FOXBORO — The last time we saw the Patriots, you know what happened.
Their rookie offensive linemen got spun like dreidels. Their run defense cracked against Seattle’s stubbornness. And late some nights, sitting up in a cold sweat, Drake Maye might still see the ghosts that left Sam Darnold for good and instead spooked him for most of Super Bowl LX.
Fast-forward.
The Patriots’ long-awaited return Thursday night was not quite the same kind of ugly, but ugly all the same.
The Pats are wobbly again. Not like they were in February, a bloodied boxer broken by their opponent, but more like a newborn taking its first steps.
The Patriots had penalties, drops, blown blocks and three missed field goals in their preseason opener against the Colts. Standard preseason stuff. Lots of falling down, picking themselves up and dusting themselves off only to fall again, over and over.
The big, boring secret of last year’s Pats was that before the Super Bowl they never fell hard because they were too healthy. They barely even stubbed their toe, losing their first starter to injured reserve in mid-November and taking all three regular-season defeats by one possession. They were, in fact, the healthiest team in football.
That good fortune, combined with sharp coaching and Maye’s brilliance, prematurely cured several problems that typically plague a franchise in that stage of a rebuild. Suspect depth, poor line play and mistakes that come with playing as many draft picks as they did.
Instead, the Patriots could afford to play the rookies they wanted to play, and stash the rest. Will Campbell and Jared Wilson started on the offensive line. TreVeyon Henderson led the team in rushing. Young safety Craig Woodson played more defensive snaps than any of his teammates, while Kyle Williams, Bradyn Swinson and Joshua Farmer were more or less put on ice.
If the Patriots fall a few more times this season than they did last year — and they will — they won’t have the luxury of picking and choosing the rookies they want to play.
No Morgan Moses? Enter Caleb Lomu.
Hunter Henry banged-up? Here comes Eli Raridon.
And even if Harold Landry returns from the land of the Physically Unable to Perform sometime this summer, Gabe Jacas might start in September, anyway.
Once again, the Patriots will be counting on the kids. Except, this time there are expectations. Sky-high Super Bowl ones.
So, how did they do Thursday?
Lomu is, let’s say, still adjusting.
The Patriots ran behind their first-round pick for two fourth-down conversions in the first half. Yet he was also flagged for an ineligible man downfield penalty, which wiped out an explosive pass play to Raridon, and allowed a run staff on a toss play that lost four yards. Lomu played through halftime, and then took a seat.
As for Raridon, he caught one of four targets for eight yards. His long speed was evident Thursday. Obvious, even. But Raridon will get tossed around as a run-blocker for most of the season because that is the nature of being a 22-year-old, 245-pound rookie in a grown man’s NFL. That limits what the Patriots can do when he is on the field and can expect if he ever replaces Henry for an extended stretch.
(Henry, by the way, is only listed as four pounds heavier than Raridon, but plays much more physically according to their teammates.)
Defensively, Jacas had two tackles on defense and added another pair on special teams. He created pressure on the Colts’ first interception, a catchable pass that had a little too much heat on it. Jacas was also exposed as a run defender on a few snaps, something that will get him pulled from early-down work ASAP, even if his natural talent might exceed all other edge rushers on the roster.
Fifth-round pick Karon Prunty was thrust into a starting role that’s become almost familiar in practice, thanks to recent injuries to fellow cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Charles Woods. He finished with three tackles, plus another stop on special teams. Behind that veteran trio, the Patriots have no answers currently at corner, where history says Davis will miss time and Woods has only played 130 regular-season snaps for his career.
Which is to say the Patriots left Thursday’s preseason opener with all of the same questions they had entering kickoff.
Can they protect Maye well enough?
Can they rush the passer?
And is their defensive depth sufficient to carry them back to the Super Bowl?
Time will tell.
And so, too, should the rookies.