The New England Patriots entered the 2024 NFL season with minimal expectations, but they've become the talk of the league after their stunning upset win over the Cincinnnati Bengals.
New England pulled off a wire-to-wire 16-10 victory for Jerod Mayo's first career head-coaching win. Rhamondre Stevenson led the offense with 120 rushing yards and the team's only touchdown, Jacoby Brissett took care of the football, the defense kept Joe Burrow in check, and it was a flawless day for the special teams unit.
Suddenly, New England is buzzing with optimism ahead of the team's Week 2 showdown with the Seattle Seahawks. Former Patriots running back James White is feeling the positive vibes, and he joined Tom E. Curran's Patriots Talk Podcast to share his first impressions of Mayo's group.
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🔊 Patriots Talk Podcast: James White goes deep on Pats win over Cincy | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
"I thought it was great. A great start," White said. "For me, going into the game, in order for them to win I thought the defense had to play tough, try to confuse Joe Burrow, eliminate their explosive passing game. And then offensively, I thought they had to control the clock, run the football, end the game with over a hundred yards rushing and zero turnovers. And they did that. So they stuck to the formula and that's going to be their identity, at least early on."
There were several positives to take away from the Patriots' surprising victory, but White came away most pleased with how the big men up front exceeded expectations.
"I was most impressed with the offensive line," he said. "I thought they played tough. They played tough in the running game. It wasn't perfect the entire time, but they stuck with it. Hats on hats, sticking with their blocks, Rhamondre ran hard, and pass protection too. Jacoby (Brissett) for the most part didn't really get harassed. They were on their blocks, gave him enough time to get through his reads. If there was nothing there, he made a good decision to try to use his legs in scrambles.
"I think their identity early on is going to be running the football (and) play-action until they get that in-game chemistry with their receivers. I'm sure at some point they can evolve to how we were in the past to where it can be a week-to-week kind of style of how they attack the defense."
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The Patriots rallied around Mayo and celebrated the win with a Gatorade bath for their first-year head coach. White wasn't surprised to see how the team played under his former teammate's leadership.
"They're appreciative of his coaching style," White said. "I mean, a lot of those guys Mayo coached on that staff for several years now, so they're very familiar with him. They know what type of person he is, what type of coach he is, and they want to win for a guy like that.
"Mayo's a great human being. He's a great leader. He knows how to lead men. He knows how to get the best out of you. And I'm sure they're doing some of the similar things that we did with Bill Belichick. I'm sure Mayo has his own spin on things, you know, changing things in the locker room as far as what they see when they're walking through the building.
"It's a different era, but to me -- I'm not in the building currently -- I feel like a lot of the preparation is kind of the same."
Also in the episode:
- What are the next steps in the evolution of this offense?
- Curran explains why the team’s reaction after the win is a great sign of what Mayo is building.
- Why Christian Gonzalez has the ability to be the difference-maker for the Patriots this season.