This was a good job by OC Josh McDaniels of finding a way to replace slot receivers Julian Edelman (out for the season) and Danny Amendola (inactive with a concussion), at least temporarily, with Burkhead, while at the same time abusing a rookie defender. TE Josh Hill was matched up in the same area with safety Patrick Chung. NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League.The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. This just showed that New Orleans felt it couldn't win if it didn't keep pace with New England's ability to score touchdowns, which the Patriots did again on the next drive. Gilmore was covering Coleman, but TE Coby Fleener appeared to get away with a shove that knocked Gilmore to the ground. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. Commercial reproduction, distribution or transmission of any part or parts of this website or any information contained therein by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the Club is not permitted. …Second-year undrafted CB Jonathan Jones normally plays a lot on special teams, and still does, but may have had his best defensive performance against New Orleans as well. Cooks was wide right with Hogan in the slot, but Hogan motioned to the left to expose the Saints in a man coverage look. © 2020 NFL Enterprises LLC. …New England players suffered several injuries in this game. …We don't often see the Patriots having to rush their field goal team onto the field at the end of a half or a game because they have no timeouts left, but that's exactly what happened at the end of the first half, and they pulled off the rare fire drill flawlessly. This feature requires Season Plus subscription. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. Vaccaro again manning solo on Gronkowski proved ill-equipped to handle the job, despite relatively good, tight coverage. A film breakdown of New England's Week 2 road win in New Orleans. © 2020 NFL Enterprises LLC. Instead, the QB took advantage of rookie Anzalone yet again. Download the MyTeams app for the latest Patriots news and analysis. Listen to replays of recent editions of Patriots Unfiltered. — New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 17, 2017 Second quarter As time expires, the Patriots close the half with a well-executed 28-yard field goal by Gostkowski: (Patriots 30, Saints 13). White was in the backfield to Brady's right. This gave him enough space so that Brady could hit him with the pass. It was underthrown and his intended receiver never had a chance to make a play on it. In Dorsett's case, it appeared that he sustained his injury while scrambling to get open at the end of New England's first drive of the 4th quarter. The next play, Brees was forced to throw the ball away thanks to good coverage by the secondary, and the Saints missed a 49-yard field goal. Super Bowl 2017: Tom Brady leads epic comeback, Patriots stun Falcons in OT The Patriots win their fifth Super Bowl with 31 unanswered points in a stunner The o-line, along with RB Rex Burkhead, did a good job of picking up the blitz. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. Wasn't nearly as disastrous a result as last week, but another example of the new player on defense working out some kinks in the early going of the season. Watch every NFL game live including Playoffs and Super Bowl, plus NFL RedZone and 24/7 streaming of NFL Network For all intents and purposes, the game was decided by this point. White has really emerged as a superb, reliable pass-catching back for New England, and these two plays were a great example of his abilities. Betting analysis for the 2017 NFL Football season matchup between New England and New Orleans. WRs Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan were to the short left of formation, with FB James Develin split wide right and Gronk tight to the o-line a step behind RT Marcus Cannon. A film breakdown of New England's Week 7 victory over Chicago. Brady spotted Gronk alone with Anzalone on the right side and nothing but green turf ahead of him because Cooks, running a deep in pattern, drew his man, plus a safety. …CB Stephon Gilmore appeared to have another miscommunication with a teammate, as he did in Week 1 on a 75-yard Chiefs touchdown, when he and fellow CB Eric Rowe covered the same Saints receiver. NFL footage © NFL Productions LLC. Follow along for all the action from Sunday’s Patriots-Saints game in New Orleans! On 2nd-and-2, he dropped RB Adrian Peterson for a1-yard loss after shoving LG Senio Kelemete to the turf to get into the backfield. The play began with Burkhead in the shotgun backfield next to Brady. Your account is being used to stream NFL Game Pass on a different device. While Jordan didn't manage to sack Brady, he came close on a few 1st quarter occasions. That left another Saints receiver wide open for a 16-yard gain to move the chains for New Orleans. Jones used great technique and awareness not to make contact with Ginn before the ball arrived, because Jones wasn't looking back at the ball. A film breakdown of New England's Week 4 victory over Miami. This gave Coleman, originally in the slot, a wide open lane down the sideline for Brees to find him and move the chains. However, Brady was getting pressured up the middle, too, as LG Joe Thuney was being driven backward into him. Vaccaro, however, was overmatched, and Gronkowski shrugged off the defender on a deep crossing route to collect Brady's pass and pick up another first down. Then, on the next play, he used a nice duck-under move to beat LT Andrus Peat and give himself the opportunity to fall at Brees' feet and wrap him up by the leg. New Orleans elected to put safety Kenny Vaccaro on Gronk 1-on-1, the way the Chiefs did a week earlier with Eric Berry. New Orleans sent six players at Brady, five of whom were well handled by five Patriots: Thuney, center David Andrews, RG Shaq Mason, Cannon, and White. …The drive ended with New England's first touchdown of the day, a beautiful lob from Brady to Burkhead. This website is the only official website of the New England Patriots and is © Copyright New England Patriots (the "Club"). When the Saints were in an obvious passing situation on 3rd-and-7 from the NE 28, the Patriot's 4-man rush got some heat on Brees while the back seven clogged up his passing lanes. Brees made the precise throw to his open target for the score. Please review the System Requirements at, This video cannot be played on your device. …Fantastic move by RB James White on the game's opening drive, on 3rd-and-5, to separate from a pair of Saints defenders and get open for QB Tom Brady. Please review the System Requirements at. Performance Review: Patriots-Saints Sep 19, 2017 at 06:30 AM. Coleman took a few steps up-field, which forced Butler to backpedal. The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge (v80 and later), Firefox and Safari. Once he did, Coleman cut behind his teammate, and while Hill didn't make intentional contact like Cooks had earlier, Butler got caught up in the traffic and couldn't keep up with Coleman. Hill was to the far left, and WR Brandon Coleman was the slot man matched up with CB Malcolm Butler. JAN,FEB,MAR,APR,MAY,JUN,JUL,AUG,SEP,OCT,NOV,DEC, JANUARY,FEBRUARY,MARCH,APRIL,MAY,JUNE,JULY,AUGUST,SEPTEMBER,OCTOBER,NOVEMBER,DECEMBER, Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,Saturday, This video cannot be played on your device. Brady never stood a chance of getting the ball off and was brought down. Once again, the Saints decided to blitz Brady with five rushers, and two of them nearly got to Brady before he unloaded the football. …The Patriots effectively ran screens and end-arounds all day against New Orleans, and that allowed New England to run fakes off those plays for big gains. Fleener was Chung's man on the play, and both players made contact with Gilmore. …Jones, the cornerback, again broke up a deep pass by Brees that would have resulted in a first down in the Patriots red zone. A film breakdown of New England's Week 2 road win in New Orleans. Looked like Gilmore should have taken the open player, but it's difficult to say with 100-percent certainty. The officiating crew threw a flag, but had to pick it up when they discussed the construction of the play (with Brady barking in their ears that this was within the rules). Dorsett, meanwhile, ran a post to draw his defender away from the area beyond the numbers, giving Hogan a clear path to the end zone. Their first-rounder and a third went to the Saints in a trade for Brandin Cooks and a New Orleans fourth. The official source for NFL news, video highlights, fantasy football, game-day coverage, schedules, stats, scores and more. …Brady-to-Gronk beat another Saints blitz on 3rd down on the third drive to keep the eventual scoring possession alive. That left LB Hau'oli Kikaha alone with Solder. …Rookie DE Deatrich Wise made a couple of consecutive plays to stuff New Orleans on their next possession. Anzalone made the mistake of looking too much into the backfield at Brady and took his eyes off Gronk for just a moment. Coincidentally, this was the first time in the game that New England chose to blitz Brees (with five rushers), and New Orleans had the right play called to beat it. His most important play came when he broke up what looked like a sure touchdown pass from Brees to WR Ted Ginn on the left side of the end zone. But he read his blockers and patiently waited for an opening that allowed him to squeeze through and actually pick up a 2-yard gain. Pre-snap, Burkhead motioned out of the backfield to the right slot and a Saints defender shadowed him, which declared New Orleans as being in man-to-man coverage. Brees threw the ball away to avoid the sack, but Wise forced the Saints into another 4th-down attempt. Nice job by the line to protect Brady from the blitz. Jones waited till Ginn made a play for the ball and punched it loose before Ginn could secure it and get his feet down. …The Saints ran a similar pick play on their first touchdown, although it was further downfield than New England's was. Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft's first game as owner of the team was a 1994 preseason game at Foxboro Stadium against the Saints. Gronk ran a slant. Newcomer Cassisus Marsh, at left defensive end, used a great swim move to beat RT Josh LeRibeus. Wise beat Peat with his speed, getting behind Brees in the backfield and pulling him down to force the Saints to punt. This came on third down, so, New England had to punt for the first time in the game. Off his back foot, Brady delivered another brilliant strike over the head of Anzalone, and Gronk recognized the danger his QB was in, so, he adjusted his route to turn up-field. It was enough for Gronk to speed by him, haul in the pass, avoid another defender, and out-race two other Saints to the end zone. The first round of the 2017 NFL Draft passed Thursday, and the New England Patriots did not make a pick or a trade. Burkhead made a nice, almost fingertip catch in the middle of the end zone to complete the scoring play. 1st Quarter …Fantastic move by RB James White on the game's opening drive, on 3rd-and-5, to separate from a pair of Saints defenders and get open for QB Tom Brady. ... — New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 17, 2017. …The Patriots blitzed Brees a second time, on 3rd-and-8, and the veteran QB connected with Coleman again for a huge gain down the right sideline. …RB Mike Gillislee, who ran strong against New Orleans, mopped up with a 2-yard plunge to put the game essentially out of reach. 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