5 immediate thoughts from Patriots’ 16-10 Week 1 win vs. Bengals

Football is BACK… and the Patriots are 1-0!

New England traveled to Cincinnati this weekend to take on one of the AFC’s powerhouses in the Cincinnati Bengals, and did exactly what they had to do to come out with a win.

New England starts the season 1-0 and will return home with a W in Jerod Mayo’s debut as head coach. Here are five immediate thoughts from the contest:

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5 – Patriots 2024 season starts with, of all things, a penalty!

The Patriots will have to do a lot of things right this season if they want to win football games. At the top of that list is team discipline.

Penalties are both drive and game-killers in the NFL, something New England found out in their final preseason game when over six first-half offensive drives, their starting offensive line tallied six (!!) penalties, so it’ll be paramount that they keep the flags in the referees pockets.

To start their 2024 season, they did the exact opposite of that. After choosing heads and winning the opening coin toss, New England elected to kick off… and was immediately flagged for illegal formation.

Yes, the NFL’s new dynamic kickoff is a bit confusing with both the kicking and receiving needing to stay still until the ball hits the kick returner’s hands, but this is something they’ve repped all offseason and there was no excuse for Dell Pettus to move early.

The penalty ultimately didn’t affect them as they immediately forced the Bengals into a three-and-out., but on-field discipline will be something to monitor under new head coach Jerod Mayo to start this season.

4 – Patriots’ playmaking defense makes a difference.

It looked like the Bengals’ offense was finally hitting its groove towards the end of the first half after a 13-play, 63-yard drive found them at the doorstep of the goal line with an opportunity to tie the game at seven.

On the 12th play of said drive, Joe Burrow found tight Mike Gesicki in the back of the endzone, who mossed his former teammate in Kyle Dugger for what was originally ruled a touchdown — until it was ruled incomplete upon further review.

Dugger made ’em pay. On the following play, Burrow again found a tight end in Tanner Hudson across the middle who reached for the goal line. Dugger saw the streaking TE and said “Nope!” punching the ball free. It was recovered by cornerback Jonathan Jones.

Speaking of Jonathan Jones, the veteran defensive back was flying around the football field on Sunday. He finished the contest with three tackles, and none bigger than this one on fourth and two:

Oh yeah — and DE Keion White racked up four tackles, two TFLs, and 2.5 sacks. This defense is what’ll continue keeping the Patriots in games in 2024.

3 – Special teams does a 180° from last season.

New England’s special teams unit was one of the worst in football last season, at one point ranking 29th our of 32 in DVOA.

In 2024, they started red hot.

After the Patriots got the ball to start the second half, a quick three-and-out looked to stop their momentum offensively. Their punt team, however, had other plans.

On the ensuing boot from Bryce Baringer, Bengals return man Charlie Jones tried to make something out of nothing but was struck by a perfect form tackle from long-snapper Joe Cardona. The first-time Patriots captain got his helmet directly on the football and forced a fumble that was recovered by Jaylinn Hawkins.

New England turned the turnover into three points.

Gunner and special teams phenom Brenden Schooler was outstanding on Sunday as well, making several key tackles to keep Cincinnati at bay.

2 – Offense shows their recipe for success.

It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but the Patriots offense did exactly what they needed to in order to win not only on Sunday, for the rest of the season.

First and foremost, no turnovers! Quarterback Jacoby Brissett ran the operation smoothly, completing 15 of his 24 pass attempts for 121 yards and most importantly, no interceptions. He did have one offy throw to Hunter Henry in the back of the endzone that was almost picked, but overall the signal caller took care of the football.

Additionally, running back Rhamondre Stevenson was a force to be reckoned with. The fourth-year back ran for 120 yards on 25 carries (4.8 YPC) and a touchdown

1 – The Patriots aren’t as bad as we thought.

4-13. Rebuild. 2025 team.

Those are just some of the many words and phrases with negative connotations that have surrounded the Patriots since the spring.

They put them to bed, at least for one more week, on Sunday.

We knew there was a recipe for a win this week. Play dominant defense, control the line of scrimmage, and force turnovers while limiting them on your end. The Patriots ran this plan to perfection on Sunday afternoon and came away with a statement win to start the season off with a bang.

Now? They’re onto Seattle.

Follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!