FOXBOROUGH – By his own and his offensive coordinator’s admission, Mac Jones had been less than spectacular in recent Patriots wins.
Well, that changed dramatically in New England’s 45-7 blowout of the Browns at Gillette Stadium Sunday afternoon as the rookie quarterback put on a show against Cleveland’s No. 3-ranked defense.
Jones was efficient and accurate through the air, including in a number of tough third-and-long situations and long scoring drives of 93, 99 and 92 yards. His first career game with three touchdown passes led the way to the Patriots winning for the fourth straight week to improve to 6-4 on the season while solidifying their spot in the AFC playoff picture at this point in the process.
Before quickly turning the page to this Thursday night’s trip to Atlanta to take on the faltering Falcons, here’s a look at some of the many highs and limited lows from another impressive Patriots win:
Thumbs up
Mac Jones – After a couple lackluster weeks in which the Patriots won with the running game and defense, New England’s rookie passer made big throws in beating down the Browns. Third-and-longs early saw Jones move the chains to Hunter Henry and Jakobi Meyers. Then there was a nice TD throw to Henry, a bucket-throw to Meyers for 26 yards on another third-and-long and a spot-on 23-yard score to Kendrick Bourne to cap a 99-yard drive in the second quarter. Jones completed nine of his first 10 passes with a pair of touchdowns to help the Patriots build a 21-7 lead in the second quarter and never looked back from there. The developing rookie was on his game against a very good Browns defense with includes one of the best pass rushes in the game, finishing completing 19 of 23 passes for 198 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions for a 142.1 passer rating before giving way to Brian Hoyer midway through the fourth quarter.
Hunter Henry – The best offensive signing of the offseason, Henry has become Mac Jones’ go-to guy in key spots. That was the case on the first third down of the day, a third-and-8 that saw Henry move the chains with 12 yards. That long drive then ended with Jones hitting Henry for a 3-yard touchdown, the duo connecting for a score in six of the last seven games. They combined for another score in the fourth quarter, this time making another 3-yard score look even easier. Henry now leads the Patriots by far with seven touchdown catches on the season.
Rhamondre Stevenson – After missing practice all week to a head injury – and with Damien Harris inactive to the same ailment -- Stevenson cleared concussion protocols in time to not only start against the Browns but handle the lead-back rushing duties. The fourth-round pick had runs of 9 and 13 yards for first downs on the team’s opening touchdown drive. He then punched in a 5-yard touchdown run on the first play after a Kyle Dugger interception return in the second quarter. Overall Stevenson finished with 20 carries for 100 yards against a Browns run defense that had allowed opponents to average a mere 3.5 yards per carry on the season.
Kendrick Bourne – The receiver was active with both his hands and his legs in the blowout win. Bourne had an impressive, tough 23-yard touchdown catch between a pair of Browns defenders in the second quarter. He also had a 17-yard end-around to set up a short touchdown in the third quarter. The energetic first-year Patriots target finished the day with four catches for 98 yards and three carries for another 43 yards.
Kyle Dugger – The second-year safety has picked up his playmaking over the last month. Always one of the team’s more active tacklers, Dugger notched his third interception of the season off Baker Mayfield early in the second quarter on Sunday and returned it 37 yards to set up a short touchdown run. Dugger now has three interceptions over the last five games, tying for second on the team in picks at this point.
Thumbs down
Isaiah Wynn – Wynn continues to be less than dominant or perfect at left tackle. The former first-round pick’s missed cut block in the first quarter on NFL sack leader Myles Garrett led to a sack. It was one of a number of cut blocks Wynn missed on the day, though they didn’t prove overly costly. The tackle then had what was a costly illegal hands to the face penalty to negate Hunter Henry catch to the Browns 5 yard line late in the second quarter after which the Patriots had to settle for a short Nick Folk field goal. Wynn continues to be underwhelming at left tackle and with Trent Brown returning to action, New England now has options if it wanted to shake up the lineup in the trenches.
Run Defense (very early) – The Patriots run defense had been coming together quite nicely in recent weeks, but veteran linebacker Dont’a Hightower cautioned the unit couldn’t live off its “reputation and intimidation.” Very early on, things weren’t good up front against Cleveland, even with the visitors player without Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Fill-in Browns back D’Ernest Johnson had four runs totaling 58 yards on the visitor’s opening touchdown drive, including runs of 10, 24 and 19 yards. According to ESPN it was the second-most rushing yards allowed to a single opposing back on an opening drive against a Bill Belichick defense. The Browns curiously got away from the run early and then the scoreboard forced them into a more pass-heavy approach. Overall New England held the Browns to 20 carries for 99 yards on the ground, but the Patriots run defense needs to be consistently better than it showed early in this matchup.
Jonnu Smith – There is no question that the free agent tight end addition’s production has been a major disappointment in his first season in New England, especially when compared to Henry’s. Now, Smith is inactive due to a shoulder injury that’s limited him in practice the last couple weeks and forced both Devin Asiasi and practice squad call-up Matt LaCosse to make their season debuts against the Browns. Smith just hasn’t brought much return on the significant investment the Patriots made in him this spring.
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