7 winners and losers from the Patriots’ victory over the Bengals

The New England Patriots opened their 2024 season with an unexpected 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Here’s who caught our eye while watching live, both good and bad.

Winner: RB Rhamondre Stevenson. Jerod Mayo let the world know earlier this week that his team would run on Sunday. They did, and Stevenson led by example, breaking the 100-yard mark for the fifth time in his career as he totaled 120 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. The running back appears poised for a career year in Alex Van Pelt’s offense.

Winner: DE Keion White. With Matthew Judon in Atlanta and Christian Barmore out indefinitely, it was fair to wonder where New England’s pass rush would come from. On Sunday, it was second-year lineman Keion White who made a quick impact with a strip sack on the second defensive play of the season. Overall, White had 2.5 sacks and three QB hits.

Loser: OT Chukwuma Okorafor. Okorafor, who started at left tackle, didn’t last long in Sunday’s game. Okorafor allowed three pressures in just five pass-blocking snaps to Trey Hendrickson, which led to him being quickly replaced by Vederian Lowe on New England’s second offensive possession. Going forward, Lowe appears to be the best option on the blindside.

Winners: Christian Gonzalez and the Joneses. New England’s top three cornerbacks were very impressive in live action. Gonzalez was assigned to Ja’Marr Chase and helped limit him to just six catches for 62 yards. Chase’s biggest play of the day – a 28-yard pass – came when Gonzalez wasn’t the primary defender.

Marcus and Jonathan Jones were active throughout the day, despite working with Gonzalez. Although no other Bengals pass receiver managed more than 26 yards, the Joneses had to make several physical tackles short of the line to gain on third and fourth downs. Marcus Jones also recovered the fumble forced by Kyle Dugger.

Winners: Brenden Schooler and the special teams. Even though the new dynamic kickoff didn’t bring much excitement, New England’s special teams effort was exceptional on Sunday, led by Brenden Schooler, who recorded a number of tackles in punt coverage, and Joey Slye, who converted all three of his field goal attempts.

Elsewhere, Joe Cardona forced a crucial fumble in punt coverage early in the second half, and Bryce Baringer’s success from the summer continued into the regular season, as he recorded three i20s and zero touchbacks on five punts.

Honorable Mentions:

• Jacoby Brissett deserves credit for his good playmaking and numerous plays with his legs — although he did suffer a turnover that forced an end zone pass to Hunter Henry. While it was enough on Sunday, New England will likely need more from its passing attack going forward.
• Speaking of Henry: Both he and fellow tight end Austin Hooper had two catches each. Three of those four resulted in first downs.
• The Patriots’ offensive line seemed to hold up relatively well on live broadcasts. Brissett was sacked just once while they ran for 170 yards on the ground – often with a sixth offensive lineman. But Brissett took a few hits throughout the game, and a free rusher in the third quarter also resulted in an incomplete pass to the unmarked Pop Douglas.
• Kyle Dugger made a strong play, forcing a fumble at the goal line that Marcus Jones recovered. Safety Jaylinn Hawkins also recovered the fumble forced by Cardona.
• Ja’Whaun Bentley led the team with 12 total tackles and shared a sack with Keion White on a third-down blitz. Joshua Uche also applied noticeable pressure along the edge to get Joe Burrow in the pocket and go right at White, who scored a sack.