New England Patriots
The defense has been stellar. The offense? Not so much. Here’s a look at this week’s risers and fallers.
Elijah Ponder celebrates a touchdown Barry Chin/Globe Staff
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The Patriots are off to an up-and-down start to the regular season.
The defense has been stellar. The offense has been lackluster. The team is 1-1 and dealing with several injuries to key players.
As the Patriots attempt to climb past .500 this week, here’s a look at who is rising and who is falling heading into a road matchup with the Jaguars.
Stock up
Christian Gonzalez
Gonzalez blanketed DK Metcalf on Sunday, holding the receiver to four catches for 27 yards on nine targets. Gonzalez said it was one of the matchups he knew he’d be assigned to as soon as the schedule came out, and he passed the test with flying colors.
The Patriots only gave up one pass longer than 20 yards on Sunday – a 26-yarder to Jaylen Warren. Pittsburgh averaged 4.8 yards per completion, which is a dreadful number not too far off from what they averaged on the ground.
New England’s secondary shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers’ arial attack, and Gonzalez played a huge role in that.
Will Campbell
Campbell continued to build on a strong start to the season, allowing just one quarterback hit over 29 snaps on Sunday.
Through two games, he has graded out at 81.7 in pass-blocking, which is seventh among 66 qualified tackles according to Pro Football Focus.
It’s a continuation from the summer, when Campbell held his own in joint practices against the Eagles and showed how much he improved following his playoff struggles last year.
Gabe Jacas
Jacas continues to impress, notching his first career interception against Rodgers on Sunday.
One of the big knocks on him during the summer was that he struggled defending against the option, giving up big gains to mobile quarterbacks. That hasn’t really been tested yet, though it will be in Week 4 when the team travels to Buffalo.
What has been clear from the start is that Jacas has the physical tools to make an impact as a pass-rusher. Through two weeks, he’s on the board with a sack, an interception, and a tackle for loss.
Romeo Doubs
There was nowhere to go but up for Doubs after a catch-less Week 1, but he was the Patriots’ leading receiver in Week 2 and produced the longest play of his career – a wide-open 63-yard catch on a pass from Drake Maye. He caught three of his four targets against Pittsburgh.
Things could have continued to go sideways, but they didn’t. Doubs caught heat after saying he wasn’t locked in enough during Week 1.
Sunday was different. He was productive.
Elijah Ponder
With the offense struggling, the Patriots need all the scoring help they can get from the defense. Ponder produced points on Sunday. His awareness to track the ball down and the effort to slip past a would-be-tackler and reach the end zone gave the Patriots a three-score lead in the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t just the scoop-and-score that put the Sunday’s game out of each that puts Ponder on the Stock Up list. He also made an impact in the run-game, tallying a team-high three tackles for loss.
Christian Elliss
Elliss landed a crushing blow on Aaron Rodgers, hitting the 42-year-old quarterback from behind at full speed and knocking the ball free.
Gonzalez would have had a shot at a scoop and score if he were able to corral it, but the ball just kept rolling past midfield until Pittsburgh recovered it.
Elliss had a dozen tackles on Sunday, helping New England hold Pittsburgh to three points.
Stock steady
TreVeyon Henderson
Henderson’s performance in his season debut was pretty much in line with his production over the final eight games of last season, during which he averaged 70.1 yards per game on 14 carries per game.
He had 16 carries for 76 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. Most of that yardage came on a 39-yard touchdown run during the first quarter.
The good news is that he showed off his big-play ability during a week when he was coming off of an ankle injury. The bad news is that outside of that big run, he had 15 carries for 37 yards, which averages out to 2.46 yards per carry.
Stock down
Drake Maye
The Patriots need more out of Maye in order to beat good teams this season. Thirteen points per game is not going to cut it. He has four interceptions against one touchdown.
He’s had issues with short throws (sorry, that interception was not tipped), and he appears to have fallen back into the habit of throwing off-balance when he doesn’t really have to.
The poised, confident, accurate quarterback that we saw last season has yet to show up this year.
Rhamondre Stevenson
Stevenson only got six carries on Sunday because he fumbled against the Steelers again.
This is an unresolved issue. Three of Stevenson’s last four fumbles are against the Steelers. It appeared that his fumbling woes were behind him until he saw those white, black, and, gold jerseys and showed issues with ball security almost immediately.
He had a 13-game-long streak without fumbles heading into that game. He broke off a 24-yard run after returning to the game, but Sunday offered an unfortunate taste of deva vu.
Jared Wilson
Mike Vrabel said it. Sunday was a struggle for Wilson.
He did some good things blocking downfield in the run game, but his pass-protection was an issue. There was too much pressure up the middle.
“That wasn’t one of Jared’s better games,” Vrabel told reporters on Monday. “There were some times where we have to hold up in the middle and pass rush, but I also know that sometimes, when we break those runs and he’s at the second level and getting guys covered up, that he’s at the point of those attacks as well.”
Wilson’s pass-block grade (27.3) is ranked 31st among 32 qualified centers through two weeks, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I think he can protect better,” Vrabel said. “I know he can protect better. I’ve seen him protect better.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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