The New England Patriots took on the Carolina Panthers in the closest thing to meaningful preseason action. While the wins and losses didn’t matter, the Patriots starters played the entire first half. New England entered the game with several positional questions, both on offense and defense. Several players helped their roster cases, while others fell further down the depth chart. Without further ado, here are the New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers winners and losers
New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers Winners and Losers – The Winners
Phillip Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson
The biggest question entering the game is how the Patriots wide receivers would perform against the Panthers starters. The wide receivers answered that question by having a collectively great performance. Each of the top four options made plays, but the star of the group was Phillip Dorsett.
Dorsett recorded four receptions for 36 yards with the first-team offense and was Brady’s go-to guy in several key situations. Dorsett caught the games first pass, converted multiple third downs and even converted on fourth and three. With Julian Edelman suspended for the first four weeks of the season, Dorsett will likely start opposite Chris Hogan.
While Patterson didn’t finish with the same stat line as Dorsett, he still made a big play in the first half. Patterson flashed his patented speed, picking up a third-down conversion over the middle. Patterson still needs to work on his chemistry with Tom Brady, but he’ll certainly be a sizable part of the offense early. He made a few plays with the second-team offense, finishing his night with three receptions for 28 yards, but made every catch count.
The Losers
Eric Decker
At this point, it would take an act of God for Eric Decker to crack the roster. The longtime NFL veteran didn’t see the field in the first half and was buried behind Riley McCarron. This probably wasn’t due to an injury, as Decker has struggled on the field, both in practice and in the games. This very well could be the end of the road for Eric Decker and his NFL career.
The First-Team Edge Defense
Last week, the Patriots defense was applauded for its’ newfound aggressiveness, recording eight sacks and making life miserable for the opposing offense. This week, the Patriots showed what happens when a defense gets overaggressive. The Patriots front seven lost contain on multiple occasions, trying to take down quarterback Cam Newton. Newton, one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the league, constantly went outside the pocket and completed passes for big gains.
At first glance, Newton’s 142 first half passing yards implies the secondary struggled early. While they weren’t perfect by any means, most of the blame for this falls on the defensive line.
Jason McCourty
Perhaps nobody has suffered a bigger fall from grace than defensive back Jason McCourty. Entering training camp as a starter, McCourty may have worked his way off the 53-man roster altogether. After some inconsistent play at cornerback throughout the previous two games, the Patriots lined McCourty up at safety in the second half.
The results were mixed. McCourty’s first play at safety came when he was too slow breaking up a big play to Panthers wide receiver Curtis Samuel. However, on the very next play, McCourty made a big touchdown-saving tackle for no gain.
Obviously, the more you can do, the more valuable you are to the team. Still, the fact that the Patriots were even asking McCourty to do this shows that he’s anything but a lock for the roster. He didn’t impress at safety, and he hasn’t impressed at cornerback. It’s not hard to image Belichick opting to keep one of the younger corners over the veteran McCourty.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
