Curran and Perry dish out Pats superlatives after four games
From offensive and defensive MVPs to surprising storylines, Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry break down what has -- and hasn't -- worked for the Patriots through a quarter of their 2020 schedule.
Newton’s presence has altered everything for the offense. In the opener, the Patriots rode his legs to a win. In Week 2, it was his arm and his liberal use of the Patriots wideouts that kept them competitive against Seattle. In Week 3, even though he didn’t have a great game, the backs again took over on the ground and in the screen game and some of that was traceable to having to account for Newton’s mobility.
And if he weren’t here? We all got a taste of what the Patriots would have otherwise been utilizing last week against the Chiefs. This one was easy.
Cam Newton is the Most Valuable Player on the Patriots offense. Period. You knew that. But has he been their most valuable player in four regular-season games? He's played well in two. He posted a C- against the Raiders, and the Patriots still won. He missed the Chiefs game. Though that game showed his value to the team . . . hard to credit him for missing 25 percent of the regular season to this point. So we won't.
This team is built around its running game, which is built around its offensive line, which is built around its best offensive lineman. That's Thuney. You could argue Michael Onwenu should be here. Like Thuney, he's bounced around and excelled at multiple positions. You could argue Isaiah Wynn should be here. But the position change in Week 3, the athleticism and power to be trusted at the point of attack time and again, the communication with a group that's shuffled weekly -- Thuney deserves the nod.
I’m out here trying to come up with a novel, non-Winovichian choice for DMVP and I can’t do it. Lawrence Guy. Ja’Whaun Bentley. J.C. Jackson. Devin McCourty. Adam Butler. All of them are a stretch when you compare them to quirky Chase. We knew he had pass-rush skills that he exhibited as a rookie but a lot of that production was situational.
Would he be good enough and stout enough to be on the field a majority of the time? Remember, he had just one game in the final 14 last season in which he played over 40 percent of the snaps. He played two snaps in the playoff loss to the Titans.
The answer has been yes. He’s holding down more responsibility than just taking care of being the prime pass-rush threat and right now he’s the Patriots' most dynamic front-seven player.
The Patriots aren't on a historic pace defensively the way they were last season. They're allowing over 8.0 yards per attempt. They're allowing a quarterback rating over 100. But they're sixth in the NFL on third down, and that's thanks in large part to the pressure generated off the edge by Winovich.
He has almost twice the number of pressures (15) of his most disruptive teammate (Deatrich Wise, 8), more sacks (3) than anyone on the team, and he'd have two forced fumbles if Tony Corrente didn't wipe one away unnecessarily in Kansas City. That void left by Kyle Van Noy in free agency? Winovich has filled in admirably for a team in desperate need of a pass rush.
It hasn’t been off the charts, by any means. N’Keal Harry is still trying to find his stride. Julian Edelman is banged up and – aside from the Seahawks game – not playing at his usual level. But those two and Damiere Byrd have combined for 50 catches (18 each for Harry and Edelman). Those three are the top three pass-catchers through four games.
Some of that is traceable to the lack of any tight end presence, but more of it is thanks to defenses having to treat Newton as a threat to run and that’s opened things up a bit at the second level for Newton to buy time and find them.
It's not that Cam Newton was voted a captain, or that he and Josh McDaniels are on the same page. It's not that Julian Edelman is already banged up, or that the Patriots defense has regressed. The biggest surprise of the season thus far is that Jarrett Stidham was a healthy scratch for three weeks.
He was trending to be the starter. Then he wasn't. Then he got hurt in camp. Then he wasn't even the backup. It took Cam Newton coming down with COVID for Stidham to get in uniform. It qualifies as a surprise that after earning the backup gig over Brian Hoyer last year, Stidham couldn't do the same in his second season. That he wasn't the No. 2 might've lost the Patriots their game in Kansas City. Stidham didn't light the world on fire Week 4 at Arrowhead, but he was definitively better than his veteran teammate.
In the days before Tom Brady made his first start, Bill Belichick said to the assembled media, “I just don’t think I’m going to be standing here talking about all the things he did wrong in the game…” or something to that effect. That should have gone doubly – quadrupley – for Brian Hoyer, who somewhat singlehandedly submarined the Patriots' chances of pulling off the upset of the early season last week in Kansas City by playing jumpily and with a lack of situational awareness.
Exactly what you were expecting from one of this year's sixth-round picks, right? Even after listening to the Next Pats Podcast tell you all the reasons why it might work for Onwenu in New England, there's no way you saw this coming.
Not only has he arguably been the best Patriots offensive lineman, the 350-pounder has been one of the best in football, according to Pro Football Focus. He's played jumbo tight end, left guard, right guard and right tackle, and he's been a force everywhere.
Last season, the Patriots defense allowed 13 touchdown passes while coming up with 25 interceptions. So far this year, four picks and nine touchdowns allowed. Part of it is a by-product of who they’ve played – Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes – just as some of their success last year was a by-product of who they played – Luke Falk, Colt McCoy, Daniel Jones, etc.
Look. At. What. We. Have. Here. They said it couldn't be done. They said the world wasn't ready for that kind of prediction. They said it was too bold. They were wrong. I was right. (I'm right as of now, at least.)
Through four weeks, Newton is checking in at 15th in the NFL with a completion percentage of 68.1. Brady is coming in at 20th, completing 64.3 percent of his passes. Not that you were wondering, but I told you Damien Harris would take Sony Michel's starting gig as well. I also told you that the Patriots defense would not land in the top-10 in points allowed for the first time since 2011. We're only a quarter of the way through the season, but they're at No. 11 right now.
Can I concede now? I want to concede now. The dire predictions of defensive befuddlement because of the opt-outs were wrong. An inability to get something out of the wide receivers corps? Also incorrect. An offense that would have a hard time coming back because it was tethered to a defense that consistently let it fall behind? Erroneous.
And so the Patriots are better than I thought they’d be and they’ll probably be better than they are right now by the end of the season? Playoffs? Let’s not get crazy. We’ll see, kids.
This one's just not going great for me at the moment. Devin Asiasi hasn't yet been targeted. So that prediction that he would exceed Rob Gronkowski's 546 yards receiving as a rookie in 2010? Not real prescient.
Still, I feel as though Asiasi is the most talented tight end they have on the roster. Opportunities should be there for him. He might not get to 546. But he won't be sitting at zero for much longer, either. Not with Ryan Izzo as the only barrier between him and starter snaps.
Not that you were wondering, but I was also way off on my prediction that N'Keal Harry would be used more as a ball-carrier this year. I said he'd have more carries than James White, who has eight attempts this year to Harry's one. Patriots receivers have taken a bunch of carries. They just haven't gone to Harry.
The inside and outside linebackers coaches – along with whatever other hats they wear that we aren’t privy to – have taken a group completely overhauled from 2019 and made it click. The easy choice here is Josh McDaniels and that’s the right one. But we went off the board to highlight these two guys as well.
Josh McDaniels is an easy choice based on what he's done to alter the Patriots offense to accentuate Cam Newton's strengths. But this award needs to be split by the two offensive line coaches in New England.
They're filling in for a legend following Dante Scarnecchia's retirement. They've dealt with three different centers, three different guards and three different tackles. They've started two rookie sixth-rounders (Onwenu, Justin Herron) and a veteran free agent (James Ferentz) who was not on a roster during training camp. Yet here they are with the No. 2 team in the NFL in rush yards per game and the No. 4 team in the NFL in yards per rush attempt. The offensive line has also only allowed seven sacks, seventh-best mark in the league.
Strong work from Popovich and Bricillo.
The 182nd pick in April’s virtual draft is one of the NFL’s best linemen through the first four games. At 6-3, 350 pounds, we all wondered if he’d be a smooth-mover for a Patriots offense that required ultra-mobile linemen. He’s not just showed he can be that, he’s also been versatile. Flipped out to right tackle initially where he performed well, Onwenu went to left guard when David Andrews got hurt. He’s the best sixth-round steal the Patriots have ever had!
Was it ensuring Joe Thuney would be on the team by tagging him? Was it drafting Onwenu? Was it re-signing Devin McCourty? Good arguments all around.
Adding Adrian Phillips, though, has been key for this defense. He's essentially played linebacker through four weeks as the Patriots have dealt with depth issues there. But he can also be more of a traditional strong safety. We've seen him play deep zones like a free safety. He gives Bill Belichick all kinds of flexibility defensively, which is going to be critical as the Patriots continue to see smart offenses (San Francisco, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Arizona, Buffalo) that challenge traditional defensive personnel packages. Having a hybrid like Phillips will help.
It’d still be awkward as hell. The Patriots did nothing prior to picking up Cam Newton to signal an offensive overhaul that would have made Brady’s receiving options more palatable. So he and Josh McDaniels would be trying to get blood from a stone every series, hoping the offensive line stayed intact and checking their watches to see if and when Dalton Keene or Devin Asiasi might be able to make a contribution.
Newton is here and he can cover up the personnel missteps to some degree with a skill-set Brady didn’t bring. Would they be 2-2? Probably. But the way they won against Miami – a team the Patriots lost to last December – was so Newton-reliant, I can’t help but wonder.
They'd be 2-2. Pesky Dolphins would've made a mess of Week 1. Loss in Seattle would've incited panic. Two-game winning streak, including a win in Kansas City, would've put the Patriots and Brady back squarely in the AFC title conversation. In other words, a typical September.
