Patriots stock, stock down after shutout victory against Falcons: Kyle Van Noy helps control the defense

The New England Patriots started the NFL in Week 11 last Thursday and managed to get a shutout win against the Falcons on the road. This not only extended their winning streak to five games and moved them to a 7-4 result of the season, but also a Colts victory over the Bills on Sunday, they are now ranked first in AFC East and ranked 3rd in the conference. This has been a dramatic turn for New England since the start of 2-4, but they are now in the playoffs as they go home.

Next up is a key match with the Tennessee Titans, who are currently number one in the AFC, at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Before we dive into it completely opposite, let’s look back at that dominant victory against the Falcons and look at where a handful of Patriots are on trend at this point in the season.

You really can’t hope for a better day at the office than what the Patriots defense put together on Thursday. They controlled the Falcons attack from the jump and then generated a tsunami turnover by recording four direct abductions to end the game. One of the most important threads to thread on that big day of defense was linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

He was at the center of several big games as he ended his day with the team’s record eight tackles, two sacks and a kidnapping he returned to the touchdown. While the selection six is ​​self-evident, Van Noy’s kick during the third run in Atlanta was also a critical point in the race. The Falcons always brought the ball to New England’s 14-yard line and Van Noy was able to kick Matt Ryan’s 13-yard loss with a third and 1 attempt.

This sack, along with Falcons ’illegal formation penalty, changed what the chip-shot field paint company Younghoe Koon should have been 50 yards into, which he eventually failed to.

Stock: Patriots backfield

It was a very lucrative day for the Patriots backfield squad, Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris. After missing a week 10 concussion, Harris was able to return to Atlanta and plunge 10 yards 56 times. Meanwhile, Stevenson led the team in stumps (12) and converted it to 69 yards on the ground, giving him 5.8 yards per stump. Of the Patriots ’first 20 bills, nine came to the country. Now that both sides are healthy, this is a dangerous combination for opposing defenses to defend forward.

Andrews more often sees an arrow pointing up after a certain game, but this was one of the few bad shows at the New England Start Center. He was sentenced to two arrest sentences, one of which knocked out Stevenson’s 28-yard run, which would have lifted the Patriots to Atlanta 18. A more positive remark to Andrews was that he knocked out on Thursday in a blocking pass. so he is still a key anchor for the New England Society and is likely to return soon.

The Patriots seemed to have won gold by choosing Barmore in the second draft round last spring. Every week, Takla, who defends the novice, continues to improve and announces his presence to the opponent’s attack. He is constantly blocking Falcons ’O-line (has even had to face double teams) and ended his day with three total pressures (QB strike and two rushes). Even though he didn’t come in sacks himself, he paves the way for others to get to the quarterback.

For the second week in a row, Kyle Dugger has become big for the Patriots at critical moments. Last week, he was cut off from Baker Mayfield to spark a New England blowout victory, and on Thursday he had a key PBU against Kyle Pitts in Matt Ryan’s third and 9th throw at the Atlanta opening time. Dugger was able to hold on to the rookie phenomenon and push his hand in front of Pitts to knock the ball off and undo the first loss.

Pitts hit three times under the cover of Dugger and managed with just one catch in the 16 yards. Second-year safety also ended the game with seven tackles (the team’s second-highest).

It could get lost in a shuffle in the middle of a dominant game defended by New England, but Nelson Agholor put together the most effective game of the season on Thursday. He grabbed all five of his goals from a distance of 40 yards and made the game’s first touchdown from Mac Jones ’19-yard pass.

Agholor reached her season record at the receptions and made her first touchdown after week 7. What was interesting about this performance by Agholor was that he had the second lowest ADOT of the season (4). Given that he managed to hit a shorter area of ​​the field, it’s worth watching to see if the Patriots start using him in different ways over the next few weeks.