“Gonna be a hell of a story.”
Remember Julian Edelman’s never-say-die message to his teammates in Super Bowl LI when they trailed the Falcons 28-3?
We all know how that turned out.
Now, it’s way too early to write such a Disney-like comeback script for the left-for-dead 2020 Patriots, but following Sunday night’s stunning 23-17 upset win over the Ravens at a rainy Gillette Stadium it might be time to reassess how much hope remains for New England this season. Tanking has certainly been relegated to talk-radio chatter history, now it’s time to play the what-if game with slightly more positive hypothetical variables.
Clearly the rainy conditions, which played a role in a number of key ugly shotgun snaps by Baltimore center Matt Skura, and some suspect Ravens decisions helped the Patriots along to victory.
But, you take the win, move on and live to fight another day. It certainly means a lot more than the last-second comeback win over the winless Jets six days earlier.
Opportunities present themselves every week in every game for every team in the NFL.
You either take advantage of them or you don’t. You either win or you lose. It’s really that simple.
It was that simple in the moral victory in Seattle. Just as basic in the embarrassing loss to the 49ers.
Sunday night, for the fourth time this season, the Patriots won. They took what the Ravens (6-3) gave them, sure, but they also took it to Baltimore as well.
Damien Harris ran behind an at-times dominant New England offensive line for his third 100-yard effort, as the home squad churned out 37 rushing attempts for 175 yards (kneel downs excluded), which allowed Cam Newton to have a quietly-efficient 13-of-17 performance for 118 yards and one touchdown.
New England had three touchdown drives over the second and third quarters that netted 75 yards, didn’t turn the ball over yet again and held the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack in relative check.
“It was a great win by these guys tonight. Really proud of the way the team competed,” Bill Belichick said to open his postgame video conference with reporters. “It was a tough, physical game and proud of the way our guys played. We ran the ball pretty competitively, stopped the run competitively, took advantage of our scoring opportunities and just played a good solid 60-minute football game, which is what it takes against the Ravens.
“I think we just got to continue to work hard and grind away and see if we can improve and do some things better next week than what we did this week. But we'll just keep making steady progress and we're definitely headed in the right direction here. So great to win, but look forward to the challenge of getting ready to go again next week and developing some consistency here.”
A year ago a New England Week 9 trip to Baltimore was an ugly loss that was the beginning of the end for a previously-unbeaten Patriots team, even if it actually took the ensuing months to realize the shortcomings of the final Tom Brady-led squad of the dynasty era.
Could this year be the opposite? Could Sunday night’s upset jumpstart a second half of the season march toward the playoffs that almost no one thought was still a possibility?
“Not going to necessarily say it's a turning point,” Newton said of the victory, which gave New England consecutive wins for the first time this season. “We just want to keep getting better each and every week and I think we have been showing that, finding different ways to win, establishing our dominance in the running game, and trying to stop the run as well. Those are all keys to victory for us. And as this season keeps going, we just want to keep transcending upwardly in a way that our team is getting better week by week. We have a lot of young players that have big roles for us and especially myself, learning new things in this offense and getting comfortable. All in all, we just got to keep the ball moving forward and staying focused throughout it all.”
Is it likely the Patriots turn things around enough to win the AFC East? No.
Is it likely the Patriots do enough winning over the next seven games to sneak into the AFC playoff picture, especially the expanded seven-team field? (And maybe eight teams if COVID-19 keeps heading in the direction it’s going.) No.
But, it’s incrementally more possible, more plausible after watching what the Patriots did to the Ravens in the rain on Sunday night.
New England showed impressive coaching and game planning.
It displayed a powerful run game behind a road-grading offensive line. It made the plays it had to on defense to keep Jackson and Co. in check.
The Patriots have a Lombardi Trophy from arguably the most improbable Super Bowl win in history. It was indeed a hell of a story.
This comeback would be even more shocking, to be sure.
But we learned Sunday night that the 2020 Patriots aren’t dead just yet.
The rest of the football world will have to wait at least a few more weeks before it buries New England.
“I don't think this team needs atta boys or a pat on the back. We're a hard-nosed, tough football team and we just try to keep improving each and every day,” Newton concluded. “Our meter is pointing upwards.”
He’s not wrong.
