7 takeaways from the Patriots' blowout win over the Panthers

The New England Patriots needed a bounce-back game after last week's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they got one. On Sunday at Gillette Stadium the Patriots beat the Panthers 42-13.

With the win the Patriots finish the first month of the 2025 season at .500 at 2-2. That represents a step forward in the first year under head coach Mike Vrabel, as the team hadn't finished the month of September at or better than .500 since the 2020 season. This was also their first home win in the month of September since 2020, when the beat the Las Vegas Raiders 36-20 in Week 3. That game was five years ago almost to the day, played on Sept. 27.

There were some other boxes checked for the first time in a while. It's the first time the Patriots have put up more than 40 points since a 50-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars late in the 2021 season.

Granted this was against a weaker Panthers team, but the Patriots needed to take a step forward and they did after turning the ball over five times last week. Let's start with the latest in that development in this week's takeaways...

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Throughout the week Vrabel and Patriots players talked about an increased focus on ball security. While they mentioned an emphasis in that regard during the week, many questioned Vrabel's comments on Friday afternoon that Rhamondre Stevenson would not be 'disciplined' after fumbling twice.

Vrabel stood by that, and Stevenson started the game on Sunday. His 28 snaps led all Patriots running backs, with TreVeyon Henderson at 15 snaps and Antonio Gibson at nine. At times two running backs were used on the field together, including back-to-back plays with a jet sweep to Gibson and then a fake jet sweep handoff to Stevenson that totaled a combined 43 yards and set up the Patriots' second touchdown.

The coaching staff's trust in Stevenson paid off. He led the team with 10 touches and didn't put the ball on the ground once. In fact, none of the Patriots did.

There was really only one play all game where the Patriots even came close to putting the ball in danger. On their first third down of the game Drake Maye tried hitting Kayshon Boutte over the middle but the pass was tipped up in the air, where a couple of Panthers defenders nearly had a chance to grab it.

This game against a Panthers defense that had forced at least one turnover in each game this season heading into Sunday, including three last week. Next week represents another test against a Buffalo Bills defense that has also forced a turnover in every game so far this year. In the game in Buffalo last year the Bills forced three Patriots turnovers.

Maye keeps momentum going

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Stevenson wasn't the only player getting attention for his turnovers. That's been a big criticism of Maye too throughout his career, but he also turned in a clean sheet on Sunday.

That didn't happen just by being conservative, either. Maye took his chances down the field, with PFF's initial charting having his average depth of target at eight yards exactly - one tenth of a yard behind the season opener for his deepest of the year.

Maye found success in doing so. He finished 14-of-17 for 203 yards and was responsible for as many touchdowns an incompletions. He threw for two scores, and ran in for a third when nothing materialized on an early play action boot leg.

It wasn't a high volume game for the Patriots' quarterback but he was efficient, smart with the football, and explosive when he needed to be. There continues to be more good than bad with him as he builds momentum in his second season.

Diggs carries the passing game

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While the Patriots didn't shake up their running back rotation too much, their wide receiver usage was different. Most notably Stefon Diggs saw an increased role.

Diggs was on the field for 63.2% of their total offensive snaps according to PFF's initial charting. His previous high was 56.3% in the opener. He also saw more time in the slot.

With that usage, Diggs put together his first big game for the Patriots. He caught six of his seven targets for 101 yards - his 37th career 100-yard game. That included a 22-yard catch to convert a 3rd & 15, and a 30-yard catch to convert a 4th & 3 that the Patriots went for up 29 late in the game - a continued aggressive approach by this coaching staff.

Those extra snaps from Diggs seemed to come at the expense of DeMario Douglas. After a slow start to the year and a rough game last week, Douglas played just eight snaps on offense, the fewest of any Patriots receiver. At least for this week, rookie Kyle Williams passed him on the depth chart as he played 14.

Still, Douglas managed to leave a mark on this game. His blocks on Hunter Henry's third-quarter touchdown were singled out by Vrabel after the game.

Special teams provides a spark

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The offense did get moving in this game, but it took a spark from special teams to really start things. That was Marcus Jones, who had what was likely the most dominant punt return game in Patriots history.

After the Patriots' offense stalled out on its first drive, Jones didn't give them a chance to have an immediate second. The Patriots forced a punt from a short field, in part because Milton Williams came up with a big third down run stop when the Patriots might have been setting up a situation to go for it on fourth.

Instead the Panthers had to punt to Jones, who broke two tackles and cut back multiple times on his way to an 87-yard return touchdown. It was his first punt return touchdown since 2021.

However, Jones wasn't done there. Later in the game with the Panthers punting from deep in their own end, Jones got another shot at a return which he brought back 61 yards. He was just barely tripped up by punter Sam Martin at the end. That return gave the Patriots a fourth touchdown just before halftime.

For some reason, the Panthers punted to Jones again a third time late in the game (they'd kicked one out of bounds in between). That one won't show up on the highlight reels, but it was a solid 19-yarder.

With that Jones goes down with three punt returns for 167 yards. That breaks the old franchise record of 156 yards set by Mike Haynes against the Bills in 1976, although Jones hit his number with one fewer return.

Defense starts slow, finishes strong

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On what was overall a positive day for the Patriots one troubling trend did re-emerge. The defense started slow once again.

Carolina put together an impressive opening drive. The Panthers went 76 yards in seven plays, for a game-opening touchdown. With that, the Patriots have now allowed a first-drive touchdown to their opponent in all three of their home games this year.

However, from there the defense settled. Between the Panthers' first drive and garbage-time final drive that had a number of backups in, the defense allowed a total of 130 yards to the tune of 3.25 yards per play. Those first and last drives accounted for 60.1% of all of the Panthers' offensive production.

"Just settled down a little bit," Vrabel said on the defense after the game. "They did a nice job early on moving guys around. We have to continue to disguise better and tackle better and all those things. I guess, if that's the tradeoff for playing great defense the rest of the way, then we'll have to go through those growing pains early in the game. I don't anticipate that we should. It was good to see us respond, and we've done that. I'm proud of our guys for not going in the tank or complaining or pointing a finger or anything like that."

Defensive substitution

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One thing that may have helped jump-start the defense was a change at linebacker. Christian Elliss was replaced by Jack Gibbens late in the first quarter, with Gibbens handling things next to Robert Spillane for the majority of the rest of the game.

This is the second week in a row the Patriots have made that switch. Much like last week, Elliss struggled to tackle at the point of attack and was targeted when in coverage. Gibbens added more as a tackler, and rotated with Marte Mapu in obvious coverage situations.

It will be worth watching if Elliss gets another shot next week, or if he loses his starting job. If he does, there's the question of whether it goes to Gibbens or Jahlani Tavai, who will now be eligible to be activated from IR after missing four games.

Gonzalez returns

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Lost in the shuffle of the offensive breakout was a major development for the defense. Cornerback Christian Gonzalez played his first game of the year, two months to the date he suffered the hamstring injury that cost him most of training camp and the first month of the season.

Gonzalez wasn't really limited in his return. He played 49 of the Patriots' 69 defensive snaps according to PFF's initial charting. That includes being on the sideline for most of the fourth quarter, as was the case with many of the Patriots' starters.

In total the Panthers targeted Gonzalez three times, and he allowed two catches for 31 yards. The Panthers struggled to throw the ball throughout the day though, and his first major test will come next week against Josh Allen in Buffalo.

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