CINCINNATI — The thing about a Gatorade bath, Jerod Mayo learned Sunday afternoon, isn’t so much the immediate shiver or the powerful thud of liquid and ice cubes. It’s the soaked shoes that accompany such a celebration.
Mayo wore a new pair of Nikes, fresh shoes for a new post-Bill Belichick era, his first game in a role he’d long wanted. After the dousing he got following the New England Patriots’ shocking 16-10 win over the Bengals here, Mayo was left to walk around the field with blue-stained shoes and Gatorade swishing between his socks. It felt great.
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This wasn’t just a ho-hum season-opening win for the Patriots. The sideline erupted when the offense went into victory formation, so physical and tough in the run game that they had drained the clock in the fourth quarter and didn’t give Joe Burrow a chance to orchestrate a winning drive.
The Patriots heard all offseason about how bad they were going to be. No one gave them a chance this season. The most optimistic among us estimated about seven wins. Their roster stinks, the narrative went. The plan is outdated. Who wins in 2024 by playing good defense, running the ball effectively and controlling the clock?
On Sunday, the Patriots did. They brought their widely mocked plan to Cincinnati and beat up a team with (albeit far-fetched) Super Bowl hopes. So, yeah, the sideline went a little nuts. High fives and bro hugs and a Gatorade bath.
GOT HEEM!! @Gatorade
pic.twitter.com/u8iUk0kXKM— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 8, 2024
In a different era of Patriots football with vastly different expectations, few outside the building could have foreseen this kind of scene in Week 1. But that’s what it has been like for these Patriots for the last six months.
They’ve listened as everyone (including us here) doused skepticism on their strategy. They watched as multiple free agent wide receivers turned them down, even when they offered more money. But they didn’t hide from their plan. It seemed crazy for the modern NFL, and it certainly seemed crazy for this rebuilding, misfit team.
A journeyman offensive coordinator with a terrible offensive line was supposed to generate an above-average running game? Sure. And an inexperienced, 35-year-old defensive coordinator was supposed to replace the greatest coach of all time at coming up with game plans to befuddle quarterbacks like Burrow? Please.
No, the Patriots are not a Super Bowl-contending team. But Sunday showed this can be a competent team that keeps things interesting during a rebuild while offering signs of hope for what’s to come.
“For the fans, hopefully they see what we’re trying to build,” Mayo said afterward. “I talk about how it takes time — and we’re still not where we want to be. But we’re headed in the right direction.”
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It seems only fitting to start a discussion about this game with the defense. Mayo had insisted he was confident in that side of the ball even after the Pats lost their top two pass rushers. He expressed faith in what DeMarcus Covington was building even with fair questions about how Belichick’s absence might result in a drop-off in the unit’s performance.
Instead, Covington dialed up a plan of mixed coverages and rotating defensive fronts that confused one of the league’s smartest quarterbacks and turned an explosive offense into a dink-and-dunk dud.
The plan, as relayed by Jabrill Peppers, was essentially to test their patience. You can have the 4-yard pass, but we’re taking away the deep shots. Are you disciplined enough to hit that over and over for four quarters without making a mistake?
The Bengals weren’t, not against this Patriots defense, not on this day. No matter how you slice it, Burrow was bad, totaling just 164 passing yards on 29 attempts. His expected points added left him next to Bryce Young and Daniel Jones for the worst of the week. That’s what the New England defense is capable of.
Tight race for worst EPA day by a quarterback, per Next Gen Stats.
Bryce Young -12.6
Daniel Jones -12.4
Joe Burrow -12.4— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 8, 2024
“We don’t really listen to the outside,” said cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who shadowed Ja’Marr Chase and limited him to 62 receiving yards. “We know everybody in here believes.”
The other part of the Patriots’ plan is bolder. They’re not concerned about their offensive line. Eliot Wolf has been downright defiant that the unit can be good. They think they can still run the ball well.
That’s why Jerod Mayo had a heart-to-heart chat with Rhamondre Stevenson this spring. He wanted the back to know how important he’d be this season, how much they’d lean on him.
In a passing league, the Patriots want to control the game by running it well. They want to play physically and leave opposing defenses bruised. They did that with Stevenson to the tune of 25 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown.
.@dreeday32 punches it in for the score!
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/kDNUiPHMWZ
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 8, 2024
That’s another reason for the excitement on the sideline at the end of the game. It’s one thing to run the ball early in the game when the opposing defense is protecting against the pass.
“But to be a physical team, can you run the ball when they know you’re going to run the ball?” Peppers said.
The Patriots did. They got the ball up six points with 2:13 left in the fourth quarter. The whole stadium knew Stevenson was going to get the ball. He did, four straight times, handoffs right up the gut. And the Bengals still couldn’t stop him.
“There comes a point in time where they know we’re going to run it, we know we’re going to run it and all the fans know we’re going to run it — and we still have to pick up 4 yards,” Mayo said. “It’s really man on man in those instances. It has nothing to do with X’s and O’s. It’s about dominating the player across from you, and those guys did that.”
This kind of plan isn’t New England’s forever answer. One day, they’ll turn to Drake Maye. The offense will get more dynamic. They’ll at some point revisit their recruitment of a top-end receiver.
But against the Bengals, the current plan looked competent and offered confidence. On this day, after everything the Patriots had heard for the last six months about how bad they’d be, that was worth celebrating.
Even in wet shoes.
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(Photo of Marcus Jones: Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)
