The New England Patriots might have lost in Week 17 and won’t have a 1st round bye, but there are some positive takeaways from the game.
Week 17 was terrible for New England Patriots fans. The team played their worst game of the season and now lost a 1st round bye.
The Patriots will be playing on wildcard weekend for the first time this decade. Not exactly the way that you want to end the 2010s.
We saw Tom Brady look like an average quarterback, the defense gave up points to a mediocre offense, and the Patriots offense couldn’t get anything going. The Patriots looked like a shell of themselves.
Still, there were some positives. Not all of the plays were horrible. Some guys even had career games.
So instead of focusing on the negatives, we will look at the positives. Here are the 3 positive takeaways from the Patriots Week 17 loss.
Sony Michel didn’t play awful
This season hasn’t been great for Sony Michel. After basically winning the Patriots a Super Bowl last season he has been far from that caliber of a running back.
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Michel struggled to even get 30 or 40 yards. Every play he seemed to run right into a wall at the line of scrimmage.
In Week 17, Michel played rather well. He had 18 carries for 74 yards and even had a touchdown.
This helped Michel get similar numbers to his rookie season. He ended 2019 with 900 yards and 7 touchdowns.
If the Patriots want to be successful in the playoffs they need more performances like this from Michel. Having a running game makes New England’s offense almost unstoppable (as long as Tom Brady actually plays well).
Hopefully, Michel continues to play well and doesn’t revert back to his poor style of play that plagued him early on in the season.
Elandon Roberts: FB superstar
The New England Patriots have had their problems on offense. This last game proves just how much so.
Elandon Roberts has been playing fullback due to the crazy amount of injuries the team has dealt with. But the mantra of next man up has always been popular in New England.
The linebacker turned fullback has been doing rather well. He has become quite the blocker and Week 17 was his best game.
Roberts was the Patriots 2nd best receiver in Week 17 with one massive catch that he took 38 yards to the house for the first touchdown of his career.
These are the types of stories you end up seeing on Super Bowl videos. Hopefully, that will be the case for the Patriots.
Elandon Roberts has become an offensive stud and he might even help the team win a game or two. I didn’t imagine I would be saying that at the beginning of the season.
Matthew Slater dominates special teams
The New England Patriots special teams unit has been one of the best parts of the entire team. The amount of amazing plays they have made is too many to count.
A lot of people like to joke about Matthew Slater. Some will discount his role on the team, but he is definitely one of the more important players in the locker room. He is a leader in the locker room and one of the best at his job.
Slater once again showed his skill in Week 17. He helped pin the Dolphins deep by swatting the ball away from the end zone.
It might sound crazy but I think that Slater is a Hall of Famer. He is elite at what he does and deserves to be enshrined. Some may also discount them, but he has also won multiple Super Bowls.
So everything about Week 17’s loss wasn’t all doom and gloom.