Biggest Takeaways from New England Patriots' Preseason Week 1 Loss

The New England Patriots played their first game of the 2017 preseason on Thursday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was the first time they had been on the field since February 5—when they were last seen winning the Super Bowl.

As expected, the Patriots didn't play a large number of their starters in the 31-24 loss. Players such as Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman don't need the extra reps. They've been doing their thing together for several years now.

We didn't get to see some of New England's new faces—such as Brandin Cooks or Mike Gillislee—either. This means we're still waiting to see how some of the offseason additions jell with the team.

However, this doesn't mean the Patriots' preseason opener didn't yield some important information. We did get a strong look at their roster depth, which could become important over the course of a 16-game season.

With Week 1 of the preseason in the rearview mirror, let's take a look at what we learned.

There's Nothing Wrong with Garoppolo

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Earlier this month, the Patriots participated in a team scrimmage. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo didn't fair so well, and Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald called his performance "woeful."

"Garoppolo has been inconsistent in his fourth training camp, though the cries of his demise have been tremendously exaggerated," Howe also wrote.

Against Jacksonville, we learned that there isn't a reason to worry about Garoppolo's ability to lead the offense. Even without some of New England's biggest weapons, he was able to operate well.

Garoppolo finished the game 22-of-28 for 235 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also appeared poised in the pocket and comfortable under pressure—despite taking two sacks on the night. Many of his completions were of the short variety, but the 25-year-old showed he can operate the Patriots' precision offense.

If there's a concern, it's that the offense only produced 10 first-half points behind Garoppolo. With a full arsenal of weapons, though, this probably wouldn't have been the case.

New England's backup spot will be in good hands with Garoppolo in 2017. Hopefully, though, the Patriots won't need to turn to him.

Dion Lewis Is Back

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With Gillislee, James White and Rex Burkhead all out, the Patriots relied on other backs to carry the load on Thursday night. One who got extensive work was speedy scatback Dion Lewis.

Lewis carried the ball seven times for 32 yards and a 4.6 yards-per-carry average. He also caught four passes for 23 yards. He was on the field for a total of 24 offensive snaps. For a guy who is expected to be a large part of the offense in 2017, this seems like a pretty sizable workload.

However, it feels unlikely that Thursday's workload means Lewis is battling for a job. He's part of a committee that also includes Gillislee, Burkhead and White. He's the only one who played, so the Patriots probably just used the opportunity to see what kind of player Lewis is after two injury-plagued seasons.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick echoed that idea after the game, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com:

"I thought he was very competitive, made some plays in the running game and in the passing game. Just overall an opportunity for backs to just sharpen up their skills, their run reads, getting tackled, dealing with contact, making those quick decisions with the ball in their hands that you practice in practice, but we all know it’s not quite the same as game situations."

Lewis looked very much like the shifty, explosive player we saw in early 2015 before suffering a torn ACL. With three exhibition games still on the slate, he already looks ready for the upcoming season.

Brandon Bolden Has Backfield Value

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Considering the backs the Patriots have on the roster, Brandon Bolden is probably an afterthought for most fans. If he's able to make the team, he'll do so as a special teamer, as he has done in each of the past few seasons.

Yes, Bolden had a couple of impressive games as a runner early in his NFL career, but he's had fewer than 10 combined carries over the past three seasons. He is extremely valuable as a special teams player, but he isn't likely to have a significant role on offense.

Yet, Bolden showed on Thursday he's still capable of being an effective running back in the Patriots system. He amassed 33 yards rushing on just five carries and caught three passes for 24 more yards. He also showed his skills as a blocker in the backfield. His blocking stood out late in the second quarter on a 20-yard pass from Garoppolo to wideout Austin Carr.

Bolden was a bruiser who averaged 4.9 yards per carry in his first two NFL seasons, and that's the kind of back he resembled against Jacksonville.

If the Patriots cannot find a power-back replacement for LeGarrette Blount in either Gillislee or Burkhead, Bolden might just have some value in that role.

We should get a better feel for New England's backfield once the new additions see the playing field. If the Patriots see enough from Burkhead and Gillislee, they might be able to showcase Bolden through the remainder of the preseason to create some trade value.

At 27 years old and with a light workload over the last few seasons, Bolden still has plenty of tread on his tires.

Cyrus Jones Still Struggling

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The Patriots spent a second-round pick on cornerback Cyrus Jones last season, but they never really saw their investment pay off on the field.

Jones barely saw the field on defense as a rookie, and he struggled with drops and fumbles as a return specialist.

Given a chance to show improvement on Thursday, he again failed.

Jones was regularly burned in coverage. He nearly gave up a would-be touchdown that ended up flying high out of the back of the end zone. He did give up a 42-yard touchdown to wideout Dede Westbrook.

Jones was beaten badly on that play initially, recovered, then allowed some big separation after looking back to locate the ball.

That touchdown pass ended up being the game-winner.

Jones wasn't exactly impressive returning kicks either. He averaged fewer than 20 yards per kickoff return and returned one punt for no gain.

As a former second-round pick—and only a second-year player—Jones may not be in jeopardy of losing his roster spot. The Patriots did try playing him at safety toward the end of the game, so the team is probably at least interested in finding a role for him.

If Jones keeps struggling throughout the preseason, though, it may be hard to justify keeping him on the active roster.

Lack of Pass Rush Evident

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New England didn't have many weaknesses during the 2016 campaign, but a so-so pass rush was one of them. As a team, the Patriots produced just 34 sacks, tied for 16th in the league, and Trey Flowers led the team with a mere 7.0 sacks.

Flowers didn't see the field on Thursday night, but newcomers like Kony Ealy, Deatrich Wise and Derek Rivers did. Unfortunately, the Patriots were not able to generate much of a pass rush at all. The team logged zero sacks, and Jaguars quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Chad Henne often seemed to have an eternity in the pocket.

Now, it's definitely worth noting that New England went with as vanilla a defense as you're going to see on an NFL field, as is the norm for the team.

With more starters on the field—40 players sat in total—and more complex schemes, New England may have more of a pass rush. However, it would have been nice to see someone win a one-on-one matchup and get to the quarterback.

Perhaps this is why New England signed undrafted rookie pass-rusher Keionta Davis a day after the preseason opener.

"We've done quite a bit of work on him," Belichick said of Davis, per Doug Kyed of NESN.com. "I worked him out at Chattanooga myself in March. I mean, he's a good player. I don't think he’s any secret. We were able to add him to our roster. We'll just go forward with it and see how it goes."

Hopefully, the Patriots will be able to put more pressure on the opposing quarterbacks in Week 2.

Patriots Have a Ton of Pass-Catcher Depth

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The Patriots didn't put top-end receivers such Edelman, Danny Amendola or newcomer Cooks on the field against Jacksonville. Tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen weren't out there either.

This didn't, however, prevent quarterbacks Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett from having some success in the passing game.

The reality is New England is so deep at the offensive skill positions that guys who might not even make the roster looked like stars.

Rookie tight end Jacob Hollister was especially impressive, catching seven passes for 116 yards. Given New England's love of pass-catching tight ends, he may be hard to keep off the roster. Rookie wideout Austin Carr, who had five catches, 44 yards and a touchdown, was also impressive.

The 20-yard reception from Carr that we previously mentioned was a thing of beauty. He caught the ball right at the sideline and did a terrific of tapping both feet in bounds before falling out. That kind of field awareness and body control is going to garner attention from the coaching staff.

K.J. Maye also produced some notable plays. He caught six passes for 34 yards and a highlight touchdown. He caught a short pass and then weaved and battered his way through traffic to find the end zone on the score.

If these young players keep performing like this in the preseason, the Patriots could justify keeping any or all of them on the roster. Of course, with guys like Gronkowski, Allen, Cooks, Edelman, Amendola, Chris Hogan, Malcolm Mitchell and Matthew Slater also on the roster, these guys might be more likely headed to the practice squad or another roster.