New England Patriots
Yes, the Panthers are a lousy football team, but it’s been a long time since the Patriots breezed to a win. This was catharsis, and maybe real progress, too.
Welcome to the Unconventional Review, an instant reaction to standouts, stats, and story lines from the Patriots’ most recent game …
In ripping off 42 unanswered points against the Carolina Panthers Sunday, the Patriots did exactly what they had to do, and what they have rarely done since Tom Brady left town and Bill Belichick lost his touch.
They dominated in a stylish and creative way, beating up on a have-not of an opponent and starting to build a case that they might just have something satisfying happening here.
After falling behind, 6-0, on the Panthers’ first possession, the Patriots scored the game’s next six touchdowns. Six different players scored en route to the 42-13 win, a tribute to the versatility and balance offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is determined to establish.
The Patriots’ first touchdown came on Marcus Jones’s bold and dazzling 87-yard punt return at 5:34 of the first quarter.
McDaniels’s creativity — this is no surprise, but good heavens is he an upgrade over last year’s uninspiring OC, Alex Van Pelt — was most evident on the six-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with quarterback Drake Maye’s 5-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter.
That drive opened with a 24-yard completion to second tight end Austin Hooper. It also included two more 20-yard-plus plays – a 21-yard run by…