These Lions aren’t about to hand the Patriots their second straight loss
A loss to the Lions, and a rare two-game losing streak, would be troubling.
Welcome to Season 7, Episode 3 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious-yet-lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup.
The Patriots haven’t endured a two-game losing streak since Weeks 12 and 13 of the 2015 season, when they lost back-to-back games to the Broncos (30-24, OT) and Eagles (35-28). How long ago was that in football years? Brock Osweiler was the Broncos quarterback that helped deliver the Patriots’ first loss of the season after a 10-0 start. And Chip Kelly was the Eagles coach. Football changes fast, man.
The Patriots take a 1-1 record into Sunday night’s matchup with Matt Patricia’s 0-2 Lions, having suffered their first loss to a talented and motivated Jacksonville Jaguars squad. Though last Sunday was a rare cloudy day in September for the Patriots, there’s no shame in losing to the Jags, whom they will hopefully meet again with real stakes.
A loss to the Lions, and a rare two-game losing streak, would be troubling. Detroit has some offensive talent in quarterback Matthew Stafford and receivers Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay, and Marvin Jones. The Patriots were picked apart by “The Good Place’’ punchline Blake Bortles last Sunday, and it appears the Patriots may be without safety Patrick Chung, who is dealing with a concussion.
But the Lions have already been a debacle on national TV once this year — Stafford threw four interceptions in a Week 1 Monday night loss to the Jets — and they’ve allowed a league-high 78 points (tied with the Bills) through two games. They appear to be just the kind of opponent the Patriots need right now to pick up their second win and put the Jags loss behind them.
Kick if off Gostkowski, and let’s get this one started . . .
THREE PLAYERS I’LL BE WATCHING NOT NAMED TOM BRADY
Dont’a Hightower has six tackles through two games.
Dont’a Hightower: Those who know such things spent at least a little bit of time in the preseason hint-hinting at the possibility that the versatile and respected veteran linebacker might not be long for the roster. It was hard to fathom given how much Hightower was missed last year after he was sidelined with a torn pectoral muscle, limiting his season to five games. But it might not be so surprising now. Hightower has played 66.2 percent of the defensive snaps this year (96 of 145). Perhaps the Patriots are just easing him back in, but it’s hard not to notice that when he has been on the field, he’s looked slow. It’s not like he’s coming back from a leg injury, so it is somewhat alarming to see him lumbering around, at least by his usual standards. The Patriots have made some stunning trades at the late October deadline in recent years (Jamie Collins in 2015, Jimmy Garoppolo last year). If Hightower keeps looking like this, it would not be shocking to see him move on.
Golden Tate: Those who usually know such things spent an awful lot of time in the preseason hint-hinting at the possibility that the Patriots would acquire the steady nine-year veteran receiver from the Lions at some point early in the season. Sure doesn’t seem like that is going to happen now, with the 30-year-old Tate being his usual productive self through two games (14 catches, 188 yards and a touchdown). Tate has had at least 1,000 yards receiving in three of his four years with the Lions, and 90-plus catches in all of those years. He’s tough, versatile, and clever, and unless Stephon Gilmore is in lockdown mode on him, he’ll probably put up something around his standard 7/90/1 line on Sunday. Sure would have cool to have those rumors had come true.
LeGarrette Blount: It’s no surprise that Patricia has a few assorted ex-Patriots on his roster, among them Tavon Wilson (the Jordan Richards of his time), Marquis Flowers, Matt Cassel, Ricky Jean-Francois, and Blount. He hasn’t done much for the Lions so far, with just 12 carries for 35 yards in two games, including a Marion Butts-like four carries for minus-3 yards against the Jets. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get some run against the Patriots given that the last time he played against his former team he ran for 90 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in Super Bowl LI. Blount now has three Super Bowl rings — two with the Patriots, one with the Eagles — and it’s within the realm of possibility that the Patriots would have six Lombardi Trophies had they gone with Blount instead of Mike Gilleslee last season.
THE ONE PLAYER WE’LL REALLY BE WATCHING (IF HE PLAYS, THAT IS)
It’s not fair to Josh Gordon to get irrationally excited about what he can add to the Patriots in a best-case scenario. His trouble with drugs and alcohol is deep-seated and sad — it’s not a perfect comparison, but in some sense he reminds me of Terry Glenn, an extraordinary player who had to deal with a lot of brutal stuff from a young age. Gordon has admitted self-medicating with Xanax as a seventh grader. That’s still at the edge of childhood, and it makes me wonder if there are parts of his story we don’t know. I hope he can stay on the straight and narrow for his sake — and yes, I admit it, to see just how damn good he can be with Tom Brady throwing to him and Rob Gronkowski and a healthy Julian Edelman as running mates. It wouldn’t stun me if he had 100-plus yards Sunday, even with a rudimentary knowledge of what he’s supposed to do. It’s not fair to get irrationally excited about him. He’s so damn good that it’s impossible not to, and cynically, they should maximize their use of him while they can. If that doesn’t explain how he’s had so many enablers along the way, I don’t know what does.
THE PASS THAT BEGAN IT ALL, KIND OF
Brady’s Patriots origin story begins with the familiar anecdote of former quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein recommending him over Tim Rattay in the 2000 NFL Draft. And his first true opportunity came when Mo Lewis trucked Drew Bledsoe in the second week of the 2001 season, an opportunity seized in a history-altering manner. But I’ve always been fascinated with his first NFL appearance, just because it was so non-descript. It came at the end of one of those too-familiar late-Bledsoe-era sluggish performances, a 34-9 loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving Day 2000 that dropped their record to 3-9 in Bill Belichick’s first season. Brady’s first pass bonked off running back J.R. Redmond, as shown in this clip. It’s one of a miniscule number of times, and the most understandable one, in which the game looks like it sped up on Brady. The record shows that his first completion came in the final minutes to forgettable tight end Rod Rutledge, for 6 yards. Brady finished his NFL debut 1 for 3, and Patriots fans fell into the inevitable tryptophan coma with one more bland defeat fresh in their minds and no clue at all that little more than a year later, Brady would be finding Redmond for a couple of receptions that jump-started a drive that would end in Super Bowl victory. Brady’s first career pass is no harbinger. It’s the ultimate who-ever-would-have-thought moment.
GRIEVANCE OF THE WEEK
This, from Peter King on WEEI’s Dale and Keefe program Thursday regarding the Patriots’ acquisition of Josh Gordon:
“I was not high on it at all. The history of Josh Gordon is beyond riddled with off-field issues, substance abuse, consistently letting the team down that drafted him and continually, time after time showed faith in him and brought him back. I thought it was a bad trade quite honestly. The Patriots might get something good out of him, and if they don’t get anything good out of him then it is almost nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“The Patriots are a proud franchise, and I realize what I am saying is a little bit of idealistic crapola, but the Patriots should not be in business with Josh Gordon. He is not worthy of this franchise.’’
First “idealistic crapola’’ sounds like the name of a band that didn’t quite make the cut at Woodstock or the name of my next blog. I like it.
Josh Gordon at Patriots practice Thursday.
Second, I do not like the notion that a player has to be worthy of the Patriots. Spare me the sanctimony and let’s be real: That’s applying an exaggerated intangible attribute to the organization that doesn’t exist. Sure, the Patriots would prefer good people, and there are bunch of them in that locker room. But there’s a dope who’s exceptional at football and can keep any destructive tendencies to a minimum long enough to help win some football games, well, your locker’s over there, Haynesworth, try not to screw this up.
The Patriot Way stuff is cool for marketing an air of superiority, but the concept, oft-wielded by the Krafts to heighten the Patriots image and brand, turned to dust the minute Aaron Hernandez was hauled out of his McMansion in handcuffs. Also, I’m not calling any grown man Mister, no matter whether he knows Jay Z and Beyonce or not.
The Patriot Way? The Patriot Way is this: Winning, often, and for a long, long time now, and by pretty much any means necessary. If adding a miscreant or two along the way helps continuing with the winning, well, the Patriot Way is also seeing what they can get out of him on the field before he does something idiotic off of it. And they’re pretty good at knowing how to play those angles, too.
I’m glad Josh Gordon is here. He’s exceptional at football, and nowhere near the worst person they’ve ever put on the field.
PREDICTION, OR MATTHEW STAFFORD IS THE MODERN–DAY DREW BLEDSOE, RIGHT?
I suppose there should be some caution in declaring Bill Belichick’s first matchup with longtime assistant and mentee Patricia an easy win for the Patriots. Patricia is a smart coach if not exactly a master of interpersonal communication, his team finally played well in the fourth quarter last Sunday in a 30-27 loss to the Niners, and they’re desperate at 0-2. Plus, we all remember the vision of Josh McDaniels jumping around like he’d just won the Super Bowl when his Broncos beat the Patriots in Week 5 of the 2009 season. There is some advantage to knowing what Belichick and Brady like to do in certain situations. But the Patriots are coming off a loss too, and they have lost two or more games in a row just nine times in the Brady/Belichick era. These Lions aren’t about to make it 10. Patriots 37, Lions 20.
