Patriots' Keys to a Victory Review: Week 6

A review of the keys established heading into the Patriots' Thursday night game against the Giants.

After a 35-14 win over the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football, the New England Patriots remain undefeated despite a flawed gameplan. But as has happened before, an elite defensive outing and some help on special teams made this look like a blowout on paper, though it was far from that. 

Let's review the keys to a victory that were established earlier this week and see what the result was for each one following the Week 6 game. 

1) Getting to Daniel Jones

You can see why New York is excited about this kid. Daniel Jones is a young, good quarterback that seems to know what he is doing on a football field. He made some big-time throws. The Giants trust him too. That was evident with the Giants running no huddle at points during the game. 

The touchdown pass to Golden Tate was a beauty. But he’s also a rookie and he made some rookie mistakes. And if you make mistakes vs. this Patriots defense, they will make you play. Jones threw the early pick in traffic that was tipped and picked off by John Simon. He threw another ball off his backfoot that was intercepted by Duron Harmon. His biggest rookie moment was when the game was tied 14-14 in the second half and he made a bad read off a well disguised Patriots coverage and gifted an interception to Stephon Gilmore. He was shorthanded by missing Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, Sterling Shepherd and Wayne Gallman, but Daniel Jones still showed flashes vs. New England. 

2) Getting Josh Gordon going

This didn’t really happen. Gordon had one catch for seven yards and wasn’t involved in the offense at all before he left the game with an ugly ankle injury. Gordon turned his ankle over trying to make a tackle on a New York strip sack fumble recovery for a touchdown. They showed Gordon on the sideline with his helmet on, so that’s a good sign. But he never reentered the game. The Pats don’t play again till Monday, Oct. 21 at the Jets, so Gordon has some time to recover. A healthy and productive Josh Gordon is vital for this team if they want to be productive in the passing game. 

3) Protecting Tom Brady

Once again Tom Brady got hit a few times. Early on it looked like Marshall Newhouse missed another block that ended up in Brady sack. The problem with Newhouse looks to be more communication than just man on man blocking. I’m no offensive line coach, but when he gets beat, he gets beat bad. 

Ryan Izzo got beat and gave up the strip sack fumble that resulted in a Giants touchdown. That one seemed part Izzo getting beat and part great coverage by the Giants secondary. But still, protecting Brady is always the No. 1 key. 

Brady looked a little frustrated by the offense early on. Some pressure got to him and the wind was a factor early which resulted in Brady’s interception in the first quarter. In the second half they figured it out (as they always do) and at one-point Brady had 15 straight completions. Jakobi Meyers seemed to get into Brady’s circle of trust with four catches for 54 yards. Julian Edelman is still the iron man. No matter what, he will always be that one guy that Brady can count on.

The Patriots are 6-0 and that is where they are supposed to be at this point. The defense is good enough that they will allow Brady and the offense to figure things out. The last few weeks they have been a second half offensive team and now they have 11 days to rest and figure things out. The scary thing is - they really haven’t put together a full offensive performance yet and that should scare the rest of the NFL.