Who has been the Patriots’ most pleasant surprise?
Discuss your answer with Chad Finn and other Boston fans.
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I guess we’re at the point where 9-5 is the end of the world around here for Patriots fans. Maybe I’m in denial but I think they still have a great shot at the No. 2 seed, and I’m pretty tired of the negativity just because they lost two in row. We talk so much about what the disappointments are, Julian Edelman with the drops, Tom Brady making uncharacteristic mistakes, but there are positive things too. JC Jackson looks like a real find at cornerback. In the form of a question: Is he the biggest positive surprise for the Patriots this year? – Carl N.
He’s probably up there, Carl. He seems to be getting better by the week, and he was a huge part of the Patriots defensive backs doing such a good job on JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown Sunday.
A couple of other candidates:
Trent Brown has had too many penalties over the last couple of weeks, but for the most part he’s done a great job replacing Nate Solder at left tackle, which I am told is an important position.
I’d include Cordarelle Patterson here just because he’s much tougher and more physical than I thought he was, and Josh Gordon for his reliability so far.
You mentioned a rookie cornerback. How about a veteran one? It seemed like Jason McCourty was on the verge of getting cut at the end of training camp – I don’t remember him being on too many Patriots reporter’s projected 53-man rosters to start the season – but he’s ended up being pretty reliable.
If I had to make a choice, I’d probably go Jackson too, though there’s some recency bias there. But what does everyone else think? Who has been the Patriots’ most pleasant surprise this season? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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