie wasn’t the Patriots’ main receiver – that was Kendrick Bourne, who set the tempo with six receptions, 63 yards, and a landing. However it certain felt prefer it was Douglas, who, after lacking final Sunday’s sport whereas in concussion protocol, returned to contribute 4 catches for 54 yards and chipped in with a 20-yard run. Three of Douglas’s catches belong on the spotlight reel from this sport: a 9-yard catch and slide on the primary play from scrimmage, a 10-yard seize for a primary down, and a diving, 16-yard catch on third and 1 on the identical possession that preceded Ezekiel Elliott’s 2-yard landing run. Douglas is small, and I’m undecided he’s in the proper place on a regular basis, but it surely’s clear the Patriots have discovered a keeper right here.

Christian Barmore: Now this can be a high quality instance of statistics failing to inform the story of an inside defensive lineman’s affect on a sport. Whether or not he was bursting via the center of the Payments line and flushing Allen out of the pocket, or tying up a blocker or two to permit Ja’Whaun Bentley (9 tackles) or Anfernee Jennings (six) to make a play within the working sport, Barmore was so energetic one nearly puzzled whether or not Belichick had discovered a strategy to clone him. But he completed simply tenth amongst Patriots with three tackles, proving but once more that being a defensive deal with for the Patriots will not be usually a glamorous life. He did have the Patriots’ lone sack on the day, nonetheless, crushing Allen on a late second-quarter Payments drive that ended with a missed discipline objective try. His one mistake: a roughing-the-passer penalty on the fourth-quarter landing drive that pulled the Payments to inside 22-17.

Dalton Kincaid: The Payments’ first-round choose within the April draft had simply 11 catches for 118 yards coming into the sport. However he was the one who seized the probabilities ensuing from the Patriots’ deal with Stefon Diggs, making a game-high eight receptions – on eight targets – for 75 yards. The tight finish’s largest play occurred with 2:50 left when, on fourth and a couple of from the Patriots 8, Allen hit him alongside the sideline for 4 yards and a primary down. Forty-two seconds later, Allen plowed in from the 1, and the Payments took their solely (and short-term) lead at 25-22.

Grievance of the sport

Bourne appeared to place the sport away … after which, in a blink, nearly gave it away. His 4-yard landing catch halfway via the fourth quarter gave the Patriots a 22-10 lead (and put them over 20 factors for the primary time this season, which remains to be arduous to fathom). Protected lead? You’d wish to suppose so, however on the Patriots’ subsequent possession, with their benefit minimize to 22-17, the one factor that might not occur occurred. With 4:59 left, Bourne caught a second-down cross from Jones, picked up 9 yards … and had the ball punched from his grasp by Payments security Jordan Poyer. Terrel Bernard recovered on the 29, and fewer than three minutes later, the Payments had their first lead. It was a foul mistake, and almost a devastating one, however I’ll admit it: I’m glad Bourne wasn’t the goat. He’s on the record of Patriots who by no means stopped enjoying arduous throughout their dismal shedding streak, and over the previous two weeks he has 16 catches on 18 targets for 152 yards and a landing.

Three notes scribbled within the margins

Predicted rating: Payments 26, Patriots 16

Ultimate rating: Patriots 29, Payments 25

We are able to’t overlook the efficiency of Jabrill Peppers, who completed with eight tackles and picked off an Allen deep cross on the Payments’ first play from scrimmage. Allen has some Drew Bledsoe in him in relation to his just-sling-it strategy typically … The largest play of the sport that we’ve by some means neglected mentioning to this point? Rhamondre Stevenson’s 34-yard catch-and-rumble with 1:49 left, which transported the Patriots from their 25 to the Payments 41 on the eventual profitable drive … Pharaoh Brown had two receptions, one for 26 yards and the opposite for 25, and but his yards per catch for the season dropped from 28.7 to 27.4. Like I at all times say, Pharaoh Brown is a lower-volume modern-day Stanley Morgan.