slides: 5 Takeaways From the Patriots 34-22 Preseason Win Over New Orleans

Friday, August 12, 2016

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

The New England Patriots defeated the New Orleans Saints 34-22 in game one of the preseason on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.

For more on the game, see the five takeaways slideshow below.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played the entire first half and threw for 168 yards before turning things over to Jacoby Brissett in the second half.

"It wasn't our best start, no question. We started a little slow, which we never want to do, but that's going to happen sometimes. You're not going to always start the right way and it's just how you react to that. It was a good experience tonight just being put in a difficult situation and then just seeing how the guys responded, how everyone responded. I think we reacted in the right way," said Jimmy Garoppolo after the game.

The Game

The Patriots got off to a fast start when Jamie Collins picked off Saints quarterback Garrett Grayson and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown. New England went for and converted a two point conversion to go up 8-0.

After the first quarter ended in a tie, the Patriots took a 17-16 lead into the locker room at the half.

New England would outscore the Saints 17-6 over the final two quarters to put the game away.

The Patriots scoring came courtesy of two offensive touchdowns (both rushing) and two defensive scores (interception and fumble).

Next up

The Patriots return to action next Thursday when they host the Chicago Bears at Gillette Stadium. Prior to that, the Patriots will hold joint practices with the Bears starting on Monday.

Wednesday is the final day in which training camp is open to the public.

For more on the Patriots first preseason game, see the five takeaways slideshow below.

Related Slideshow: 5 Takeaways From the Patriots 34-22 Preseason Win Over New Orleans

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Malcolm Mitchell

The Patriots 4th round draft pick suffered a dislocated elbow in the second quarter, it looked much worse. The Patriots have said that Mitchell will be out for about 4 weeks with the injury.

Prior to the injury, Mitchell was having himself a game with 4 catches for 55 yards.

Mitchell has a history of injuries which is what caused him to drop to the 4th round of the draft.

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Martellus Bennett

In his first action as a New England Patriot, Bennett served as a safety blanket for Garoppolo, recording three receptions for 27 yards.

Watching him in action it is tough not to envision what he and Rob Gronkowski will look like on the field together.

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Running Game

How the Patriots split up the carries in this game and throughout the preseason was going to be interesting and in this game it was Tyler Gaffney and LeGarrette Blount who had the most carries with 9 each.

Overall the Patriots rushed for 151 yards on 30 carries, with LeGarrette Blount and Gaffney getting into the endzone for scores.

Blount's touchdown was set up by a 55 yard catch and run from James White who was taken down one yard short of the endzone.

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Trey Flowers

After missing his entire rookie season, Trey Flowers came into this preseason game with a vengence.

He may have had the play of the game when he strip sacked Saints QB Luke McCown and then recoverd the fumble and ran it into the end zone.

In the game, he also drew two holds, recorded a pressure and stuffed a couple of runs.

With Ninkovich out for about a month, the play of Flowers is a good sign for the Patriots.

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Jimmy Garoppolo

Coming into this preseason game, all eyes were on Jimmy Garoppolo and after a shaky start, he turned it around.

Jimmy G played the entire first half and finished 11 of 18 for 168 yards with no touchdown passes.

Garoppolo found success when he hit Martellus Bennett and did a decent job of keeping some plays alive.

He also missed a wide open James Develin out in the flat, had a miscommunication with James White cutting across the middle and made a bad decision in the redzone when he scrambled left and then threw back across his body. The pass fell incomplete but could have easily been picked off.

An obvious caveat to this is he was without Edelman, Gronkowski and Amendola.