Pats Posits: Order Restored

And just like that the New England Patriots reminded everyone what they seem to forget every single year no matter what — that a well-coached football team can quickly go from looking terrible to dominant when everyone is playing on the same page. The Patriots didn’t suddenly go out and grab a bunch of new more talented players, they just all did their job and the result was a confidence-restoring win over the Dolphins.

The defense didn’t allow a drive over five plays long and forced two turnovers. The offense got Sony Michel going and the positive effects trickled down through the rest of their game, as they converted 10 of 15 third downs and put up a season-high 38 points. It was a total team effort and was beautiful to watch.

Yes, it feels like order has been restored to our lives. The Patriots are not done and with the promise of Josh Gordon, who showed some flashes in 18 snaps with two catches both coming on third downs, along with the return of Julian Edelman, it’s hard to feel anything but good vibes now about this Patriots team and that’s a welcome relief after the last two weeks.

It’s a quick turnaround to face the Colts on Thursday night and there are still areas to improve, but at 2-2 the Pats are still very much in control of their season and showing signs of how high the bar should be set for this team despite what all the critics murdered them for over the past two weeks.

More on that and everything else in the Posits…

— Despite all the outrageous overreactions of the past week, the plan to turn it around was obvious and executed almost flawlessly. Win on first down on both sides of the ball was the first step and the offense and defense took that to heart. Once Miami couldn’t pass on first down and couldn’t get their ground game going they were toast. Michel started to get loose on offense and the just opened the playbook up. James White was more involved, but everyone else was too, simply making plays and catches they didn’t make the previous two weeks.

— Cordarrelle Patterson made his first explosive touchdown play of the season. It’s funny how he’s not the most athletic guy catching the ball but once he does catch it he’s a nightmare with his speed. He should only continue to build on this game and will be a gameplan problem for defenses.

— For as good as this performance was there’s still plenty of spots to improve on and Edelman should really help. He doesn’t need to be the savior but he’ll bring something the offense still lacked against Miami, that quick-open ability that truly makes the Pats’ offense unstoppable at times when they’re fully clicking.

— I’m doing my best not to overreact to Josh Gordon, but man, is he a receiving specimen or what? So big, so athletic, so fast. I’m sure it’s still a work in progress getting him fully up to speed on the offense, but even in just limited capacity he already made an impact. If he can keep building, I’m salivating thinking about where he could be by the time the playoffs start.

— Dont’a Hightower played just 53 percent of the snaps, less than even Elandon Roberts (57 percent). It’s an unfortunate reminder that Hightower isn’t the same player yet, and he might never be the same player. Of course after a dominating win no one will really get too bummed out about this, but it’s fair to wonder which way Hightower is going.

— JC Jackson showed up with an interception, the kind of play he made a lot of in training camp. The Pats went corner-heavy in this one with slot corner Jonathan Jones, playing really well, saw 86 percent of the snaps. Jackson played 24 percent. Cyrus Jones, who was the RB cover man last week, saw just three defensive snaps. Overall, the Pats had no problem playing to their depth in this one. A blowout makes that easier, but the front featured a good rotation of everyone and like week one, it all seemed to work.

— So we’ve seen two different Patriots teams this year, one that is dominant at home and disjointed on the road. It’s a bit of a departure from the dominant road team we’ve gotten used to the last two seasons where a 2017 loss in Miami was their only blemish. Is that a unique feature of this team? That they don’t play well on the road? Or is it just a sloppy September side effect? We’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out.

— “They’re just not that talented” is all I heard for the last week and it’s amazing how talent continues to be what football teams are judged on by the punditry. Football is the ultimate team game and as Scott Pioli used to say, the Patriots build a team and aren’t just collecting talent. How many times do the Patriots have to prove that teams that play as teams are what makes the Patriots so good. It’s never been the talent level, it’s been about how well everyone does their individual jobs. That translates to winning football far more than how many high first-round picks you have on the roster.

— As I wrote in my gameplan, the most direct route for a win was a Sony Michel breakout game and that’s exactly what happened. Yeah, we all love watching Mazz eat crow after his “he sucks” commentary that drew so much attention, but expect the goal posts to be moved once again instead of some kind of apology from the 2-6’ers. Again, ignore them. It’s the only way they’ll go away and it was once again obvious after this last week that they bring almost zero value to the real conversation about the Patriots.

October is here which means the real Patriots are starting to become clear, but it’s been such a feast or famine in these first four games it’s hard to know exactly who these Patriots are. They can play lights out. Or they can not even show up. There’s still a lot to prove, but they’re clearly just as capable as their predecessors of playing a great football game across the board.

Gronk’s ankle injury bears monitoring, but with Edelman playing in his first game since SB51 (wow) most of us would be okay giving Gronk a night off on a short week. Getting a win over the Colts and then getting a prolonged break to heal up a bit from the early season grind is just what this team needs right now. It will also give time for the new guys like Gordon, Simon (who had a sack and showed promise) and Barner to get some more de-pressurized time with the playbook.

The dynasty is still alive and damn it feels good to be a Pats fan once again.