The Patriots are back to .500 on the season after upsetting the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, 27-24. This was the second-consecutive win by Bill Belichick's club and are now firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot as they look forward to the second half of the regular season. This latest victory was a well-rounded effort by all three phases and arguably highlighted by the defense who put constant pressure on Justin Herbert and came up with two clutch interceptions.
Before we turn our full attention to Week 9 and New England's latest opponent in the Carolina Panthers, we're going to look back at last week and take the temperature on where various players on the roster are trending coming out of this latest win.
Stock up: Adrian Phillips
It was quite the homecoming for the former Chargers safety as he was able to come up with two clutch interceptions off Justin Herbert. His first came in the closing minutes of the first half and was able to return it to the Los Angeles 40-yard line. From there, the offense would get further into field goal range and cut the Chargers lead to just one point before the break. Then, Phillips' ability to come up in the clutch shined again in the fourth quarter when he was able to jump in front of a Herbert pass to the right side of the field, come up with the catch, and return it 26 yards for the touchdown. That score (along with the two-point conversion from Mac Jones to Jakobi Meyers) put the Patriots up 24-17 and truly swung the momentum in New England's favor.
Stock down: Josh McDaniels
While the Patriots were able to walk away with the win, there were some puzzling moments in the offensive play-calling by Josh McDaniels. Midway through the second quarter, the Patriots offense would move the ball all the way to the L.A. 1-yard line. At that point, McDaniels called two straight-passing plays, including a fade to Meyers on fourth-and-1. Given that Damien Harris ran for a 1-yard score earlier in the game from the goal-line, it was curious why they didn't go back to the well.
Another odd play-call came later in the fourth quarter. At the 14:18 mark, New England found itself in a third-and-1 situation at their own 34-yard line. McDaniels put the offense in the shotgun formation and elected to win a draw with Brandon Bolden, who was eventually stopped behind the line of scrimmage for a loss. That resulted in a three-and-out for the Patriots, who would give the ball back to L.A. after they had just taken the lead on their previous drive with a field goal.
Of course, those miscues didn't burn them in this game, but they certainly were some head-scratching moments.
Stock up: Matthew Judon
Matthew Judon continues to be a regular on this list as he routinely turns in stellar performances on a weekly basis. Week 8 was no different as he constantly was able to apply pressure on Justin Herbert and came down with two sacks on the afternoon. According to Pro Football Focus Judon finished with 10 total pressures, which helped move Herbert off his spot and complete just 51.4% of his passes in the game.
Stock down: Jalen Mills
It was another tough day at the office for Mills, who continues to play as the Patriots No. 2 corner opposite of J.C. Jackson. In this game he let up a late touchdown to Josh Palmer as the Chargers pass-catcher was able to leap over Mills in the end zone to make the catch. On the day, Mills was targeted four times and allowed three catches for 56 yards and that touchdown.
Stock up: Christian Barmore
The rookie defensive tackle has been extremely impressive since arriving to Foxborough. In Week 8, he was finding success pressuring the quarterback even as he needed to fight through double teams at times. Barmore totaled three pressures on the day and contributed to a sack on Justin Herbert late in the fourth quarter.
A sack for the rook Christian Barmore. They were holding him and couldn’t stop it pic.twitter.com/fnQE0rq7jl
— Bama NFL (@TheBamaNFL) October 31, 2021
Stock down: Left tackle
Both Isaiah Wynn and Justin Herron committed penalties that erased big gains by the running game. Herron came in to relieve Wynn who was seemingly dealing with an injury, and committed a holding penalty that took away what would have been a 28-yard touchdown run by Damien Harris. After Wynn returned, he also was flagged for holding that took a 23-yard run by Harris off the board. Had those two played mistake-free football, New England may have been able to play with a lead for a lot longer in this game.
Stock up: Damien Harris
Harris continues to be a true feature back for the Patriots. he carried the ball 23 times in the win and logged 80 yards on the ground and a touchdown. As we noted above, his numbers would have been even more impressive had a couple of penalties along the offensive line not been committed on two big runs. Harris was also solid in pass protecting and came up with a strong block in blitz pickup on Joey Bosa which allowed Mac Jones to complete a 33-yard pass to Hunter Henry.
RB Damien Harris ends up taking on a looping Joey Bosa and ends up winning with the shoulder block! pic.twitter.com/Bnyx5FhTDg
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) November 1, 2021
Stock down: Kendrick Bourne
Bourne has been one of the more clutch wide receivers on the Patriots roster this season and a go-to weapon for Mac Jones, but you can't put the ball on the ground. Following his fumble on New England's opening drive of the second half, Bill Belichick benched Bourne in place of N'Keal Harry. Bourne's day finished catching four of his seven targets for 38 yards.
