FOXBORO, Mass. — Those not yet sold on how formidable the New England Patriots’ defense could be this season need only to look at the film from Thursday night’s preseason opener.
The Patriots’ D terrorized the visiting New Orleans Saints from the opening kickoff, forcing four turnovers and producing a pair of defensive touchdowns in a 34-22 win at Gillette Stadium.
“Any time the defense can score, it’s a real game-changer,” defensive end Chris Long said after the game. “For the entire team, it’s a little bit of a lift. Ball disruption, creating turnovers — that’s always an emphasis for everybody, and any time you can do that, it’s a good thing.”
Defensive end Jabaal Sheard set the tone with a forced fumble on the game’s opening possession (recovered by rookie cornerback Cyrus Jones). Linebacker Jamie Collins intercepted Saints backup quarterback Garrett Grayson on the Saints’ very next offensive play and took it the distance for a 43-yard pick-six.
The second-teamers got in on the action, as well. Rookie cornerback Cre’von LeBlanc secured a spot on highlight reels with a one-handed interception in the end zone, and second-year D-end Trey Flowers capped an impressive individual performance by abusing veteran signal-caller Luke McCown for a strip-sack touchdown.
The two defensive scores nearly equaled the output of New England’s shorthanded offense, which produced just 20 points but did finish the game without a turnover.
“Any time we don’t turn the ball over, that’s a good thing,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “Defensively, we got the turnovers. We got the two touchdowns so that’s kind of 14 bonus points. It’s hard to count on that in a game. In the end, that really ended up being the difference in the final score.
“It was a great job by the defense to not only turn the ball over, but converting it into two touchdowns, so those were obviously huge plays for us.”
Some additional notes from a hot and steamy Friday night in Foxboro:
— Rookie wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell caught four passes from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the second quarter but was forced to leave the game after suffering a nasty elbow injury.
“I don’t know what the injury is exactly yet, but it didn’t look very good when he was walking off the field,” Garoppolo said. “He was playing well, so hopefully he’ll come back as soon as possible and keep rolling.”
Mitchell’s injury was an elbow subluxation, a source told NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss, citing a source, estimated his recovery time at four weeks.
— A.J. Derby, who is battling for the third tight end spot behind Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett, looked solid in his first taste of NFL action. The 2015 sixth-round draft pick caught three passes from Jacoby Brissett, totaling 47 yards.
— As they have throughout training camp, rookies Cyrus Jones and V’Angelo Bentley handled returning duties for New England. Each fielded one punt, and Bentley totaled 61 yards on three kickoff returns.
“We had two rookie returners back there,” Belichick said. “I thought they handled the ball well in kicking situations.”
— A 48-yard punt return by Marcus Murphy set up the Saints’ first score of the night — and probably left Patriots punter Ryan Allen with a few bruises.
Allen attempted to bring down Murphy along the sideline but ended up flat on his back thanks to a ferocious block by Brian Dixon.
— Hundreds of cheerleaders paid tribute to quarterback Tom Brady, who did not play in the game, during a pregame exhibition.
— Next up for the Patriots: the Chicago Bears, who will visit Foxboro next week for three joint practices ahead of the teams’ preseason matchup next Thursday night at Gillette.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
