The New England Patriots' 2024 season got off to a surprisingly promising start with their upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals. They'll hope to carry their momentum into Sunday when they welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Gillette Stadium.
If they continue to follow their former quarterback Brian Hoyer's keys to victory, they'll have a good shot at improving to 2-0.
Last week on "The Gameplan," Hoyer identified three keys to upsetting the Bengals: protect the football, establish the run game, and handle Cincinnati's pass rush. New England accomplished all three by winning the turnover battle, feeding running back Rhamondre Stevenson, and allowing only one sack.
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.@bhoyer7 had the keys to victory locked down last week 🔒 🔑
— Patriots Coverage on NBCS Boston (@NBCSPatriots) September 11, 2024
Tune into the Gameplan tonight at 6pm as he looks ahead to the Patriots matchup vs. the Seahawks pic.twitter.com/UDZ5wPTmAw
So, what are the keys to taking down the Seahawks? Allow Hoyer to explain...
1. Ball security
"We've got to keep a good thing going," Hoyer said. "Ball security. That's always number one offensively and it becomes redundant. But I think it played such a huge part in the game last week. The Patriots, zero turnovers. The Bengals had two. So, we talked about it: a plus-two turnover ratio equals about an 83 percent chance of winning the game.
"So as long as you're not giving the other team the ball, you're always going to be in the game when it comes down to the end of it. So as long as we're going on a winning streak, let's stick with this as number one."
2. Know your opponent
"This is a huge one," Hoyer said. "Know your opponent. And that seems really simple, but in reality, the Patriots are playing a Seattle team who they very rarely play. The last time the Patriots played the Seahawks was in 2020. It was COVID year, Cam Newton was the quarterback, I was on the team.
"A lot's changed since then. There's gonna be fans in the stands. It's the home opener. But they also have a new coach and a lot of new players. And ultimately, each week when you're going to break down a defense, you kind of figure out who their big three are.
"For Seattle, I think it's No. 99 (defensive end) Leonard Williams, No. 21 (cornerback) Devon Witherspoon and No. 20 (safety) Julian Love. Three guys who came up with a lot of big plays for them last week. So these three guys, you're gonna have to know where they're at at all times. Two guys right here who can really take the ball away. We talk about ball security, Williams, a disruptive guy in the front.
"On top of that, you talk about how do you know your opponent? Well, you're gonna have a lot of watch a lot of film this week. Obviously, you can watch last week's game against Denver. But because there's different guys and a new scheme with coach Mike Macdonald joining the Seahawks, you're gonna have to watch some Seattle film from last year just to see the players, see what they do well. What are their tendencies? How does a guy cover in man (coverage)? But you're also gonna have to watch some Ravens film from last year just to see how Mike Macdonald's defense is gonna play out."
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3. Explosive plays - skip third down!
"Skipping third down is just eliminating it altogether," Hoyer said. "On second down, you get a 20-yard pass play. On first down, a nine or 10-yard run. Things like that where you stay ahead of downs. The Patriots did such a good job last week.
"One interesting quote from (quarterback) Jacoby Brissett in the postgame after the Cincinnati game was, he came over to the sideline and said, 'Hey, Rhamondre (Stevenson) wants to run some more gap scheme runs.'"
Hoyer used the whiteboard to demonstrate a hypothetical play-action pass play the Patriots could do off of their gap scheme runs.
"So I think a big key this week is taking advantage of the success that the Patriots had in the running game last week and running it downhill," he added. "Seeing how the Seahawks react, because now they have a week of film to watch and so much was in question, can the Patriots run the ball? Well, they went out and proved it last week on the road."
Watch Hoyer's full Week 2 breakdown in the video above or the YouTube video below: