CAM NEWTON ROLLS FOR 2 TD'S AND EDELMAN SHINES IN 21-11 WIN OVER MIAMI.
The Patriots 2020 regular season began with an eerie silence throughout Gillette Stadium as there were no fans packing the Patriot Place complex in Foxboro, MA on Sunday, but by the end of the 3 hour festivities that were Week 1, the Patriots were in a familiar place, 1-0 and atop of the AFC East. The new man under center, Cam Newton, who came over from the Carolina Panthers on Free Agency took the dubious place of being the first QB to start a Week 1 game without Tom Brady on the roster since Drew Bledsoe in 1999, when Pete Carroll who they will face next week vs. the Seattle Seahawks was the Patriots Head Coach. Newton began slow, as the Josh McDaniels led offense worked out some new wrinkles in live game speed and play for the first time, after the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled the typical 4 game preseason schedule. Though on the 2nd series of play things began to breakout a little bit more. By halftime the Patriots took a 7-3 lead to the locker room which turned into a double-down in the 2nd half and brought us to the 21-11 final score. Newton capped off his Patriots debut with pedestrian passing stats 15 of 19 for 155 yards along 75 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns, one for 4 yards and one for 11 yards. Edelman led the receiving corps with five catches for 57 yards but the best feature of that was seeing the depth of weapons at Newton’s disposal from Edelman to Harry and even the usage of White, Izzo and Taylor. J.J. Taylor, an undrafted free-agent pickup from University of Arizona made the opening day roster and made a stamp on the game as well with 4 runs for 28 yards and 1 catch for 4 yards. He becomes part of Patriots lore as the 17th straight year to have an undrafted rookie active on the opening day roster. This continues to cement the abilities of Belichick and the Patriots scouting staff beyond just the combine or draft day.
On the defensive side of the ball, the secondary continued to bully there way around the field as they did last season and the free safeties seemed as free as they could be bothering Fitzpatrick all day and forcing 3 interceptions.
The Patriots will now turn to a Week 2 “gut check” game as they head to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in the NBC Sunday Night Football game.
Comments