Patriots vs. Bengals film review: Pats open season with old-school 16-10 win

Even with Jerod Mayo on the sidelines and Jacoby Brissett under center, the New England Patriots looked mightily familiar in their season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Their 16-10 win was a classic throwback to the Patriots’ dynasty days.

New England won because it followed a recipe it perfected during Bill Belichick’s tenure as head coach: don’t shoot yourself in the foot; play complementary football; be stout in the kicking game.

The Patriots did all that in Mayo’s debut as a head coach. As a result, they now find themselves with a winning record for the first time since Week 14 of the 2022 season (don’t bother googling what happened in Week 15, though). They have won a season opener for the first time since their 2020 campaign.

“Those guys just play hand in hand. We had a plan, they knew the plan,” said head coach Jerod Mayo during his postgame remarks. “It was walked about throughout the week and they executed. You can have all the mantras and all the things that you want, but on game day, it comes down to execution.”

With Mayo himself shining a light on the execution on Sunday, let’s take a look at what that actually looked like on the field.

Offense

The Patriots made no secrets about their intentions entering the game. They wanted to be a ball-control offense focused on moving the ball on the ground and not putting themselves under too much pressure, or into low-percentage situations, in the passing game.

Spoiler alert: they managed to do all of that. The basis for their success on the offensive side of the ball was, of course, an ability to move the football on the ground.

Just look at the numbers. Not counting three Jacoby Brissett kneel-downs to end the game, the Patriots carried the ball 36 times for 172 yards and their lone touchdown of the day, a 3-yard run from Rhamondre Stevenson in the second quarter. New England did not only look good from a volume perspective, but also in terms of efficiency: the team averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

In oder to accomplish that, the Patriots relied on a varied rushing attack. They tried to incorporate some outside zone like they did throughout training camp, but they actually hit more pay dirt in gap schemes.

Center David Andrews later said that movement gave the Patriots some trouble, and that showed up on a couple of failed outside zone runs. In addition, Cincinnati also set hard edges to force the ball carriers — primarily Stevenson — inside, where there wasn’t much room when New England moved laterally and second-level defenders were an issue at times.

The Patriots did have a few positive runs using outside zone as well, though. And in that case, as well as much of their positive plays on the ground, right tackle Michael Onwenu served as the team’s North Star.

Onwenu moved bodies in the running game throughout the day, and together with right guard Layden Robinson helped clear the way for the aforementioned Stevenson touchdown. They were not the only ones to look good in the ground game, though.

The Patriots also successfully employed another rookie, Caedan Wallace, as an extra offensive lineman on 17 of their run plays. The third-round pick was on the field for two of their three longest runs of the day, as well as the 9-yard carry in the late fourth quarter that sealed the game for New England.

Blocking is only one part of the equation, though. The Patriots also looked good in the run game because of Stevenson himself: the fourth-year back had one of the best games of his career, and despite a heavy workload kept powering the offense for four quarters.

Stevenson’s natural feel for maneuvering behind the blocks stood out on Sunday. On multiple occasions, he managed to bounce runs to the outside and move into the secondary where Cincinnati had problems bringing him down.

In general, stopping him in the most basic of senses proved to be an issue for the defense: Stevenson was credited with 10 misses tackles forced, and managed to gain 118 yards after contact. For comparison, he finished the day with 120 net rushing yards.

Stevenson and fellow running back Antonio Gibson, who contributed seven carries for 18 yards, were only one half of the battle plan. The other involved Jacoby Brissett making good decisions with the football and avoiding negative plays, something he managed to do quite well in his debut as the Patriots’ starting quarterback.

Brissett did not light the world on fire with his passing performance, but he did what the Patriots asked him to do within the overall context of their offensive game plan. In addition, he also was able to alleviate some of the issues in pass protection — either on the left versus Trey Hendrickson or of the schemed variety on the right — by showing the ability to maneuver around the pocket and make plays with his feet.

“I talked about pulling the nose up on the plane, and he did that a few times. And he actually made some plays with his legs, which was surprising. He’s probably the slowest Black quarterback in the league,” joked head coach Jerod Mayo on Monday.

In total, Brissett finished the day with four scrambles. On those plays, he gained 34 yards and three first downs.

All in all, he had a solid day leading the Patriots offense. That said, he did have some lowlight-moments that were magnified because they came in critical situations such as a near-pick on a force to Hunter Henry in the end zone under pressure; Henry switching from tight end to defensive back on that play helped prevent a potential interception.

Brissett also was inaccurate on some third downs, a continuation of his performance in training camp. He threw short of the sticks in the red zone at one point despite having time and downfield options, and twice missed high (to K.J. Osborn and DeMario Douglas).

The downfield passing game of 10-plus air yards also was effectively nonexistent on Sunday.

Against Cincinnati none of that was too big of an issue; neither was going 1-for-4 in the red zone or converting third downs at a rate of just 40 percent (6 of 15).

The Patriots were able to play the contest on their terms and from ahead, and could successfully dictate the pacing with their running game. Time will tell whether a similar approach (and output in the downfield passing game) will be enough to duplicate Sunday’s success in other less favorable game situations.

Defense

Yes, the Bengals were without Tee Higgins. Yes, Ja’Marr Chase only returned to practice last week. And yes, Cincinnati’s overall supporting cast is not of the same quality as others around the league.

While all of that is true, that alone did not limit the home team to 10 points and 224 total net yards. The Patriots defense also did its part in the first game under recently promoted defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington.

How did it do that? By playing a well-rounded game both from a holistic perspective and on the individual level.

The pass rush and coverage worked in unison for much of the day. The run defense was stout for the most part (with the exception being some leakage on the Bengals’ 90-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter). The disguises were on point. And, on top of that, the group also added a sprinkle of physicality and swagger — the perfect recipe for successful defense against a blue-chip quarterback and his Pro Bowl-caliber No. 1 wide receiver.

It all started with the Patriots making life hard on Bengals QB Joe Burrow.

The Patriots defense, which remained intact to a large part compared to 2023, did a good job muddying the waters for Burrow and company. Whether it was last-second coverage switches or simulated pressures, the unit never tipped its hand and kept its counterpart guessing for much of the day.

Obviously, though, none of it would have mattered without some solid individual play as well. Several players deserve special mention in that regard, starting with second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

While there were some questions about the former first-round draft pick in training camp after he — Oh the humanity! — lost some 1-on-1s, Gonzalez proved on Sunday that he was well on his way to the upper echelon of cornerbacks in this league. After successfully competing against the likes of A.J. Brown, Tyreek Hill and Garrett Wilson last year as a rookie, he held Ja’Marr Chase in check on Sunday.

Gonzalez almost exclusively followed Chase on the day, and he managed to limit the star receiver’s impact. Under his watch, only three passes for 15 yards were completed; in total, he finished the day with six receptions for 62 yards.

Per our charting, there were three coverage snaps where Gonzalez didn’t shadow Chase, and they were all in zone looks where the receiver lined up was in the slot. On those, Burrow targeted him twice, including a 28-yard completion where Ja’Whaun Bentley bit on a high-low concept.

When Gonzalez was on Chase, there were no such big plays.

Gonzalez was not the only sophomore standout the Patriots had in their defensive ranks on Sunday. Keion White, who was drafted 29 picks after New England’s star cornerback in the making, had the best game of his young career: playing a multi-faceted role similar to the one he played in preseason, the 2023 second-rounder was a disruptive force up front.

White’s strip sack on the second play of the game — Burrow’s first dropback of the season — set the tone. From that point on, the team managed to successfully disrupt the rhythm of the Cincinnati passing game even when the pass rush did not get home: the Bengals’ process seemed out of sync on multiple occasions, in large part because of New England’s promising young defensive lineman looming.

He did not, and could not have finished the job by himself, though. The Patriots also got some positive if a bit inconsistent play out of Joshua Uche (3 hurries), saw contributions from team captains Deatrich Wise Jr. (2 hurries) and Ja’Whaun Bentley (0.5 sack, 1 hurry), and used line games to test the Bengals O-line with some success.

The combination of good pass rush and, as noted above, mostly good run defense was only one part of the defensive fun on Sunday. The other was defenders flying around in the secondary and visibly having fun doing so.

When we talk about the Patriots essentially honoring their own past in Week 1, that’s part of what we mean: led by veterans Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers and Jonathan Jones, with Christian Gonzalez and the versatile Marcus Jones also big parts of the mix, the group throttled whatever the Bengals threw at it.

Just look at one of the biggest plays of the game as an example. Facing a 4th-and-2 on the Bengals’ first possession of the third period, the Patriots countered the offense’s 3x1 shotgun look with some single-high man coverage behind a double-mug pressure look.

What followed was a quick pass by Burrow to wide receiver Andrej Iosivas that was perfectly anticipated by Jonathan Jones, who came flying down like a bullet.

This play perfectly encapsulates all that went well for the Patriots defense on Sunday. The front line and the backend were in sync, and the players executed well while playing a decisive and technically clean brand of football.

That was also on display on another big play, the forced fumble caused by Kyle Dugger in the shadow of his own goal line. Dugger fought through a slight pick by Iosivas on the play, and showed some good awareness to make his way through traffic and to tight end Tanner Hudson before he could cross the plane.

“It was just man coverage and I got picked,” Dugger explained after the game. “Obviously, had to do a better job getting through the screen, seeing the traffic. But it was just one last shot to get the ball out. Saw the goal line and I just basically gave everything that I could to get the ball out, trying to strip the ball out, and I was able to have success, thankfully.”

Dugger’s strip was a massive 10-point swing in a close game. It also saw the Patriots return to the opportunistic ways that often eluded them in 2023, both on defense and on...

Special teams

Between Joey Slye going 3-for-3 on field goals and making his lone extra point, punter Bryce Baringer placing three of his kicks inside the opposing 20-yard line, and the return and coverage teams also performing at a solid level, New England’s kicking game had one of its best performances in recent memory.

The highlight for the group, however, came in the third quarter.

The Patriots went three-and-out on their opening possession of the second half, and punted the ball back to the Bengals to give them an opportunity to cut into what was a 10-0 New England lead at the time. However, the next time Joe Burrow and company touched the ball, they were actually down 13-0.

What happened was long snapper Joe Cardona making the biggest punt coverage play of his career so far.

The 10-year veteran and newly-minted team captain was initially pushed back by the rush, but was able to disengage and quickly made his way down the field after snapping the ball. He then showed some good patience to briefly slow down, reset his feet, and read Bengals return man Charlie Jones.

Cardona then made a good charge toward the ball carrier, knocking the ball loose in the process. Teammate Jaylinn Hawkins recovered, and four players later Cardona and the field goal team returned to make it a 13-0 game.

In a way, that play was the cherry on top of what was a vintage Patriots game. Not only did the offense and defense do its job, special teams did too.

Complementary football at its best.