4. Patriots rolling on returns
In a year where it appears that special teams will play a larger factor in the outcome of games than we’ve seen in the past, the Patriots are maximizing the value of their special teams units through the first month of the season.
Last week, their primary punt returner, Marcus Jones, was instrumental in helping to wipe out an early 6-0 lead by the Panthers with an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown to take the lead (7-6).
Late in the first half, Jones would deliver another punt return deep into Carolina territory. Had he not stumbled at the end he likely would’ve had another touchdown, but his 60-yard return to the Panthers 12-yard line led to a short scoring drive by the offense, who essentially put the game out of reach by halftime up 28-6.
“He’s a playmaker, everybody knows he’s a playmaker,” said CB Christian Gonzalez of Jones. “I feel like once he took that first one back, it felt like he took all that energy from Carolina away, just turned everybody up. It was great to see him make those plays because he works so hard. But we all know what he’s capable of and it was awesome to see it.”
Jones leads the league in punt return average at 28.9 yards per return.
The Patriots are also one of only two teams that have a returner that ranks in the top five in the league in return average on punts (Jones) and on kickoffs. Patriots’ RB Antonio Gibson ranks fourth in the league in kick return average at (29.3) thanks largely to a 90-yard kick return for a touchdown at Miami in a Week 2 victory.
“I talked about that throughout training camp and how those return units need to be a weapon for us,” said Vrabel. “We’ve got the one kickoff return, but to be able to do that on the punt return, fantastic effort by Marcus and everybody else out there. I think a lot of that was just his own individual will, skill and effort. Again, that has to be a weapon. It was something that we felt like could be one through this season.”
New England also almost blocked a Carolina punt near the end of the first half.
Meanwhile Buffalo is still shuffling through personnel on special teams. They’ll have their third new punter so far this season playing this week in Mitch Wishnowsky, after veteran punter Cameron Johnston suffered foot and ankle and will be out for some time.
They also made primary return man, Brandon Codrington, a healthy scratch last week and used receivers Curtis Samuel on kick return and Khalil Shakir as their primary punt returner.
Head coach Sean McDermott said he got some of what he was looking for with the personnel changes but added that production in the return game isn’t all on the returner. It’s the 10 others blocking as well.
“We’ve looked at (what we got in this game), and we’ll continue to talk about it,” said McDermott. “I think those conversations will continue probably through the week here.”
The Bills should continue to expect teams to be aggressive on special teams as opponents try to find an edge to help them hand Buffalo their first loss of the season.
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