On Sunday against the Panthers, the Patriots have a chance to show they learned from all of last week’s mistakes
The Patriots have a terrific opportunity to gain some momentum against the Panthers.
Welcome to Season 14, Episode 4 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup . . .
Patriots fans have a very specific picture of what a Mike Vrabel team should look like.
It should be smart, savvy, and disciplined. It should be protective of the football, adept at clock management, and rarely penalized.
It should look, in short, exactly like Vrabel’s Titans team that bounced the Patriots from the postseason and ended the Tom Brady era with a 20-13 victory in the wild-card round in January 2020.
This is not what the Patriots have looked like through three games (and one victory) of the Vrabel tenure in Foxborough. That is to some degree understandable — it is no shock that the Patriots are a work in progress, still melding a roster that features a couple dozen new players this season. This is going to be a long build.
Still, there is plenty of frustration to be found in the sloppiness. The Patriots lost to the Steelers last Sunday, 21-14, in large part because of five turnovers, including four fumbles, two by running back Rhamondre Stevenson. The Patriots have committed 28 penalties this season, tied for fourth-most in the NFL. They are getting in their own way, and they are not yet talented enough to overcome that.
The sloppiness has negated some positive developments. On Vrabel’s watch, the Patriots have become bolder, converting 4 of 5 fourth-down chances against the Steelers, including one from the Pittsburgh 15-yard line. And even with occasional judgment and ball-protection issues, quarterback Drake Maye appears on his way to fulfilling his vast potential — he’s third in the NFL in completion percentage (72.6) and fifth in passing yards (785).
The Patriots have a chance to show that they learned from last week’s lost opportunity against the Panthers, who are coming off a 30-0 win over the Falcons, the first shutout of the NFL season.
The Panthers were hardly explosive in the game — quarterback Bryce Young threw for just 121 yards, while their top rusher, Chuba Hubbard, had just a decent output, with 73 yards on 17 carries. But their defense tormented Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr., picking him off twice and limiting him to 172 passing yards.
The Panthers are one of the few teams the Patriots will play this season that has arguably a thinner roster in terms of pure talent. But for the Patriots to prevent another Sunday lament, they must be more careful and disciplined than they were a week ago. They must start playing like a Vrabel team already does in Patriots fans’ memories.
Kick it off, Borregales, and let’s get this thing started . . .
Three players worth watching other than the quarterbacks
Rhamondre Stevenson: The most compelling story line entering Sunday’s game might be how Vrabel navigates the situation at running back. The position is one of the deepest on the roster, with three talented players in Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, and rookie TreVeyon Henderson. But none are trustworthy at this point. After an outstanding performance in the Week 2 win at Miami, Stevenson fumbled twice against the Steelers. Gibson also fumbled versus Pittsburgh, and while Henderson has held on to the football, it turns out that reports that he was a superb pass blocker might have been slightly exaggerated.
The Patriots cannot afford to bury Stevenson, who is one of their better players. But his carelessness with the football — he didn’t even have two hands on the ball on his second fumble against the Steelers — borders on the ridiculous. He has 16 fumbles in 59 career games. Word is out that the Patriots do not protect the football like they should. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said the Patriots’ ball security, or lack thereof, was an “agenda item” going into last Sunday’s game.
Stevenson played just two snaps after his second fumble last Sunday. The Patriots need the version of him that helped them overcome the Dolphins two weeks ago, not the version that helped give away a winnable game last week. We should find out Sunday against the Panthers’ 25th-ranked run defense (137.7 yards per game) how much trust his coaches have in him, and how much has been lost.
Christian Gonzalez: Welcome back at last to the player who can single-handedly make the Patriots’ defense much better.
Gonzalez, the third-year cornerback and Bill Belichick’s final first-round pick, will make his season debut Sunday after missing the first three games because of a hamstring injury suffered during the first day of practice in pads in late July.
There’s been some mystery and a whole lot of unfair speculation regarding why it took Gonzalez so long to get back on the field. But early-season caution with a hamstring injury for a player so essential is probably prudent, and the hope is that he’s fully ready after returning to practice last week before being downgraded to out the day before the Steelers game.
It’s an understatement to say that the Patriots — who have the NFL’s 29th-ranked pass defense at 256.3 yards per game — have missed him. Gonzalez, who along with tackle Milton Williams is in the conversation as the team’s most talented defensive player, is a bona fide No. 1 cornerback. His return allows his fellow cornerbacks to slide into more fitting roles, with Carlton Davis now an excellent No. 2 and Alex Austin a better fit as a backup.
The Panthers don’t exactly have a robust passing attack — Young has thrown for 142 yards or fewer in two of his three starts, and the Panthers are 23rd in passing overall (186.3 yards per game). Plus, their receiving corps is already banged up, most notably with impressive first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan dealing with a calf injury.
Mike Jackson: Patriots fans will be excused for not remembering the Panthers cornerback’s brief time in Foxborough. He joined the Patriots in August 2020 in a trade with the Lions for a conditional seventh-round pick that did not convey, and was cut in January 2021. In between, he played exactly one game for the Patriots, making one tackle in a Week 17 win over the Jets.
Jackson has found a football home in Carolina. He started all 17 games last season, picking off two passes, and he’s started all three games this year, with one pick — he took back a Penix interception 54 yards last Sunday.
Jackson and fellow cornerback Chau Smith-Wade (who returned a Penix pick 11 yards for a touchdown) led an opportunistic Panthers defense last week.
Grievance of the week
How annoying is it going to be if Tyquan Thornton actually turns out to be good for the Chiefs?
Thornton, who a week ago in this space was designated the fourth-worst of the Patriots’ many regrettable wide receiver draft picks over the last 20-plus years, seems to be seizing an opportunity with the Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes’s receiving corps is made up of aging, mediocre, and underwhelming players, not unlike what Brady had to deal with during the 2006 season in New England as the first phase of the dynasty winded down.
Thornton has been a pleasant surprise on offense, stepping in to replace injured Xavier Worthy and looking like a much more competent receiver than he did during his three seasons in New England, when he caught 39 passes for 385 yards and 2 TDs, while running some of the worst pass routes you’ll ever see.
He was waived by the Patriots in November 2024, and claimed two days later by the Chiefs. He didn’t see the field last year in Kansas City, but has nine catches on 18 targets in three games this season, and is tied for the team lead with 171 receiving yards.
Last Sunday night against the Giants, he made one of the more spectacular catches of the NFL season, hauling in a 33-yard Mahomes pass on third and 10 with a defensive back draped all over him. He finished that game with five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, his second straight week with a score.
It’s not that Patriots fans should root against Thornton. But it is always frustrating to see a relatively high draft pick — he was taken No. 50 overall in the 2022 draft — find success elsewhere.
The flashback
On Jan. 6, 2002, the Patriots clobbered the Panthers, 38-6, in their regular-season finale. Ty Law and Otis Smith each returned a Chris Weinke interception for a touchdown, Troy Brown took back a punt for another TD, and the Patriots clinched their first AFC East title since 1997, as well as the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.
It was a heady and hopeful time for the Patriots, who had completed a turnaround from 5-11 the season before, Belichick’s first as coach, to 11-5. The defense was tough, relentless, and habitually forced mistakes. Brady played with uncanny poise, though of course no one anticipated then that he’d become the best ever to do it. Their opportunistic special teams taught us about the importance of All Three Phases of the Game, and good fortune always seemed to find them just when they needed it most.
The win over the Panthers was one more hint that this team had found a special formula. Wrote Dan Shaughnessy in the lede to his column in the next day’s paper. “Might as well face it. The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.”
The next time we would see them would be on a snowy Saturday night, in a playoff matchup with the Raiders that would instantly become part of NFL lore. Who could have imagined then how much more magic was to come?
Prediction, or there will never be another quarterback smaller than Bryce Young selected No. 1 overall…
Need further proof that the season is still young and nothing has been settled yet? Try this: The Patriots, at 1-2, have the same record as the Ravens, Chiefs, and Broncos, presumed to be among the premier teams in the AFC.
The Patriots have a terrific opportunity to gain some momentum against the Panthers. Consider this a vote of confidence that lessons about composure and discipline and protecting the football are being learned — and will be applied Sunday. Patriots 31, Panthers 23.
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