Matthew Judon's biggest play wasn't a sack and other leftover Patriots thoughts

BOSTON -- Matthew Judon. Premiere pass rusher. Red sleeves. Downhill quickness. Tremendous instincts. Special get-off. Size. Skill. Mindset.

Those are typically the things that come to mind when Matt Judon's name is brought up. It's what makes him one of the best pass rushers in the league (despite NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players all apparently being unaware of that fact), and it's what has him in a tie for the NFL lead in sacks through 14 weeks. And in terms of getting to the quarterback on Monday night, Judon was once again excellent. He recorded 1.5 sacks, and his dominance helped Josh Uche record three sacks of his own.

Those plays were important, no doubt. But the biggest play of the night for Judon had nothing to do with the quarterback at all. It had to do with a run stuff.

While Judon is certainly a football player and not just an edge rusher, the words "run stuffer" wouldn't immediately come to mind when discussing his skill set. Yet his ability to instinctively penetrate the offensive line before bursting to grab on to James Conner behind the line of scrimmage helped create the turning point the Patriots needed to turn a 13-7 deficit into a 27-13 lead.

That all -- obviously -- was not accomplished on one play. But consider what could have been if Judon hadn't made that run stuff.

First, here's the play:

Ja'Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai were just behind the line of scrimmage to prevent a big play. But with the Cardinals needing just a yard, James Conner almost certainly would have been able to push forward and move the chains, all but ensuring points for the Cardinals before halftime.

Instead, Judon was able to hop on pop before Bentley came in to finish off the stop. (Hope you don't mind a little rhyming on your Tuesday.)

On the ensuing fourth-and-1, the Cardinals opted to go for it instead of attempting a 50-yard field goal. (Matt Prater had missed a 50-yarder in the first quarter.) Tavai made a good play in his own right to get a finger on Colt McCoy's pass to force a turnover on downs.

From there, the Patriots put together a 32-second field goal drive to cut it to 13-10 -- a swing of six or 10 points before halftime. To start the third quarter, the Patriots drove for another field goal, tying the game at 13-13. The Patriots caught a bit of a break when Hollywood Brown failed to haul in a McCoy pass on a fourth-and-6 at the New England 41-yard line on Arizona's next drive, leading to another turnover on downs. Had Brown stayed on his feet and made that catch, the Cardinals would have been set up for the go-ahead score inside the Patriots' 15. Instead, New England had the ball near midfield.

And though the Patriots didn't score on that ensuing drive, DeAndre Hopkins did this on Arizona's next possession:

And that was that. The Cardinals weren't going to make a comeback with Colt McCoy at the helm. And they didn't.

Granted, a win over the Cardinals without their starting quarterback won't lead to new posters being hung inside the walls of Gillette Stadium. Everybody understands that. But 20 unanswered points to turn a six-point deficit into a runaway victory is still an accomplishment in the NFL. And it all really started with a Matt Judon run stuff.

Let's hit some more leftover thoughts from the Patriots' 27-13 win on Monday Night Football.

--The biggest takeaway is that the win keeps everything on the table for the Patriots. Do I have doubt they'll win two of three against the Bengals, Dolphins and Bills? Of course I do. However. Much crazier things have happened, and my middling record making NFL picks this season shows that I -- just like everybody else -- have no way of predicting the future.

So, assuming the Patriots can beat a Raiders team that is legitimately allergic to winning this coming week, the upshot of Monday night is that the New England region will have legitimate playoff discussions and analyses for the next three weeks at minimum. That's a far cry from the days of scoping out potential AFC Championship Game opponents while making hotel reservations in the Super Bowl city, sure. But being involved in the playoffs beats being irrelevant.

--Matt Judon got the turning point spotlight earlier, but how about some shine on Kevin Harris? Consider this: Entering Monday night, the rookie out of South Carolina had been trusted to take a total of four handoffs this season, gaining four yards in the process. He had been on the field for just 13 offensive snaps -- 12 of which came in a blowout win in Cleveland.

Yet when Rhamondre Stevenson went down with an injury, Harris stepped right in -- on the road, on Monday night football -- and didn't blink.

Now granted, his first snap led to Cameron Thomas getting a piece of Mac Jones' arm, leading to an interception. But Harris did a decent job of keeping Budda Baker upfield, allowing Jones to step up into the pocket. It was Hunter Henry's work on Thomas that led to the disrupted pass.

But on the Patriots' next drive, Harris got his first touch, and he showed some quickness with his jump cuts before finishing powerfully while bowling over Budda Baker to gain nine yards:

Harris exhibited even more power on his second run, gaining about seven yards after contact while powering through a facemask from Trayvon Mullen for an extra 14 yards added on top of the 9-yard run:

Power.

On the next snap, Harris delivered that which has not been attainable for the Patriots for most of the year: A red-zone touchdown.

I counted three cuts and yet another powerful finish. Heck of a drive from a young player who had almost no experience prior to the game. (His fumble on the botched handoff before halftime was not good, for the record. In case that wasn't clear.)

--I'd actually be remiss to not point out that the rookie class had an exceptional game all around. Kevin Harris, we just covered.

Marcus Jones made seven tackles (six solo) while also intercepting a pass and defensing another. He also caught a pass for 12 yards while taking eight offensive snaps. He also returned two kicks for 47 total yards and returned a punt for seven yards. ("So, fatigue is real," Jones said after the game.)

Pierre Strong (just as inexperienced as Harris) broke off a field-flipping 44-yard run on the game-tying drive, and he ran for 70 yards and a touchdown in Stevenson's absence. Strong also broke off a 19-yard run in the fourth quarter to officially ice the game, and he had the presence of mind to go down in bounds to keep the clock rolling down to the two-minute warning.

Jack Jones -- who takes it personally when you throw an out route against him -- made a great read to break up a pass to DeAndre Hopkins on the opening drive of the game, before suffering a knee injury. (Jones said he'll be fine.)

Brenden Schooler and DaMarcus Mitchell contributed with less-heralded work on special teams. 

Cole Strange and Trent Brown did give up a sack to Zach Allen on a well-executed stunt, but otherwise the rookie guard's play wasn't bad.

If there was a nit to pick, it would be Tyquan Thornton running his crossing route a couple of yards too shallow, resulting in an 8-yard gain on third-and-10 and a little outburst from his quarterback. But, two of Thornton's four catches moved the chains, and one set up a third-and-5 just three plays before Pierre Strong's putaway touchdown.

It's asking a lot to get that level of contribution from a rookie class, but the players were up to the challenge in this one.

"Everybody's got a role, and when their number is called hopefully they'll come through for us," Bill Belichick said. "These guys work hard. They all do, but certainly it's good to see some of the young guys and even Schooler, Mitchell in the kicking game and obviously the guys that scored the touchdowns or intercepted passes. They're easy to spot. [Bailey] Zappe had some contributions a little bit earlier in the year when he played. It takes everybody. I thought we had that tonight. We had everybody pulling tonight."

--If you're more on the negative side of the party, you've got plenty to work with when you look at Matt Patricia, the offensive play-calling, and the continued lack of crispness to the entire offensive operation. Running a dozen screens in one game is a bit puzzling. This number in particular was insane:

But I do think there was some reason for all of that short-passing game.

For one, the Cardinals were gearing up to stop it -- as Vance Joseph dutifully noted last week -- so it might have freed up some opportunities downfield in the rare cases when Jones was allowed to actually throw real football passes in the football game.

Secondly, let's not forget that Conor McDermott was starting at right tackle, and Trent Brown still looks like a shell of himself over at left tackle. While the interior of the line is shored up, the tackle spots remain an issue, so it's not as if Jones has a lot of time in the pocket to make his progressions and deliver a pass. Even keeping Hunter Henry in to pass-block didn't help stop the Cardinals' pass rush from whacking Jones' arm mid-throw and creating an interception.

So for as much as everyone would like to see the football being hurled in the direction of the opponents' end zone, doing so remains a bit of a roadblock for this offense. (Don't expect immediate changes, either. Not with Maxx Crosby and a suddenly rejuvenated Chandler Jones next on the schedule.)

--As for the delay of game penalties, the burned timeouts after the second play of the second half, the illegal motions ... can't help you there. This offense is not a well-oiled machine and won't be for the remainder of the year.

--This ruled:

It should count for something. Maybe give him some points in the Pro Bowl Games, whatever they end up being. That rocked.

--I'll be honest: When I saw James Conner barrel through Devin McCourty and Ja'Whaun Bentley to score a touchdown, I thought it was over for New England.

Troy Aikman's "wow" summed up my feelings. I'm still not sure how this ...

... turned into a TD.

Nevertheless, the Cardinals wouldn't score again for the rest of the night.

--I said all that needs to be said in this tweet:

Thank you for your time.

--Some stats that catch my eye:

Mac Jones has thrown 7 TDs and 8 INTs in 10 games this year. He ranks 30th in pass touchdowns and 25th in passer rating. Not all his fault. Actually, not much his fault. But not great, regardless.

Jonnu Smith has 50 receptions for 494 yards and one touchdown in 29 games with the Patriots. That's an average of 17 yards per game. He had zero yards on Monday. It was the fourth time this season he failed to record a receiving yard, and the seventh time this season he's had 10 or fewer receiving yards in a game. He had 20 or fewer receiving yards in 12 of his 18 games last year. he makes $12.5 million per year.

Josh Uche recorded three sacks Monday, bringing his season total to 10. All 10 of those sacks have come in his last six games. He had four sacks in 26 career games prior to that. (He got the last one while Judon was getting decapitated by the right tackle but still powering through to the quarterback, so Judon deserves a lot of credit for that becoming a one-two punch.)

--Look, folks. These used to happen twice a game. Now we're lucky if we see them twice a season. So if you'll indulge me for a moment ...

Isn't it beautiful? Love to see it.

OK, short week, on to Las Vegas.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.