Pats opener was everything but normal

FOXBORO — The new normal is very quiet.

Gillette Stadium should have been going bananas on Sunday during the Patriots’ 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins. Guys named Sully would have been double-fisting Coors Lights and doing belly bumps over each of Cam Newton’s touchdowns, laughing about that Tom guy never having the kind of pliability Killa Cam has and how the Pats always squish the fish in Foxboro.

Instead, it was silence, the kind that only shows up [...]

FOXBORO — The new normal is very quiet.

Gillette Stadium should have been going bananas on Sunday during the Patriots’ 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins. Guys named Sully would have been double-fisting Coors Lights and doing belly bumps over each of Cam Newton’s touchdowns, laughing about that Tom guy never having the kind of pliability Killa Cam has and how the Pats always squish the fish in Foxboro.

Instead, it was silence, the kind that only shows up in horror flicks, not football stadiums. Sure, back in 1990, Foxboro Stadium was quiet when the Patriots were racking up a 1-15 season, but there was a reason. That team stunk. The 2020 Patriots, at least on first glance, do not.

That’s what made everything about Sunday so creepy.

If you’ve ever been to Gillette for a Patriots game, you know the routine and if you don’t, it can make a long day even longer. You shoot to get into the lots four hours before kickoff and if you don’t, you’re stuck in the traffic nightmare that is Route 1.

Traffic didn’t exist on this Sunday. The drive was pain free. You would have had a harder time getting into Bass Pro for Santa pics around Christmas than getting into the media lot for Week 1 at Gillette. It didn’t make sense.

It was a running theme for the afternoon. Nothing about the game-day experience felt like what Sundays in Foxboro usually do, whether you’re watching it from the stands or the press box.

The weather was absolutely perfect for 18 holes, apple picking or watching the Patriots beat up on Miami in Week 1 in the NFL season. Fans should have been creeping in early to see Cam Newton dance during warmups, watch Julian Edelman stretch and boo the crap out of the Dolphins just for having the audacity to be the Dolphins.

When "Crazy Train" starts, Gillette usually explodes like the fireworks that go off as Edelman comes racing out of the tunnel like a squirrel on a high-end amphetamine. On Sunday, "Crazy Train" hit and out came … Jake Bailey and the special-teams unit? Bailey at least managed a fist pump that was as enthusiastic as a parent’s whose kid brought home straight Cs on the report card.

Moments later, Edelman raced out. Sort of. It didn’t look or feel the same, like watching Robert DeNiro in movies now and pretending everything is OK. Maybe it was Edelman’s old age that made this entrance difference or maybe it was the lack of fans feeding him the energy he needs.

Per usual, Edelman raced down the Patriots sideline and when he arrived in the end zone — where he usually throws punches in the air and yells "let’s go" to the rabid fans in full berserker mode in the field level seats — he half-heartedly slugged the air, soft enough that it could have hit back.

The national anthem never fails to bring cheers. The conclusion of the song — shown on Gillette’s massive video board — got one reaction.

Silence.

The teams didn’t send out captains for the coin toss. They sent out a captain. Matthew Slater was the Patriots representative while former teammate Kyle Van Noy called heads for the Dolphins, clearly unaware that tails never fails. When Slater deferred, fans in Gillette would have appropriately clapped about the thought of a double score.

Instead, it was silence.

It was a shame because Sunday was a chance for Patriots fans to fall in love with Newton, a player who feeds off energy like a lineman at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Anyone who hated the idea of his Superman celly would have done a 180 the second it made its Patriots debut after his 4-yard TD at the start of the second quarter. Then they would have shed a tear when he made some kid’s life, handing him the ball as he did in Carolina. Instead, nobody got the ball as Newton tried to spike it.

His second — an 11-yard run on the opening drive of the second half to the left pylon that the team’s last quarterback couldn’t have made these last couple of years against a Pop Warner team — might have caused a riot in the stands with people screaming "Tom Who?"

Instead, it was silence.

The Patriots defense had three of the quietest interceptions in franchise history, including J.C. Jackson’s that clinched the win. There were no moans when N’Keal Harry’s fumble rolled through the end zone. When Ryan Fitzpatrick ran in a 2-point conversion that made it 14-11, there was no nervous rumble from the stands.

On the Patriots’ final drive, one that ended with a 1-yard Sony Michel plunge, there was no exclamatory release from 60,000-plus that had waited to see a Patriots win since the 2019 season ended.

Instead, it was silence.

It’s going to take some time getting used to this.

erueb@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @EricRueb