The ride down Route 1 was a breeze.

No traffic. No fans walking along the side of the road heading toward Gillette Stadium after paying a little cheaper price to park than the stadium lots.

Oh, the fans would have loved basking in the sun at Gillette on Sunday for the New England Patriots’ 21-11 season win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

But, of course, we know COVID-19 had other ideas. No fans allowed. And that made it somewhat of a historic day in Foxborough. Not only was it the first Patriots game ever played without fans – OK, there weren’t a lot in the 1960s, but the various Patriot homes weren’t completely empty – it was the first time the Patriots had a new starting quarterback other than Tom Brady.

“Surreal,” one Gillette employee said after the game was over.

Media were in the press box, seats far apart guarded by plexiglass. Some media were in the stands, photographers in the first rows. The Patriot cheerleaders and the Militia were on the bridge at the lighthouse end (Hmm, why were the cheerleaders there? Who were they actually performing for?).

Not only were there no fans, there was no Tom Brady. When the Patriots ran out onto the field to absolutely no applause, and punter Jake Bailey was leading the way.

So bizarre.

“There were definitely moments where I was like ‘Woah’,” Patriots center David Andrews said, “but it was obvously new to all of us. We have never really run out onto the field without any fans, heck, even in PeeWee (Pop Warner football) there were fans.

“But I liked the way we went out there and competed and played the game. In some ways, it brings the game back to why you started playing, just to love playing the game. There’s no fans, it s just a bunch of grown men playing a kids game.”

Of course, one of those grown men has been like a kid in a candy store the last month, one Cam Newton. That was the other strange thing about Sunday, but that strange feeling didn’t last long, as the Patriots’ new starting QB rushed for 75 yards and two TDs on 15 carries. While it’s the 10th time he rushed for 75 or more, that’s the most rushing yards for a New England quarterback since Steve Grogan rushed for 76 yards on Sept.19, 1976, also against Miami. Of course Newton admitted when asked he didn’t know anything about Grogan.

But he knows that it’s his team right now, things are being done his way, with him carrying the football. Ironically later in the day Brady even ran for a touchdown, but he couldn’t match the same feeling as Newton as his Bucs got pasted by the Saints.

“I think it was just a feeling process,” Newton said. “I think more so for me as well as Josh Pats offensive coordinator McDaniels), Coach Bill (Belichick) as well as Josh, to understand who they have and what I have.

“So all in all, and obviously Josh has been calling plays the same way for a long time, so now knowing with the dialogue we had on the sidelines, it was unbelievable. … Honestly, I was just doing what I was asked.”

One can imagine how the Foxborough Faithful would have embraced Newton on this day. They’ll never forget Brady, of course, but you can be sure they would have been living in the moment.

“It was awesome,” Patriots receiver Julian Edelman said of playing his first game with Newton. “He made some big plays and it was cool to witness that on his side. … He’s a stud and he brings an energy, he’s fun to play with.”

Newton deserved to hear fans applaud, that would have upped his energy level even more. Again, just a strange day, strange atmosphere, seeing the Gillette seats and lots empty – no tailgating was allowed – no cheers, etc. This new normal isn’t much fun.

While Andrews took things back to his youth football days, Edelman stopped at junior college – San Mateo – when it was “a full love of the game type mentality out there. You could hear the other guys, everybody could hear each other. … It was obviously unfortunate that we don’t have any fans. That energy and getting to go out there in front of 75,000 people is amazing.”

It sure is. No Brady. No fans. Cam Newton. It was strange getting to Gillette 90 minutes before game time instead of a traffic-beating 90 hours. Even stranger just zipping out of Foxborough with no traffic, no buzz.

New Normal? There wasn’t anything normal about Sunday, except another day the Patriots came out on the winning side thanks to their defense and quarterback.

Tom King may be reached at @Telegraph_TomK on twitter, or tking@nashuatelegraph.com

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