How we view the Patriots’ latest win -- Sunday’s pull-away 36-13 victory over the previously conference-leading Titans -- probably says as much about us and how we look at the world around us as it does the team.
New England won for the sixth straight game thanks to another flurry of turnovers in the first Gillette game of the season with snow flurries in the air. J.C. Jackson had a key forced fumble in the third quarter, the Titans driving in what was still a one-score game at the time. The Patriots resident turnover machine then picked off a Devin McCourty deflection in the end zone on fourth down early in the fourth quarter to begin to pull away from Mike Vrabel’s banged up team that just wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Mac Jones once again made the plays he needed to and avoided the turnovers that he’s watched derail so many of his team’s opponents.
Kendrick Bourne had a pair of scores, including a pretty catch at the back pylon on New England’s opening possession and a hustle down the sideline for a 41-yard score in the fourth-quarter.
The defense made the plays it needed. The offense did the same.
At least that’s what an optimist might say.
The defense held a fourth straight opponent to 13 points or fewer while recording multiple takeaways for the fifth time in the six-game win streak, a second straight week with four.
The glass is clearly half full of post-Thanksgiving holiday cheer!
But, analytical beauty is and always will be in the eye of the beholder.
Despite the fact that Mike Vrabel’s Titans were playing without Derrick Henry, Julio Jones and A.J. Brown, all on IR, Tennessee was far from inept on offense. In fact the Titans ran the ball for more than 250 yards, 100-plus yards each from both D’Onta Foreman and Dalton Hilliard, he of the 68-yard touchdown late in the second quarter that had the supposedly overmatched visitors down just 16-13 at halftime.
The New England run defense was bad. Really bad. Taking it on the chin from a team that shouldn’t have had the horses to execute such a game plan. Yet it did.
At least that’s what a pessimist might say.
The Patriots offense really couldn’t run the ball much.
Damien Harris had just five carries for 8 yards in the first half. And overall New England went just two of five in red zone trips, leaving Nick Folk to continue to carry more than his share of the scoring with another five field goals.
The glass is looking a little low on liquid.
That this performance gave New England its eighth win of the season and sixth straight will mean superficial few on a national level will question Bill Belichick’s squad that ascended to as high as the No. 2 spot in plenty of NFL power rankings last week and into Super Bowl contender status for many, including computer-based projections.
The Patriots are rolling, the details of the games be damned. Suddenly, it’s Super Bowl or bust!
“Good all-around … effort,” Belichick said in his postgame press conference, pausing slightly before choosing that last word.
The Patriots winning streak says the team is playing as well as any team in the NFL right now.
An 8-4 record says it’s among the top teams in the league.
And both of those things are true.
But those watching closely clearly understand there is room for growth and improvement from the team. Those with a more pessimistic assessment, realize that recent blowout wins haven’t been quite as easy a path to victory as the final scoreboard might indicate.
“We know it’s going to keep getting harder,” Devin McCourty declared before going on to explain that New England’s confidence isn’t built from week to week by winning but rather in the process of preparation for each individual opponent.
“Play Buffalo on Monday night. We'll see,” Belichick responded when asked if his team was coming together at a key time in the season. “Eight games – look, eight games isn't enough to clinch anything or win anything. We have a long way to go.”
True. But they’ve also come a long way. From 2-4 and claims they were better than their record to 8-4 and questions of whether they’re actually as good as their current mark.
Really, neither matters.
Every win is another step toward the ultimate goals and the ultimate assessments.
How good are the Patriots right now? How well is New England playing?
Guess that kinda depends on how you look at it, look at wins like Sunday’s over the Titans.
Certainly well enough to continue to wonder how good they are and just how far they may be able go this season.
“It’s the same confidence,” Matt Judon said summing up the latest win and confidence. “We won’t waiver. The same confidence we had at 2-4, we have right now. It don’t matter if we’re winning – we like to win – but it don’t matter if it’s a tight game or a blowout or anything. Our confidence is not going to change and we won’t waiver as a team, as a unit and as players. We’re coming into this building to work every day and going to continue to get better.”
And that is actually probably all that really matters.
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