Patriots Jump All Over Jaguars in Pre-Season Debut
Friday, August 12, 2011
It was just a pre-season game. Nevertheless, it was still a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping in Foxboro.
The New England Patriots - remade, revamped and perhaps reinvigorated - throttled the Jacksonville Jaguars 47-12 Thursday night at Gillette Stadium in the first game for 2011. Again, it was a pre-season game, which generally means you hope to get in, and get out without too much trouble or injury, and get your rookies, free agents and substitutes as much playing time as possible.
Mission accomplished on all accounts.
With Tom Brady watching the game from the sidelines (and he would be there the entire night), the first series following the opening kickoff saw Jacksonville take the football right down the field on the Patriots defense…which featured Kyle Love and Darryl Richard starting at defensive tackle. Josh Scobee ended the drive with a 41 yard field goal. The Patriots followed that with just one play – Brian Hoyer starting at QB, completing a short pass to Aaron Hernandez, which was fumbled and recovered by the Jaguars at the Patriot 26 yard line. The Patriots led the league in turnover differential last year, and the turnover resulted in another field goal, a 40 yarder from Sam Swank for a 6-0 Jacksonville lead…
The first quarterback sack (albeit, again in the pre-season) by the revamped defensive line goes to Landon Cohen, who broke through to sack Blaine Gabbert for a loss on a 3rd down and 6 play a little more than halfway through the first quarter. And that's where the game began to turn. With 1:27 remaining in the quarter, rookie RB Stevan Ridley from LSU put the first points on the board for the Patriots with a 1-yard TD run, after a drive that began at the Jaguars’ 49-yard line…the drive included another Hoyer-to-Hernandez catch and run that Hernandez fumbled – as he did earlier in the quarter – but he managed to recover his own mistake…two very short Matt Turk punts for the Jags gave the Pats great field position, the second punt traveled just 14 yards and began a New England drive at the Jacksonville 32, at the end of the first quarter. 7-6 Patriots after one…
Three plays deep into the 2nd quarter, Hoyer found WR Taylor Price along the back line of the end zone from 11 yards away…Price had to turn back for the ball and make a tight-rope-walk type of catch. The play was reviewed to see if Price had both feet in bounds, and if he had possession of the ball before he went out of bounds. Yes to both…13-6 Pats at the 14:15 mark of the second quarter, as the snap sailed over the hands (and head) of holder Zoltan Mesko from Matt Katula and the extra point failed…an 84 yard kickoff return by Jacksonville’s Deji Karim set the Jags up at the Patriots’ 18 yard line, where the defense stiffened (stop made by LB Dane Fletcher on 3rd and two from the 10) and forced a 29 yard field goal by Josh Scobee to make it 13-9 with 12:08 to play in the second quarter…Hoyer hooked up with Matthew Slater for a 46 yard pass connection, a play that Slater actually out jumped former Patriot DB Terrence Wheatley for…it set up a 46 yard FG from Stephen Gostkowski for a 16-9 advantage with 9:35 left in the period…Daryl Richard came up with sack #2 on the night of Gabbert, a 7-yard loss in the second…Patrick Chung dropped what should have been a sure interception of Gabbert with just over 4:00 left before halftime…Hoyer and Price kick started a 2:00 drill with a 20-yard slant completion, and short completions to Hernandez and Ridley to move to the Jaguar 28 with :33 left…a 28 yard pass attempt to former Brown WR Buddy Farnham was overthrown in the end zone, followed by a 3 yard completion to Farnham to set up Gostkowski for a 43 yard FG as time expired. New England led 19-9 at the half, outgaining the Jaguars 208 total yards to 114…
On the opening possession of the 3rd quarter, rookie QB Ryan Mallett made his debut with a 50-yard catch and run connection with Taylor Price, to the Jacksonville 27 yard line…the drive was kept alive on a 4th and 3 conversion pass to Farnham from Mallett…the drive resulted in a 1-yard Ridley run for TD that put the Pats on top 26-9, capping a 5:57 drive to open the second half…Price had a 45 yard punt return called back for a block-in-the-back halfway through the quarter…Ridley showed speed and power with a 21 yard run around right end, and Farnham made a nice catch for a 25 yard pickup on a Mallett pass…and Mallett then connected with Ridley out of the backfield on a swing pass for 16 yards for a score to make it 33-9, with 5:20 to go in the third…Daryl Richard picked up two QB sacks on the night, bringing down QB Todd Bouman late in the 3rd quarter on his second sack…Patriots led 33-9 at the end of the third quarter…which brought most of the Gillette Stadium crowd to its’ collective feet, and into the parking lots…
Josh Scobee connected on a 31 yard FG early in the 4th quarter, capping off a 13 play, 74 yard drive for Jacksonville early in the 4th quarter…Jags’ DB Michael Hamlin had an interception of Mallett rubbed out thanks to a personal foul call prior to the pick, while the Patriots were working on their hurry-up offense…Mallett looked poised running the no-huddle, which he did with some success under Bobby Petrino at Arkansas. Mixing the run with short passes, he led the offense to the two yard line, where rookie Richard Medlin ran in untouched for a score to make it 40-12 with 10:00 to go…
The excitement in the 4th quarter came when Bouman was intercepted by Buddy Farnham, who had also been playing some defense in recent practices…his pick put the Patriots offense in good shape at the Jaguars’ 31 yard line, where strong running by Medlin led to his two yard run for another score…47-12 Pats with 7:35 to play…from there, New England managed to run the clock out behind Mallett and Medlin, converting a couple of 4th down chances along the way.
Patriots Post-Game Notes
The 47 points against the Jaguars are the most points they have ever scored in a preseason contest. The previous best was a 45-7 win vs. Washington on Sept. 4, 1977...the last time the Patriots scored 40 or more points in a preseason game was a 41-0 win on August 26, 2006 vs. Washington...QB Brian Hoyer started the game and played the entire first half before being relieved by third-round pick QB Ryan Mallett to start the second half. Hoyer completed 15-of-21 passes for 171 yards with one touchdown for a quarterback rating of 111.4. Hoyer has never started a regular-season game but made his second career preseason start last night. He started the preseason finale as a rookie on August 3, 2009 vs. the New York Giants...
The Patriots outgained Jacksonville with 476 total yards of offense to 193, with 335 of those yards through the air...six of the nine Patriots 2011 draft picks made their NFL debut, including two that were in the starting lineup. First-round pick T Nate Solder started at left tackle and fifth-round pick TE Lee Smith both started on offense. Last season, four draft picks were in the starting lineup in the first preseason game. First-round pick CB Devin McCourty and second-round pick LB Brandon Spikes started against the Saints on defense, while second-round pick TE Rob Gronkowski and fourth-round pick TE Aaron Hernandez started on offense...2010 third-round pick RB Stevan Ridley had three touchdowns on the night with two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. He scored on 1-yard touchdown runs in the first and third quarter and then added a 16-yard touchdown reception from QB Ryan Mallett in the third quarter. Ridley finished the game with a 16 rushes for 64 yards and also caught seven passes for 47 yards. "We really looked at a lot of young players, got them in there and let them play," Bill Belichick said afterward. "That was the goal tonight."
Among the Patriots sitting out the game who were part of last year's 14-2 team that lost its only playoff game were Brady, receivers Wes Welker and Deion Branch and defensive lineman Vince Wilfork. Two newcomers, wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, also were held out. Jacksonville starters who didn't play were quarterback David Garrard, running back Maurice Jones-Drew, defensive end Aaron Kampman, tackle Eben Britton and cornerback Derek Cox...
Mallett entered the game in the second half. His first NFL completion was a 3-yard pass to rookie Ridley. Mallett led the Patriots on a 13-play, 82-yard drive that was culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run by Ridley on his first series. The highlight of that drive was a short completion to WR Taylor Price that turned into a 50-yard reception. Mallett finished the game 12-of-19 for 164 yards and one touchdown, a 16-yard scoring pass to Ridley...RB Richard Medlin, a rookie free agent from Fayetteville, scored two touchdowns with two 2-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter...First-year WR Buddy Farnham played both wide receiver and safety and intercepted a Todd Bouman pass in the fourth quarter. On offense, he caught three passes for 34 yards. Last season in the preseason finale against the New York Giants, he played both ways and broke up a Giants pass in the end zone in the third quarter. "I’m a football player," said Farnham, an Andover, MA native. "I’ll play whatever's best for the team, whatever the coaches tell me to do." Belichick also referenced Farnham's night by saying "Buddy stepped in there -- we've got a receiver leading the team in interceptions. It will be a point of embarrassment for the defensive backs, but it's alright, they deserve it."
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It