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The New England Patriots (and their fans) needed that one.<\/p>\n
The last time the Patriots had won a home game by three-plus scores was Week 5 of the 2022 regular season \u2014 when QB Bailey Zappe won the first start of his NFL career in a 29-0 rout of the Detroit Lions. New England put an emphatic end to that drought on Sunday, putting together the finest three-phase performance of the Mike Vrabel era in a 42-13 laugher over the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n
Drake Maye flirted with a perfect passer rating, and the defense essentially pitched a shutout after a disappointing opening series. Oh, and the team committed zero turnovers, one week after giving the football away five times in a frustrating loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n
The Panthers are far from an NFL juggernaut, but this was a feel-good win for New England with a big road trip to Buffalo looming on Sunday Night Football in Week 5.<\/p>\n
The Patriots opened this game as if they were playing, well, the Carolina Panthers. Thankfully, Marcus Jones sparked his teammates \u2014 and the entire stadium \u2014 to life late in the first quarter with his electric, 87-yard punt return for a touchdown.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/1972353263786672585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Jones nearly took a second to the house later in the first half. He finished the game with three total punt returns for 167 yards, an average of 55.7 a pop.<\/p>\n This game was a step in the right direction for the special teams overall. Rookie kicker Andy Borregales made all six of his extra point tries, and punter Bryce Baringer averaged over 51 yards on his four punts.<\/p>\n Diggs is still only 11 months removed from tearing the ACL in his right knee. Still, we’ve heard plenty of takes like \u2014 \u201cHe doesn\u2019t look like a No. 1 wide receiver anymore”<\/em> \u2014 since the start of training camp.<\/p>\n He sure looked like Maye\u2019s WR1 on Sunday against the Panthers. Diggs matched or set season highs in targets (7), receptions (6) and yards (101). He had three chunk plays of 20-plus yards, after having zero such catches over his first three games with the Patriots.<\/p>\n This was the performance Patriots fans were waiting for from Diggs.<\/p>\n Winner: OC Josh McDaniels<\/strong><\/p>\n For as poorly as the Patriots\u2019 offense played during last week\u2019s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, headlined by five turnovers, there were some hidden signs that a breakout game like this was coming.<\/p>\n McDaniels deserves a ton of credit. He managed the Rhamondre Stevenson-fumbling situation well, getting all three running backs involved early and often. Maye completed over 80 percent of his passes with a season-high yardage average of 11.4.<\/p>\n Through four games, the Patriots have been well-balanced and are attacking every level of the defense in the passing game. They had a new leading receiver in Diggs for the fourth straight week, joining Kayshon Boutte (Week 1), Stevenson (Week 2) and tight end Hunter Henry (Week 3).<\/p>\n Was bringing McDaniels back this offseason the right call? It\u2019s hard to argue anything but yes through the first month of the season.<\/p>\n Douglas was effectively benched in this game, even with the Patriots leading 28-6 and in full control at halftime.<\/p>\n Per Pro Football Focus, New England\u2019s wide receiver snap counts against the Panthers went: Boutte (34), Diggs (31), Mack Hollins (24), Kyle Williams (14) and then Douglas (8). Clearly, the role for the Patriots\u2019 presumed No. 1 slot receiver entering the season has just about vanished.<\/p>\n Stevenson\u2019s fumbles stole the local headlines all week, but Douglas had a brutal play himself on the Patriots\u2019 final offensive play of the Steelers loss. His reduction in playing time could boil down to performance, the team\u2019s new personnel, or a mixture of everything, but New England\u2019s most productive WR of the past two seasons has suddenly fallen completely out of the rotation.<\/p>\n Patriots fans were waiting for this one. Drake Maye was nearly perfect, Stefon Diggs looked like a WR1, and Josh McDaniels cooked up another great game plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":100653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nWinner: WR Stefon Diggs<\/h3>\n
Loser: WR Demario Douglas<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n