Week One Takeaways for the New England Patriots

The season is a long one and here’s hoping every game isn’t like the week one Patriots vs Texans game.   I’ll give you my breakdown of the game below:

Offensively the Pats looked like business as usual.  Gronk had a typical Gronk game catching 7 balls for 123 yards and a touchdown.  He had a fumble in the second quarter that was uncharacteristic of him, but luckily it didn’t impact the outcome.

Brady seemed to pick up where he left off last year save for one pick deep in his own zone.  The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage and went right to Mathieu whom was trailing an open James White for a certain first down.  Other than that, Brady would up 26-39 for 277 yards with 3 touchdowns total.  One to the aforementioned Gronk and td passes to White and Dorsett.

Sony Michal was held out of the game, so we didn’t get to see what kind of dimension he adds to the running game, but Burkhead played well, rushing 18 times for 64 yards.  Jeremy Hill was playing well until he was hurt and taken out of the game after the Gronk fumble.

I feel the defense played well overall.  Much better than last year’s defense.  The run stop could use a little bolstering as Houston rushed for 167 yards overall.  Barring a couple of silly penalties, the pass defense held up quite well only letting DeSaun Jackson complete 17 of 34 passes for just 176 yards.  Gilmore picked off Jackson in the end zone to shut down a potential scoring opportunity for the Texans.

Special teams may need a little tweaking and I’m sure Belichick will be working them hard this week.  A muffed point late in the 4th quarter turned this game into much more of a nail-biter than it needed to be.  The kickoff and punt coverage could be better as it seemed Houston was starting at their own 30 yard line or better each series.

That’s about all I have for now.  Up next week is the AFC championship rematch between the Patriots and the Jaguars.  The Patriots will have their work cut out for them against the stingy Jacksonville defense.  Until then, hopefully we stay healthy during the practice week.