FOXBORO – A brief stroll from the shadow Tom Brady’s statue now casts outdoors their doorways, the Patriots took one more first step Friday into what they hope shall be a brighter future.
They sprinted, then stumbled.
Began once more and took off, operating away with a 48-18 blowout of the Commanders.
Welcome again, soccer.
We missed you.
After all, actual soccer stays weeks away, and who the Patriots change into beneath Mike Vrabel shall be unknowable for months. For now, the Pats are only a assortment of gamers and coaches constructing an identification across the identical record of soccer adjectives cited across the league: powerful, good, bodily, explosive. You already know the remainder.
However rattling, if Friday night time didn’t really feel a bit of completely different. A departure from the uninspired slog we’ve watched the final 5 years. A buzz we’ve not felt inside Gillette Stadium. Not in August, anyway.
“It felt like an actual sport environment,” mentioned Drake Maye.
Maybe Friday was, lastly, a primary step taken in the precise course.
How about TreVeyon Henderson exploding for a 100-yard return landing on the opening kickoff?
What about Drake Maye creating one thing out of nothing, scrambling for a 5-yard rating to cap his second drive?
And solely two accepted penalties for one of many dumbest and least disciplined groups within the league final yr?
As soon as the video games depend and stats like these matter, the Patriots could have a runway to dash once more, however this time to a possible playoff berth.
Their schedule is delicate. Three of their first 4 video games are at dwelling, as are three of their final 5. Maye is the perfect quarterback they’ve fielded since Brady. Vrabel is the perfect head coach they’ve had since no matter occurred to Invoice Belichick late within the 2021 season; the final time we believed the Patriots had been rebooting with out Brady, and the final time their roster was this gifted.
Earlier than Matt Patricia grew to become offensive coordinator, Mac Jones melted right into a puddle of panicky picks, and Jerod Mayo talked and coached his means out of a job in a matter of 4 weeks. Once more, you realize the remainder.
That is what the Patriots know now.
“Since Tom’s departure, we’ve been reminded simply how troublesome it’s to win constantly within the NFL,” Robert Kraft mentioned Friday earlier than the statue’s unveiling. “However throughout his time right here, profitable didn’t simply change into the expectation. It grew to become the norm.”
The norm.
The norm within the NFL is each staff crashes in due time, dragged down by the gravity of the league’s aggressive life cycle. It took the NFL greater than 20 years, however they lastly put the Patriots within the dust, the place the franchise has been flailing for years. If the Pats mud themselves off and rise once more this season, they need to look rather a lot like they did Friday.
Operating exhausting, averaging 4.9 yards per carry round 4 speeding touchdowns. Profitable on particular groups, with one kickoff return going for a landing and one other 62 yards. Benefitting from quarterback play that may thrive inside the construction of Josh McDaniels’ system, and out of doors of it when needed.
As a result of if the Patriots as a substitute fall brief, you already know the how and why of their failures: the offensive line.
The Patriots fielded three rookie starters towards the JV Commanders — who sat nearly all of their starters and upwards of 30 veterans — and instantly paid for it. Maye misplaced a fumble to finish his first drive, a foul determination prompted by stress that slipped between rookie left sort out Will Campbell and rookie left guard Jared Wilson.
Maye ought to have thrown the ball away, however instincts instructed him he might overcome his circumstances and throw by an impeding sack. He was incorrect. Not less than on that drive.
Maye later escaped stress and crossed the objective line on a five-yard landing to push the Patriots to a 14-0 lead halfway by the primary quarter. His play on the transfer may, in truth, be the last word bellwether for this offense and staff. However ideally, Maye can dangle within the pocket and cube defenses like his oblique predecessor did; the person who’s forged a shadow over the franchise ever since he left 5 years in the past, effectively earlier than the Patriots erected a statue of him outdoors the stadium.
Whereas Brady was honored earlier than Friday’s sport, a number of former teammates sat smiling within the crowd. Vrabel was certainly one of them.
Vrabel’s hiring final January represented the Patriots’ newest try to achieve into their previous for an answer to present-day issues. However Vrabel will not be right here due to the participant he was; moderately the coach he has change into.
And if Vrabel’s Patriots succeed, they are going to resemble the staff that flashed Friday night time; not the previous champions honored with statues and banners and reminiscences of gamers now not right here.
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