Patriots close out the season with a nice over the dolphins. Stevenson could not be stopped.
Pros
Stevenson. This guys has been the man the past two weeks. If you can believe it, he has accounted for roughly 250 total yards and 5 TDs over the past two games and might be a top five running back? At the beginning of the year I wanted this guy cut or at least not resigned at the end of the year. Now, I feel like he is their X factor going into the playoffs. If he can run the ball like this and Henderson keeps doing his thing, we are going to be able to neutralize the Texans pass rush. More on the Texans later…
Drake Maye continued to be his super efficient super hero self. The stand out play for me was on a third down in the beginning of the game he escapes the pocket, stiff arms a linebacker while getting his face masked pulled and then picks up the first down. It seems like he does something like that every week. His season has been incredible. He reminds me of what Carson Wentz looked like in 2017 except better.
Milton Williams coming back instantly solved the patriots run defense woes. In the first half he made two big tackles for loss that were key impact plays. I can’t wait to see how they look once they get Spillane back too
Will Campbell was back, thank god!!!! He didn’t look like his explosive self, especially in the run game. I didn’t see any of his signature drive/pancake blocks but he did the job. I’m glad he got a game under his belt before the playoffs and that terrifying Texans pass rush. Overall the offensive line was very very good, especially in the run game
Jack Gibbens is super underrated. Multiple passes defended and a big forced fumble contributed to keeping the dolphins down long enough for the offense to wake up. He is super underrated
Cons
If you look at the scoreboard, this was a major butt kicking. The pats win by 28 points and pulled their starters at the beginning of the fourth quarter, what’s not to love? Well for some reason I feel like the patriots were lucky to win this game. A dropped pass on fourth down in the first quarter and an INT in the end zone on the first drive of the second half seemed to be the difference in this game. If both those plays go the other way, we could have been trapped in a dog fight. That would have been no fun.
Either Quinn Ewers is going to be a pretty darn good QB or the patriots pass defense was seriously lacking this game. Ewers completed roughly 70% of his passes when the game mattered and moved the ball very efficiently without Waddle or Hill.
Stupid mistakes on special teams can be the difference between a win or a loss in the playoffs. The blocked field goal for a TD against Pittsburgh in 2001 was a big reason why we got to that first Super Bowl. I hated the blocked field goal right before the half that almost turned into a 6 point swing before Maye got them in field goal range and Borregales banged a 59 yarder in the January cold. We won’t be able to get away with that against good teams
