Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 8: Patriots vs. Browns

Things to consider while transitioning from openly Bradysexual:

--Even if you've been giving your full and undivided attention to what this team has been doing, it's still hard to wrap your brain around what we're witnessing. And just how completely this franchise has turned things around year-to-year. They're 6-2. Winners of five straight. During that streak, they've outscored the poor bastards unfortunate enough to face them 153-78 (52-7 in the 3rd quarter), with a TD pass ratio of 10/5, and are plus-5 in turnovers. They're currently the 2-seed in the AFC. And Pats fans are feeling all of it. 

--A season ticket holder who was there told me Gillette was the loudest it's been in at least seven years. Positive energy all around. Mike Vrabel having every member of the roster introduced. (And according to the same friend, they made a mess of it because this team always comes out asleep at the start of games. More on that in a bit.) Chants of "M!V!P!" raining down from on high. Everyone singing The Outfield at the top of their lungs at the 2:00 warning. Just like old times. But based on what the last few years have been like, you can be forgiven if you think it can't be real. Like any moment, there'll be a guy with razors for fingers rising out of the bathtub or a clown luring you into a storm drain to remind us we're just dreaming all this and headed for 4-13 again. That this will turn into I Know What You Did the Last Two Seasons. But until that happens, I suggest just enjoying the dream.

--Pop Douglas said it best:

To be fair, we've been drunk every Sunday for years. Except before it was like Moe's Tavern, and now it's the "Shout" sequence from Wedding Crashers. 

--And as dreams go, there's no better, happier, wetter nocturnal emission in all of professional sports right now than being a Drake Maye fan. I'll cite a few of the stats here, but it goes beyond the numbers. He leads the NFL in passer rating. The other two QBs who did that at this point of the season in their second year were Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger. Both won the Super Bowl. The list of QBs who have had seven straight games of 200-plus yards and a 100.0-plus passer rating includes Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, and now Maye. Set the parameters differently, and you'll find things no one but Maye has done. 

--What he did yesterday he did against a Browns defense that was giving up an NFL-low 256 total yards per game. Maye threw for 286 yards against them. He was perfect in the second half as he blew the game open, 8-for-8 for 118 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 158.3. Even with a relatively (for him) slow start, he still averaged over 10 yards per attempt. And in doing so, he broke the will of the guy who'll probably be the Defensive Player of the Year:

--And there to me is the truly impressive thing about what we just witnessed. Maye didn't do what he did against some hapless Panthers D or some 2-ply soft Titans team. He was dropping 32 points and 422 total yards on the best defense in the league. Myles Garrett was chasing him in a leather mask carrying a chainsaw and he did not flinch. He threw a terrible pick when Carson Schwesinger showed A-gap blitz but then dropped into the underneath zone and Maye hit him right between the numbers. And the next time he touched the ball, he completed two chunk plays. First to Austin Hooper for 31 yards, straight between the hashes after getting the single high safety to roll over to Kayshon Boutte, leaving the MOFO. Then following that up with another Cover-2 hole shot to Mack Hollins - which has become almost automatic between the two - for 21:

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The fact Maye didn't run screaming into the barn to get away from Garrett or go hiding in the basement after a bad turnover shows the level of maturity and physical and mental toughness he's already developed. And the way he responded after yet another weak start by this team on both sides of the ball demonstrates how well he and the rest of the squad are taking to their coaching. There's no panic. No frustration. No one's hanging their heads when they fall behind early. When they inevitably give up and opening drive TD and make some bottom-of-the-league QB look like Kratos from God of War for one possession. They just grind until they figure it out. Which they manage to week after week. 

--It starts with Maye. It's why I've already ordered that t-shirt. And why I'm making plans to take it off while he and I go riding on horseback together.  But you can't go by me. He had me at "Hello." More specifically, "Hello, I'm leaving UNC and declaring for the draft." I was easy. What matters more is that even his biggest detractors coming into the season are admitting they were wrong to doubt him, and are scrambling to get his wife's recipe for apple bars as a sign of respect. This guy is about to become the king of Boston sports for the next two decades. 

--And we should give credit where it's due to Josh McDaniels for adjusting on the fly and figuring out the cheat codes for Jim Schwartz's defense. And the code began with "32." It took long enough for him to scheme a way to get TreVeyon Henderson in space instead of interior gap runs and slowly-developing inside zones that have been going nowhere. Instead he attacked the edges of the Browns' front with crack-tosses to Henderson, including a sweet 18-yarder on the opening drive, to the right side behind a pull by Garrett Bradbury and some downfield blocking by Boutte. Then this taxi toss in the 3rd, out of an I-formation with Jack Westover leading, Hunter Henry setting the edge on Alex Wright, Michael Onwenu down-blocking his man into Bradbury before bouncing up to the second level, and Morgan Moses running corner Dom Jones into the ground:

By no coincidence, Henderson had a career day, with 10 carries for 75 yards. Eventually they're going to have to figure out how to get him hitting holes and making positive plays between the tackles. And more involved in the passing game, as the Pats screen package has been practically non-existent so far. But until other teams adjust, take advantage of his speed and ability to make suckers miss while you still can. 

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--The benefits of stressing a defense horizontally like that were very much on display with Henry's touchdown. Safety Grant Delpit had Henry in man. But ghost jet sweep motion from Stefon Diggs froze him. He was looking back at the post safety at the snap. And the play action to Rhamondre Stevenson froze him. Boot action off both fakes meant Maye could've run it in himself. But in honor of National Tight End Day …

--On a side note, I'm terrible at remembering major holidays like this. I'm lucky to have people in my life for whom gift-giving is their love language, and they're always remembering their loved ones on days like this. Whereas I never even broke out the National Tight End Day decor. I'm just glad Drake and Josh remembered. I've got to set an alert on my phone for Punt Protector Day so I can get my shopping and baking done on time. 

--And Diggs touchdown was a testament to how much McDaniel has brought (back) to this team. It's been forever since the Pats have been able to successfully pull off the legal pick play, even while they've constantly seen themselves get burned by it. But this one was cinematic. The choreography was exquisite. The timing done with precision. Maye was already into his throwing motion 1.5 steps into his 3-step drop. And Hollins reaffirmed his status as one of the best blocking wideouts we've ever seen around here by pulling off the sleight-of-hand without drawing a flag:

--It should be noted too that Hollins had 7 receptions on 7 targets for 89 yards while plowing the road for Diggs and all those Henderson toss plays. So if he feels like showing up to the stadium dressed like a barefoot chess piece, he's welcome to do so. 

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Just to confirm, that was a chess piece, right? And not something they toss in the end zone in Buffalo? I hope so. For once it'd be nice to see someone dress as a Bishop for Halloween and have it not be sacrilegious. Thanks for keeping things Rated-G, Hollins.

--I'm going chronologically on these touchdowns, which saves us the best for last. Maye set this up with a 28-yard run. Schwesinger was spying Stevenson, who stayed back in pass protection, so Schwesinger green-dog blitzed him, leaving a Red Sea-sized opening that people in sandals could've walked through leading ox carts and donkeys. On the Pats ran double verticals with three underneath after both Stevenson and Henry chipped a rusher on delayed releases. The beautiful thing about it is that all three of those options were open. In fact, Henry was unaccounted for and had a good 15 yards of open space in front of him. But Maye already read that Boutte had gotten separation on Jones with a double move, and put it between his best deep receiver's thumbs:

--That one not only came as the crowd was going nuts with the "M!V!P!" chants, it ended with Maye racing upfield pointing to the sidelines. Presumably at McDaniels to say "Good call!" or "I told you so!" or something. Regardless, somebody was right about something on that one. And I think homemade apple bars are in order. 

--Beyond that, we got treated to McDaniels pulling out some parlor tricks. A double pass/flea flicker that left Hollins wide open for 19 yards. A read option flip to Stevenson that went for a 1st down. It's always fun to see him opening up the playbook because he can. And not because he has no other choice because the conventional stuff isn't working.

--And my favorite non-scoring throw of the day was Douglas' only target. But he made it count. This was right out of the pages of the McOffense playbook that are written in cursive and have Marginalia drawings around the edges like the Book of Kells. A three man bunch formation. Diggs sits down in the flat. Henry runs a sail concept to clear out middle zone defender the draw the safety. Douglas runs a seam. And even though he leaves the pocket, Maye is able to set his feet enough to get 30 air yards under the throw:

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That last part is key. I do think there are times when Maye can be accused of leaving the pocket too early. This was not one of those games. Not with Garrett spending more time in the Patriots backfield than the referee. And some analysts are still being critical of his footwork, pointing out wasted motions and heel clicks and the like. But he's proving every week he can roll the pocket without taking his eyes off the deep part of the field and get set before he throws. Meaning things don't have to be perfect for him to get perfect results. Asking for anything else is just picking nits. 

--And as far as Garrett? According to Next Gen, Will Campbell faced him on 13 pass snaps and gave up 5 pressures and 3 sacks. In 20 pass blocking snaps against every other Brown defender, he gave up zero pressures. So this is a matter of saying "[Insert name of offensive lineman] had a terrible game against Myles Garrett" and move on. If your rookie left tackle spent a day getting ragdolled by that guy, you can say many things. But you can't call him unique.

--As far as our own Front-7, it was a great day after that initial, weekly exercise in trying to help quarterbacks hit their incentive bonuses. Frankly I didn't even notice that Christian Barmore sat out the opening quarter until after the game, when Vrabel confirmed it was for disciplinary reasons. All I noticed was that they came out with the big bodies, Khyiris Tonga, Cory Durden and Joshua Farmer, so I assumed it was just a scheme thing. No matter. Because the only team Barmore disrupted the rest of the way was Cleveland. He sniffed out an attempted double pass by Gage Larvadain and blew it up. Plugged holes. Disrupted Gabriel's throws. And put points on the board by bullrushing Teven Jenkins for the safety:

Whatever he did to have to sit for a quarter of the game, he responded well to Vrabel putting him in Time Out. 

--Then there's Jaylinn Hawkins, who played every snap, had 5 tackles, defended a garbage time pass in the endzone, and did nothing less than make the best play by anyone in the NFL all weekend. I say that without fear of contradiction:

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Just to have read that throw and got back in a position to mess it up was impressive. This guy made no less of a play on the catch than OBJ did that no one can ever shut up about. The one-handed grab he made in that game the Giants lost on the way to a 6-10 season. Hawkins will never get the flowers he deserves for that. But he's establishing himself as a reliable, and at times spectacular, every down safety.

--And yet on the day, the best Patriots defender was without a doubt Robert Spillane. Even without the interception, where he was never off his assignment's hip and Gabriel had no business throwing the ball:

Spillane just continues to improve every week after a slow start to the season. He was everywhere. Limited yards after the catch on a unit that just kept coming downfield to hit guys where they caught the ball. And along with a few more pass break ups by Marcus Jones, was the main reason that after giving up three explosive plays on the first Browns drive, only gave up three 1st downs until the game was over late into the 4th.

--This Week's Applicable Movie Quote: "You must be ready for him. If you don't … it's your funeral." - Loomis, Halloween

--I'm a simple man with simple tastes. And the culture has probably passed me by. But whatever happened to the noble tradition of featuring the cheerleaders in their Halloween costumes? It used to be a staple of broadcasting games this time of year. These professionals dedicate themselves to bringing cheer and pep to the masses. And they deserve to be celebrated for their creativity as they cosplay as Scooby-Doo characters, Mario Bros. and Disney Princesses. But for some reason now the networks ignore their efforts and deprive their viewers of that particular avenue of pleasure. It's an injustice. And I don't see any reason for it. Ladies (and gentleman) if you want to metaphorically Trick or Treat on Thornton Street, the plastic Jack-o-Lantern full of candy is on the porch waiting for you.

--How good a day do you think Boutte had? First making scoring that touchdown for a first place team. Then finding out the guy who's responsible for him being a 6th round pick instead of a 1st round prospect finally met his fate:

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--And next week is home against Atlanta, a team that just got its brakes beaten off by a Miami team who's quarterback just said he can't see his receivers. This are glorious times.