The Pats ran a “smash” concept where TE Hunter Henry runs the underneath route and Diggs runs the corner route. Maye is reading the outside corner here. If the corner connects to Henry, he throws to Diggs. If the corner falls off in zone, he throws the whip route to Henry. In this case, the Bucs switch the two-receiver side at the line, which gets Diggs favorable leverage on the corner-fade, and the star wideout does the rest for six.
Ideally, New England will get Boutte back at full strength soon, but it’s a great sign in terms of roster building that the Patriots can turn to other receivers and still get production.
5. CB Christian Gonzalez Shadows Bucs First-Rounder Emeka Egbuka on Sunday
The Patriots are beginning to lean heavily into man-coverage matching over the last few weeks, with the latest battle for the All-Pro corner being the Bucs talented first-rounder. Gonzalez shadowed Egbuka on 32 routes, allowing three catches for 56 yards on nine targets. Gonzalez won most of the rounds, including two third downs and one red-zone target. In nine man-coverage matchups, Gonzalez only allowed one catch to Egbuka on three targets for 11 yards. After battling with Falcons WR Drake London last week, the Patriots are playing to Gonzalez’s strengths by matching him up on the opponent’s best receiver. That said, Egbuka did give the Pats problems when the Bucs got him away from Gonzo (31-yard catch vs. zone, 21-yard TD).
6. Patriots Continue to Manage Injuries at Running Back, Terrell Jennings (Knee) the Latest to Exit a Game
Although it was a huge day for Henderson, the Patriots running back depth continues to take hits after first-year pro Terrell Jennings exited Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Henderson was also banged up at one point, but did return to the game and then had his second house call, so he seems fine. The second-rounder had to play 49 snaps, or 83.1%, against the Bucs because Jennings left the game in the second quarter. Practice-squad elevation D’Ernest Johnson played six offensive snaps in some of Jennings’s roles, but the depth might be an issue. Hopefully, lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson (toe) returns soon for New England.
7. Patriots O-Line Battles with Bucs Aggressive Defensive Front
The Patriots offensive line had a heavyweight matchup against Bucs DT Vita Vea and company. On initial viewing, the good news is that both rookies, LT Will Campbell and LG Jared Wilson, only allowed two pressures each, with Campbell having a solid outing (QB hit, hurry). However, Vea was a handful on the inside, as expected, logging five total pressures. Most of those rushes came against C Garrett Bradbury (four hurries), with Vea’s playing strength being a tough matchup for New England’s center. Overall, the Pats broke off some big runs and Maye landed punches under pressure, with the O-Line hanging in there on Sunday.
8. Patriots Special Teams Have an Up-and-Down Day in Tampa Bay
On a positive note, rookie K Andy Borregales continues to be solid with four made extra points in the win. However, P Bryce Baringer had a touchback on a plus-50 punt, the Pats were called for two penalties on punt return, and PR Marcus Jones muffed a punt. New England’s special teams didn’t make any catastrophic errors, but like the rest of the team, there are areas to improve despite getting the win.
One more time: “We are going to learn from winning, so we don’t need to learn by losing.” In a challenging road environment, the wins kept coming for the Patriots in Tampa Bay on Sunday.
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