AJ Brown Will Miss at Least a Month and There's Panic Throughout the Land. So Let's Hear the Good News About the Patriots Being 0-1.
Welp, as bad news goes, so far this is one of those "It could've been worse" scenarios if ever there was one. If Wednesday night when AJ Brown was hobbling toward the locker room and I was at "3. Bargaining" stage of Kubler-Ross, if you'd offered me a deal where he'd miss the games against against Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Buffalo and Las Vegas, I'd have giving you a lot in exchange. Granted, heading to Buffalo without your Pro Bowl WR1 won't be Two Tickets to Paradise. But I don't think there's a man, woman or child among us who think anything other than the Pats-Bills will be a home-and-home split.
Still, it's less than ideal. Drake Maye is coming off his worst performance as a pro. The No. 2 scoring in the league last year was held to 10 points. And they couldn't beat Seattle with Drew Lock taking 90% of their snaps.
I could point out that 2025's No. 1 scoring team - by a wide margin - couldn't even get to 10 points in their first game:
... but that's neither here nor there. The Rams are the darlings of the NFL this year. They're the odds on favorite to win it all. They get to have a bad game and the world shrugs. When the Patriots lose to the defending Super Bowl champions, on the road, in the league's toughest stadium to play in, by a field goal, there's only one proper reaction.
Mass hysteria. Led by, but by no means limited to, the sports radio psychotics:
Trust me, I'm hearing from friends who are in all-out emotional freefall over the loss in Seattle. Not just disappointed about the mistakes and the inability to protect a 4th quarter lead and put the game to bed, but full-on terror. Maye is a fraud. They can't beat good teams. Their terrible drafting has caught up to them. The Krafts are cheap. Green Bay was happy to be rid of Romeo Doubs. Like the prior season and a half with Maye was just an illusion and they didn't win three postseason games.
Like they didn't start out last year losing at home to the Raiders (the worst team in the league) and the Steelers (blown out of the playoffs), both of whom fired their coaches. Or 2024 didn't happen, when Jerod Mayo led his team to a Week 1 win at Cincinnati, on his way to 4-13 and losing his job.
Which is fine. Get hysterical. Practice Doomerism. Lose your mind. Think the worst. Be ignorant of history. I'll stick to my guns and be happy my franchise's fate is tied to Drake Maye. There's no one currently throwing footballs on this planet that I'd rather have under center for the foreseeable future. I do have no illusions about anyone else better than him coming along, now or ever. To coin a phrase, Maye All We Got, Maye All We Need.
And in that spirit, now would be the perfect time to look at the things that went well these past few days. Beginning with the newest addition to the roster:
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DaQuan Jones is one of those great system fits that has always had a place in the defense that Mike Vrabel and Bill Belichick before him have run. A 320 pound space eater who can fill two gaps, occupy two blockers, fit in nicely between Milton Williams and Christian Barmore, compliment Cory Durden, and reduce that 4.4 YPA average the Seahawks had, that kept putting Lock into 3rd & manageable. Jones is available in September mainly because he's 34. But they don't need him to be anything more than part of their rotation and take pressure off the rest of the DTs.
Next, let's look at everyone's main concern from the time the season ended until now:
The difference between Will Campbell in the Super Bowl and Will Campbell at Seattle was night and day. Night on the far side of Neptune and day on the sunny side of Mercury. Or the difference between a torn MCL and a healthy knee of an elite left tackle who played his ass off before getting injured last year.
On the night Campbell had:
--44 pass blocking snaps
--0 QB hits allowed
--1 pressure allowed
--1 sack
--An efficiency of 97.6%
--A Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade of 77.6
That was while mostly facing Derick Hall and Uchenna Nwosu. And I'll argue that one sack by Hall belonged to Alijah Vera-Tucker, as it came on an A-gap stunt. Whereas Nwosu was hardly heard from all night.
To review: Will Campbell is the guy Vrabel expected him to be when he used the 4th overall pick on him. The one who dominated the SEC for three seasons, back when LSU was still welcome in the conference. Granted, he picked up two late penalties that need to be cleaned up. But the Pats have their LT for the next decade.
Another big concern - and I'll raise my hand to this - has been on the Edge. Anytime I've been asked about a weakness on this team, I've cited the outside pass rush. I heard talk at training camp that Harold Landry might not be able to play at all this year. Dre'Mont Jones was a nice pickup to replace the surprising production they got out of K'Lavon Chaisson, but nobody's idea of the answer to all your prayers.
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And yet, he stepped up in his Patriots debut:
And not just because he knocked Sam Darnold out of the game. He was a factor all night long:
--42 total snaps
--1 tackle
--23 pass rush snaps
--1 sack
--6 hurries
That was good for an overall defensive PFF grade of 80.7, second only to Christian Gonzalez. And while I like how well Jones manned the Edge, I personally love the edge he brings even more:
To shore up this position, the team committed loads of draft capital to draft Gabe Jacas, only to have him miss most of the offseason in a complicated contract situation. And he made plenty of rookie mistakes in his considerable reps in the preseason games. So yes, he's a legitimate question mark in an area of huge need.
And this is what we got as he got his professional V-Card swiped:
PFF gave Jacas an overall grade of 77.3, good for fifth best on the defense.
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I could do this all day. In fact, looking at the clock, I almost have. But I've made my point. I'm embarrassed for anyone who's in panic mode right now. If that's you, it just proves you've not been paying attention all these years. And when this turns into another "They hate their coach," or "They're not good any more!" situation where everyone overreacts to a bad start to the season, history will not be kind to you. I can certainly guarantee I won't be.