New England Patriots: Studs and duds in Week 2 vs. Seahawks

Stud: Hanging with a solid opponent

Perhaps the biggest surprise and the biggest positive that came out of the Week 2 contest for the Patriots was the fact that they do indeed appear to be a serious threat in the NFL.

Coming into the season, it was a big question whether or not New England would take a step back as a team or if we would see it go through some sort of a rebuilding year, but that doesn’t appear to be the case early here in 2020.

The Patriots looked impressive in the season-opening win over the Miami Dolphins, but that was against the Dolphins who are still trying to fight back into legitimacy in the NFL. In Week 2, though, New England was going to get a real test and a nice measuring-stick-type game against the Seattle Seahawks, who are one of the top teams in the NFC and NFL as a whole.

The fact that the Patriots were able to go shot-for-shot with the Seahawks and even had a legitimate shot to win the game in the final seconds is a really nice sign as New England hopes to get back to the playoffs and make a run in the postseason this year.

Dud: Execution in the final seconds

The final dud that appeared for New England in its first loss of the 2020 season on Sunday Night Football was the execution in the final seconds and not being able to close the deal to steal a game on the road.

There were a lot of good things that took place in the game for the Patriots, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, but when you have a chance to close out the game late like they did, you have to be able to execute to accomplish that.

Of course, it is just Week 2 of the regular season and there are plenty of chances the rest of the year to make up ground and learn from mistakes in late-game execution, but taking the early-season matchup against a team like Seattle would have been huge for New England.

Among all the positives that came out of the Week 2 loss against the Seahawks, the Patriots are looking good, but do have some things to work on still including late-game execution.