Patriots follow their formula for success in their season opener victory over the Bengals

The Patriots began their march to the Super Bowl with a convincing, 16-10, victory in Cincinnati over the Bengals.

What? Am I wrong?

Boston fans are notorious for overreacting. It's what they do. But even reactionary Boston fans don't believe this team is a playoff contender after this one win. Or do they?

Many didn’t give the Patriots much of a chance against Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Cincinnati opened up the week as nine-point favorites. I’m not big on gambling on sports, but I opened up my wallet and put a couple of bills down on the Patriots covering.

Was I willing to wager the moneyline that they would win? It was tempting considering Cincinnati's early season struggles the last few years, but I wasn’t that confident that this Patriots team would be able to take advantage of it. I definitely didn’t think they would lose by double digits. New England’s defense is just too good.

It seemed like many bettors agreed with me as the line dropped to 7.5 by game time. As expected, once the Bungles, always the Bungles.

It was like one of those days when your alarm goes off and you hit the snooze button five times. After the final snooze goes off, you just fall asleep and forget to hit the button one more time. That was Cincinnati on Sunday.

The Bengals, simply, didn’t show up. They had no energy, no life. Tee Higgins missed the game with an injury. Ja’Marr Chase played as if he missed the entire preseason, which he did. Joe Burrow was content to dump off short passes and not try anything down field. He looked lifeless on the sidelines.

The Bungles lost their feature stud running back, Joe Mixon, in free agency. Mixon had four 1.000 yard rushing seasons and was a vital cog to Cincy’s offense for the last seven seasons. Just to rub salt in the wounds – Mixon had 159 yards rushing in the opener for his new team, the Houston Texans.

So, yeah, Cincinnati didn’t come ready to play. But New England did.

That the Bengals were a no-show shouldn’t take anything away from Mayo’s first career victory as a head coach. Instead, it is a feather in the cap for Mayo. Unlike Bengals’ head coach, Zac Taylor, Mayo had his team ready. Mayo’s team came in fired up and they played with an identity.

On defense, they were going to be aggressive and on offense they were going to run the ball down your throat. It was old school football at its best. Somewhere, Bill Belichick must have, reluctantly, had a little awkward smile on his face.

Let’s break down the game and grade it by position:

Quarterback – B

This is why Jacoby Brissett was brought here – don’t make mistakes and be a confident, steady hand. It would have been flashier to bring in someone like Baker Mayfield, but the Patriots only need someone to keep the seat warm until all the pieces fall into place for Drake Maye to take the helm.

Brissett didn’t throw the ball downfield or target his wide receivers that much. He did seem to have an affinity for K.J. Osborn for some reason. He threw his way six out of his twenty-four attempts. There were only two completions for over ten yards. It was like watching paint dry, but, at least, there weren't any Mac Jones brain farts. That's why Brissett is here.

Obviously, there will be several points during the season when the quarterback will be expected to do much, much more. This game just played out perfectly. The Patriots got out to an early lead and the running game was humming.

The thing I was most impressed by with Brissett was his legs. He ran seven times for 32 yards. Maybe he has a learned a thing or two from the rookies, Maye and Joe Milton. I’ve never known Brissett to be much of a scrambler, but he picked up some key first downs with his legs.

Running back – A+

We’ve missed you, Rhamondre Stevenson. Two years ago, Stevenson was one of the best running backs in the league gaining yards after contact. Last year, he barely averaged just falling forward after contact. Sunday against the Bengals, he led the NFL in Week 1 with yards after contact with 75.

My number one bold prediction coming into the year was the Stevenson would rush for 1,200 yards this season. He is off to a great start with 120. The concern will be, however, how good can he be this effective if the quarterback play doesn’t improve and opposing defenses begin keying in on him more and more.

Antonio Gibson came into the game as questionable with an injury. I was surprised to see him get as much action as he did. In real time, it looked to me as if Gibson and Stevenson were alternating drives. I remember thinking that Gibson was getting a lot of action. 

I was surprised to see, afterwards, that Gibson only had 14 snaps as opposed to Stevenson’s 51. It felt a little closer to me. The Patriots will have to be very cautious of Stevenson’s work load.

Offensive Line – B

Let’s start with the basics. The Patriots had no fumbled snaps and no illegal formation penalties. Woohoo!

The old saying is there is strength in numbers. The offensive line has been a major concern since before the draft. It has been no secret. Nothing in preseason did anything to assuage those concerns. On opening day, Mayo revealed, for the first time, how he was going to address the issue – by playing six offensive linemen instead of five.

Rookie Caedan Wallace got a lot of playing time as a second tackle on the left side of the line. The Patriots needed the help on the left side because starter Chukwuma Okorafor was benched after only two drives. Vederian Lowe, who has been penciled in as the starting left tackle but was dinged up for this game, replaced him.

There is a strong case to be made for center David Andrews as the MVP of this team. How much better did the line look Sunday as opposed to the final exhibition game? It was night and day.

Rookie starting right guard Layden Robinson came as advertised. He was a beast in the running game and a liability in the passing game. The strength of the Patriots offense this year will be running Rhamondre behind Robinson and Mike Onwenu on the right side.

Wide Receiver – C

The bad grade is not really their fault. They just weren’t targeted that much and, quite frankly, weren’t needed that much. 

As mentioned earlier, K.J. Osborne appears to be Brissett’s favorite target, for some reason. I have been very unimpressed with Osborne – so much so that I think it wouldn’t surprise me if he isn’t cut at some point this season. I'm not saying the J in his name stands for JuJu, but he doesn’t seem to show a willingness to catch a ball with two hands. He plays scared. Also, he mistimed a jump and showed zero elevation on an overthrown pass in the first half.

I am still waiting to see what Ja’Lynn Polk can do. It feels like he is in witness protection. I never see him. It is difficult to get a good evaluation on him with Brissett as quarterback. The real test will come when Maye gets into the lineup. Then I think we will see Polk show his talent… or we will see if he is yet another in a long line of wide receiver draft pick busts.

Speaking of busts, Tyquan Thornton actually had two catches which, probably, qualifies as his best game as a Patriot.

Javon Baker was inactive for the game, most likely as a result of disciplinary action after his altercation this week with a police officer at the airport. Kayshon Boutte was active, but didn’t see the field on offense. Again, he didn't need to.

Tight end – C+

It was nice to see Hunter Henry back on the field after missing the end of camp with an undisclosed injury. Austin Hooper led the team with 31 receiving yards. Read that again, he led the team with 31 receiving yards.

The tight ends have always been a focal point of Alex Van Pelt’s offense. I just wish they had more explosive talent there – somebody like a Jonnu Smith. OK, maybe not the actual Jonnu Smith, but the concept of Jonnu Smith.

The reason for the low grade is that the Patriots don’t have what would be considered a blocking tight end. Hence, the reason they had to bring in Caedan Wallace as a receiver-eligible, essentially a tight end.

Defensive Line – A

The defense gets an A across the board. They will continue to be the bedrock of the team and they did their thing on Sunday.

The big concern has been what the impact of losing Christian Barmore will have on the d-line. After one game, the answer is not much.

I’ll list Keon White as a defensive lineman. He is living up to the hype as a breakout candidate this year. I saw on X that he was ranked as the sixth most efficient pass rusher in the NFL in Week 1 being the likes of Aidan Hutchinson, T.J. Watt, and Myles Garrett. Impressive company. Keep it up, young fella.

Linebacker – A

Ja’Whaun Bentley led the team, as he usually does, with 12 tackles. He is the prototypical run stopping middle linebacker the Patriots have always seemed to turn out – from Steve Nelson to Vincent Brown to Ted Johnson to Tedy Bruschi to Dont’a Hightower. Oh yeah, Jerod Mayo, too. 

I don’t think it is too much of a coincidence that Bentley seems to have blossomed with two of those guys listed on the coaching staff – Mayo and Hightower. Bentley is to the point now where he is an every down linebacker, whereas before he was taken out in obvious passing situations. He played every down on defense against Cincinnati.

Cornerback – A

The secondary didn’t give up any big plays. The longest catch was by Chase for 28 yards. Christian Gonzalez, by all accounts, had a disappointing preseason and he gave up a handful of receptions to Chase. By and large, though, he wasn’t really tested and I see no reason for concern… yet.

Jonathan Jones had one of the plays of the game making a big tackle on fourth down on the Bengal’s final drive of the game. Jones has been talked about as trade bait due to his age. I’d like to see him around as a veteran presence.

The Patriots have two safeties who got paid this offseason. Kyle Dugger forced a huge turnover on tight end Tanner Hudson as he appeared to be on his way to score a touchdown.

Jabrill Peppers deserves mention as he became the first NFL player to wear the protective guardian cap helmet in real game action. He was hyped up on the sideline at the end of the game.

Special teams – A

Bryce Baringer was his normal awesome self – averaging 50 yards on five punts, three inside the 20 yard line. I have to mention Cincy’s punter here, though. It is hard to overshadow Baringer, but Ryan Renkow was punting the ball from one side of the stadium to the other, including an 80-yarder (mostly on the fly).

It was nice to see a Patriots’ place kicker not have me down on all fours begging for the ball to go through the uprights. Joey Slye was a perfect 3-for-3 with all the kicks being no doubters.

I never followed Slye before, but why did teams pass on this guy? I am sure that question won’t age well.

The Patriots’ special teams also proved special when snapper, and new team captain, Joe Cardona caused a fumble giving the Patriots’ great field position which resulted in a field goal. It always amazes me when snappers make tackles on punt returners.

Coaching – A

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the coaching. Jerod Mayo deserved the Gatorade bath he got at the end of the game, despite it just being Opening Day. That singular act shows how much his team believes in him. Could you ever, in a million years, picture one of Bill Belichick’s more recent teams doing that to him? No way.

I am picturing Bailey Zappe in the locker room after a Patriots’ win a couple of years ago having to ask permission of Belichick to approach him to shake his hand.

Mayo had his team ready. He has shown to be a good motivator of men, and that is a key part to being a head coach. You need to have the players buy into what you are doing, even if everyone else is questioning the process. A victory in the first game of the season does that.

I continue to be impressed with defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. This guy has a bright future. He is a future head coach – hopefully, in the NFC. He has an aggressive style I like. His schemes are unpredictable. I love his personnel packages. He leaves Bentley on the field all the time. It is nice to see Marcus Jones, and his speed, on the field a lot. Keon White’s development has to be attributed to Covington. 

What can you say about Alex Van Pelt? It is a hard job being offensive coordinator. Every couch potato at home or fan in the stands think they can do a better job playcalling than the OC. Look at all the criticism Josh McDaniels took at various times during his time here. 

The offense didn’t need to do much. Nothing was revealed about passing schemes. Give credit, though, to Van Pelt (or Mayo) being quick to get the hook out for Okorafor. Also, the decision to go with six linemen was novel.

Things could not have gone any better for the Patriot after the first week of the season. Look at the standing, fans, the Patriots have returned to their customary spot at the top of the AFC East. Next stop – Super Bowl in New Orleans.