Edelman Returns

It was a pleasant surprise to see Julian Edelman suited up for the preseason game and making his preseason debut. 

Edelman only played a couple of series catching one pass for 6 yards.

On the first drive of the game the Patriots got into the red zone and Garoppolo tried to hit him over the middle but Edelman had cut off the route and the ball was nearly picked off. 

Edelman and Garoppolo now need to begin to build chemistry leading into week 1. 

Cyrus Jones

Cyrus Jones, the Patriots 2nd round draft pick out of Alabama, appears to have that 3rd cornerback spot locked up and he may even have punt returner duties locked up. 

Jones had 3 punt returns for 85 yards, about 60 of those yards came on one return in the third quarter. 

"That was probably one of the most important plays in the game, changed field position and we scored a touchdown on that drive which we ended up needing so it wasa big play," said Bill Belichick after the game.

Jones returned punts during camp but struggled to hang on to them. Seems that he sured that up. 

Last season, the Patriots used Edelman and Amendola to return punts. Would be nice to see them relieved of those duties and let Jones do it, except for maybe in pressure situations or bad weather.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady played 4 offensive series, all coming in the second quarter, and went 3 of 9 for 76 yards and a touchdown pass. 

The touchdown pass came in Brady's second offensive series when he hit Chris Hogan for a 33 yard score. 

In his first series, Brady hit Aaron Dobson on a 37 yard pass in his first play of the game. However, the offense stalled in the red zone with a Brady pass to Martellus Bennet falling incomplete in the back of the endzone. 

On a later possession, Brady forced another pass into Martellus Bennet and it should have been picked off. 

He played nearly the entire second quarter but his run ended with a sack, after Nate Solder was beat on the line.  

It's safe to say that Brady played a lot more then anyone thought he was going to play. 

Pats Defense

The Patriots defense was going to be tested tonight going up against the reigning MVP in Cam Newton. 

Newton played nearly three full quarters and the Patriots defense held him to 13 of 29 for 100 yards while picking him off twice in the game. 

Overall, the Patriots defense had three interceptions in the game and in the third quarter when Newton did get his team into the red zone, the Patriots held Carolina to a field goal. 

In the first half, the Patriots held Carolina to just 3.9 yards per play. 

The Panthers scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to make it interesting, but for the Patriots first team defense it was a good night. 

Jimmy Garoppolo

Jimmy Garoppolo played the first and about half of the third quarter with two possession in the final minutes of the first half mixed in against Carolina. All of his snaps came against Carolina's first team defense and he struggled going 9 of 15 for 57 yards. 

Things started out well for Jimmy G in his first series of the game moving the team up the field with a pass to Chris Hogan and then a nice run by Tyler Gaffney to get into the red zone. In the red zone Garoppolo tried to hit Julian Edelman but there was a miscommunication and that pass should have been picked off. 

It looked like Garoppolo wanted Edelman to keep going but Edelman cut the route off. 

"A little miscommunication between us, I can’t make that throw, put it in the linebackers chest," Garoppolo continued "Its my fault, I can’t put it in the linebackers hands like that."

Later in the game, Garoppolo threw the ball away while he was being chased. The problem was that he was inside the pocket and was called for intentional grounding. 

In the 2nd quarter, Garoppolo got away from a sack but as he was scrambling, held the ball out and had it stripped from him. Patriots running back James White jumped on the ball and saved a turnover. 

Garoppolo has one more preseason game left before the real thing begins.