FOXBORO, Mass. — Despite scoring his first two touchdowns of the season in Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals, James White was critical of his own performance.
Speaking minutes after Nick Folk’s last-second 50-yard field goal gave the New England Patriots a 20-17 win at Gillette Stadium, White lamented “boneheaded” and “terrible” plays he made in the game.
White’s biggest error, the running back said, came on the Patriots’ opening drive. He bungled a third-down blitz pickup, resulting in the first of Cam Newton’s two interceptions.
Arizona scored on the ensuing possession to take an early 7-0 lead.
“The first set of points that they got, that was on me,” White said in a postgame video conference. “I messed up a blitz pickup and gave them a short field. The defense played great all night long, and for us as an offense, we want to try to string drives together.”
On the play in question, White stepped outside to block edge rusher Hasson Reddick rather than taking on blitzing linebacker Jordan Hicks, who came screaming untouched through the B-gap. White realized his mistake as the play developed, but by that point, it was too late for him to recover.
Hicks nailed Newton as he released the ball, and it fluttered into the hands of edge rusher Markus Golden.
“Obviously, it wasn’t pretty,” White said of New England’s inauspicious start. “I had a couple of boneheaded plays out there myself. (We) just have to make the corrections, try to start faster. It’s good to see that everybody just keeps competing no matter what the situation is.”
New England trailed 10-0 after one quarter before battling back. White scored his first touchdown — a 7-yard run off a fourth-and-2 option pitch — a minute into the second quarter, then crossed the line again on third-and-goal from the 1 late in the third.
Newton noted those touches likely would have gone to Rex Burkhead had the running back not suffered a season-ending knee injury last week. The Patriots relied exclusively on White and Damien Harris at the position, with Sony Michel dressing but not recording a carry or reception.
“He got the Rex Burkhead steez,” Newton said of White.
Both touchdown drives began in Cardinals territory after a 53-yard kickoff return by Donte Moncrief and an interception by Adrian Phillips. respectively. Gunner Olszewski also had a 58-yard punt return that set up an earlier Folk field goal (and would have gone for a touchdown had it not been called back for an illegal blindside block).
With Newton struggling through his worst game in weeks, the Patriots managed just 179 yards of total offense, tied for their lowest mark in any Belichick-era victory.
“(The Cardinals) have a good defense,” said White, who carried five times for 18 yards and caught one pass for -1 yard. “I think we made enough plays to win the football game, and that’s what is most important.”
