New England Patriots: An overview of team’s Week 1 news

A look back at the New England Patriots first week of the 2019 NFL season.

After one of the most entertaining weekends before Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was all business in Foxboro for the New England Patriots. With a few big distractions prior to opening night kickoff, Bill Belichick’s team showed that it was all about starting the year off with a victory.

What bigger news comes when you add a 7-time Pro Bowl,  4-time1st Team All-Pro wide receiver to your roster? Especially happening the day before your Week 1 matchup against your rival Pittsburgh Steelers.  Antonio Brown was reportedly on his way to New England.

After an ongoing feud against his former Oakland Raiders team, the saga finally came to an end after Brown was granted his release from the team.

At around 4 PM on Saturday, when Brown was officially eligible to sign with any team, the Evil Empire struck a deal with the superstar wideout. One year, 15 million in guaranteed dollars, with a team option for a second season, Antonio Brown was all but officially a member of the New England Patriots.

But with all the hype coming New England’s way, and a league’s worth of sports media all in on the AB to New England headline, the Patriots had to keep focus on Pittsburgh, and then make the transaction official the following day.

Oh, and a pre-game Super Bowl banner presentation was also happening as well. You might not think this would play in as a huge factor. But remember the last time it happened, just two years ago, when the Alex Smith led Chiefs came into Gillette and torched the Patriots the game following their 25 point Super Bowl comeback.

So with all that Bill Belichick had to make sure to block the noise away from his team, and to make sure game-plan execution was planned as if nothing was going on outside the closed-doors.

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A newly identified Steelers team was certainly ready to start a new chapter without troubled stars Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. The offense and defensive sides of the ball was retooled with many young and promising playmakers. Still led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers were considered to be a top AFC threat yet again.

Like you have seen before, the New England Patriots turned their attention to the task given on Sunday night, despite the Brown and banner noise that came around it. Once game time was reached, it didn’t . take long for the Patriots playmakers to get going. In the first quarter Tom Brady found wide open Josh Gordon slanting across the middle of the field, in which Gordon took to the pylons. The 20-yard TD opened the score at seven and ignited the crowd.

The Patriots defense would hold the Steelers to a total three points. Breaking up multiple 4th down and red-zone looks, the revamped D looked quite stingy and often had Big Ben fooled with their pre-snap formations. The classic “Do Your Job” and “Bend, Don’t Break” quotes we hear very often in New England was in full effect Sunday Night.

Phillip Dorsett will not go un-noticed, snagging in two touchdowns on seven receptions from Brady. Dorsett was easily the biggest performer on offense, and an unexpected one to say the least. With Steelers eyes on star players such as Sony Michel, Josh Gordon, and Julian Edelman gave Dorsett wide open streaks down the field which resulted in his two touchdown’s.

The low-points which we saw was the New England Patriots inability to pressure the quarterback, and their looks in the red-zone on offense. Two flaws that fortunately didn’t backfire on the Patriots, but certainly something to be worked in practice this week in prep for Miami.

Other notes:

-OT Marcus Cannon‘s “shoulder” injury is not considered to be season ending, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss. 

-WR Demaryius Thomas shipped to Jets for 2021 Sixth-Round draft pick, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

-S Obi Melifonwu and TE Lance Kendricks released (Melifonwu to practice squad), per Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian.

-Open roster spot speculating a Rob Gronkowski return?

With the news just breaking, adding last here that Antonio Brown is being accused of three counts of rape and sexual assault against a woman. The Patriots issued a team statement of the following:

Despite the accusations against Brown, he will remain eligible to play for the Patriots until handled in a civil court of law.

Although the unfortunate news for the New England Patriots, all eyes shift to Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, a place where wins are hard to come by for New England.