The New England Patriots entered Sunday's Week 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadiums as big underdogs, but they were able to pull out a 16-10 win.
New England got some great performances from some of their players, while others will want to forget the season opener completely.
After the victory, let's give some credit to those who deserve it and point out who needs to stay after on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium this week.
WINNER: DB Kyle Dugger
New England's top safety played all 51 defensive snaps for that unit as well as six more on special teams. He finished the game with six tackles (tied for second-most on the team) and a pass defensed.
Dugger's two biggest plays came in Cincinnati's final drive of the first half, as he helped break up a touchdown pass from Joe Burrow to Mike Gesicki on second down. Then, just a play later, he forced Tanner Hudson to fumble, saving a touchdown and giving the Patriots possession to score a field goal before the half.
LOSER: OT Chukwuma Okorafor
Okorafor started the afternoon as New England's left tackle, but he was benched pretty quickly (just 12 snaps). According to Next Gen Stats, Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson had three pressures on just five pass snaps against him. That wasn't going to be a model for success.
WINNER: RB Rhamondre Stevenson
Stevenson was truly a bellcow running back for the Patriots on Sunday. He rushed for 120 yards on 4.8 yards per carry with a long of 17 and scored the team's lone touchdown in the contest.
New England also counted on the 26-year-old to ice the game in the fourth quarter and rush for two first downs, which he did on just four plays.
LOSER: OT Vederian Lowe
While Lowe was an improvement over Okorafor on the left side, he still wasn't great. Against Hendrickson again, he allowed four pressures on 16 snaps.
The Patriots needed to have third-round pick Caedan Wallace slide in for 18 snaps as an extra tight end to help manage the mess on the edges.
WINNER: EDGE Keion White
While one of New England's offensive edges was rough, they got a big boost on the defensive side, as White looked like a beast. The second-year defensive end recorded four total tackles and 2.5 sacks in the opener and made Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo look smart for trading Matthew Judon and giving him more playing time.
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