The New England Patriots defense had Sam Darnold seeing ghosts in a 33-0 Monday night dismantling of the New York Jets on Monday night.
Give the New England Patriots bulletin board material and Monday night’s dismantling of the New York Jets is typically what you get.
Coming off a great performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6, Jets second-year quarterback Sam Darnold had his confidence flying high going against a historic Patriots defense.
Confidence is great for a young quarterback, but the one mistake he made off the field by voicing Bill Belichick’s defense as basically solvable turned into five big mistakes on the field as the Patriots forced Darnold into four interceptions and a fumble in the Monday night whooping.
With the defense making the young quarterback see ghosts, Tom Brady and the offense did just enough to get the team out to a 24-0 lead before most fans even got their popcorn ready.
The overall performance against the division rival even forced a smile from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Here is what the coach had to say after the game, via Patriots.com:
"“It’s always good to win a division game on the road. I thought that our guys were ready to go today. We got off to a good start. I thought it was a great opening drive. Seemed like it took up most of the first quarter. Had some turnovers on defense. Good complementary football all the way across the board. Offense, defense, special teams. Lots of guys contributed tonight, which was you need for a good division win on the road. You have to give the players credit. They played hard. They played relentlessly and were able to make some plays early in the game and play pretty solid for 60 minutes.”"
Here are five observations from the New England Patriots 33-0 ghosting of the New York Jets.
5. Phillip Dorsett goes over the top
Who says Tom Brady can’t throw deep passes?
After missing last week’s game against the New York Giants, New England Patriots wide receiver Phillip Dorsett was back on the field for Brady and the two connected for this nice 26-year-old touchdown pass against New York Jets cornerback Trumaine Johnson.
Check out Brady’s touch on this one:
Phillip Dorsett ended the game with 3 receptions for 46 yards and the touchdown. But it was great to see the two connect once again on a long touchdown reception that is becoming more frequent.
Regarding the touchdown reception, Dorsett said he just wanted to be in the right position for Tom Brady to deliver a perfect ball.
"“I didn’t want to run out of the end zone,” Dorsett said following the game, via Patriots.com. “I knew I didn’t have too much space, so I couldn’t just fly by. Tom made a great throw. You can’t throw that ball any better than that.”"
Talk about gaining Brady’s trust. Phillip Dorsett certainly has it and he is turning into quite the reliable weapon for Tom Brady.
4. Secondary racking up the interceptions
The New England Patriots rattled New York Jets second-year quarterback Sam Darnold into four interceptions Monday night.
With interceptions by Devin McCourty, Stephon Gilmore, Duron Harmon and backup safety Terrence Brooks, the Patriots now have 18 interceptions on the season and are on pace to finish with the most interceptions in team history.
The 18 interceptions in just seven games played is more than most teams will have in a season. That shows how solid the secondary is and the kind of pressure and confusion the entire defense is creating. It really is a thing of beauty to see what Bill Belichick is orchestrating in 2019.
Despite the competition, forcing four interceptions in three games already this season is impressive.
While Tom Brady is chasing history on the offensive side, the New England Patriots secondary is on track to not only eclipse the team record in total interceptions in a season, but the NFL record of 39 interceptions set by the 1986 San Francisco 49ers who had 39.
The Patriots are on a pace for 41.
3. Tom Brady gaining something with Jakobi Meyers
Although the New England Patriots have help on the way at the wide receiver position after acquiring veteran receiver Mohamed Sanu, it was good to see Tom Brady continuing to build chemistry with undrafted rookie free agent Jakobi Meyers.
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On Monday night, the N.C. State product had a few nice catches in the 33-0 win. Without Josh Gordon on the field, Meyers was a reliable target for Brady. The rookie hauled in 5 receptions on 5 targets for 47 yards.
If the Patriots can continue to get that connection growing, the offense will be fine with the addition of Sanu, the potential return of first-round pick N’Keal Harry and hopefully a healthy Josh Gordon.
As of now, it is good to see the hard work of Jakobi Meyers paying off. It is really promising that Tom Brady is noticing that hard work.
"“He’s done a great job taking advantage of his opportunity,” Brady said following the game, via Patriots.com. “I’ll keep throwing it to him. He does a good job of getting open. I’ll just keep trying to go to the open guy.”"
Looks like things are trending up once again for the New England Patriots wide receiving group.
2. Sony Michel the touchdown maker
The New England Patriots running game is still a work in progress, but it was good to see Sony Michel rush for three touchdowns in the game.
Although he did drop a screen pass that could’ve led to another, the team is sticking with him in those short yardage situations at the goal line and he certainly came through in Monday night’s 33-0 victory.
With just 42 yards rushing on 19 attempts, the 2.2 yards per carry was a disappointment, but much of the blame is on the Patriots offensive line at the moment. Without fullback James Develin, Michel is having a hard time getting anything going on a consistent basis.
That should eventually change as he continues to get touches and one of these games, he will have that big game we’ve seemingly been predicting all season long. Once he has that big game, it should set the way for the Patriots running game to finally get on track this season.
1. Sam Darnold was seeing ghosts
Somewhere Mark Sanchez is smiling.
Why?
Because San Darnold mic’d up saying that he is “seeing ghosts” against the New England Patriots defense trumps the butt fumble.
With just 73 passing yards total and the four interceptions, Darnold explained after the game that he was referring to his field vision in making the comment. Still, the last thing he wanted to be captured saying in the 33-0 ghosting that confirmed to Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy that the boogeyman is very real when facing his defense on the football field.
"“He really said that?” Van Noy said when told about Darnold seeing ghosts, via NESN “Oh man. That’s cray for him to say that. That makes it real, you know what I’m sayng? That’s crazy…I can’t believe he said that. I man, a loss for words for a sec. I think it’s just a testament of how well we’re playing, to be honest. We played really well tonight. Happy about it.”"
With the constant pressure and the “Cover-Zero blitz,” the New England Patriots defense is proving to be a very scary force against opposing offenses.
As the team is set to take on much better quarterbacks over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see if this pace of confusing quarterbacks will continue.