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Don’t worry, be happy that ferocious Judon is a Patriot

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Oct 10, 2022

The T-shirts are probably already being printed.

All the Zappe puns, including the leader in the clubhouse so far, “Don’t Worry, Be Zappe.”

Bailey Zappe fever has begun, but don’t be fooled. The rookie quarterback was just a bit part of Sunday’s 29-0 New England Patriots domination of the toothless Detroit Lions.

And yes, you’ll probably see Mac Jones’ ankle mysteriously get a lot better in the next few days, and Bill Belichick will be coy about who will start in Cleveland next Sunday.

But here’s the deal: On Sunday, Belichick had Matt Judon, and the Detroit Lions didn’t.

What the Lions had was a top rated offense that had no chance at figuring out what the Patriots defense was doing – because its quarterback, Jared Goff, had no time to accomplish that task.

Thanks to Judon.

“We just – when it came time to throw it, we just – we could never get him quite comfortable,” clueless Lions coach Dan Campbell said.

“Ju had another great day,” Belichick said. “Again, he is a very physical presence for us on the end of the line.”

This is what we all saw. Goff go back to pass, especially in obvious passing downs, and Judon just blowing by whoever was in his way to get to the quarterback.

“Yeah, look, Judon’s a good player,” Campbell said. “We did a significant amount of chipping and nudging to his side. But I didnt necessarily feel like he wrecked the game.”

Hello? Clueless Dan strikes again.

“You know, there’s – again, when things don’t go well in your protections, there’s a umber of reasons. …but he’s a good player. You know, I don’t feel like he had a – he wore our tackles out or anything like that.”

Yeah, even though replays show Judon tossing people aside to get to Goff, who can’t make something out of nothing to save his life.

This is the Judon the first five weeks of the season that the Patriots were missing the last five weeks of last season, after he got ill and injured and was never the same coming back.

It’s different now. He the first Patriot to have at least a sack in each of his first five games – like he really cares. Talk to him about that next contract time. In the Patriots’ spending spree of 2021, he is the main prize.

“Like I said, you got to take it one week at a time,” he said. “It’s difficult in these league to win games. That’s what we had to do. We had to pitch a shutout.”

The Browns, Bears, Jets and Colts (next four games before the bye) can’t be a dumb as the Lions and not pay attention to the guy with the red sleeves who wore blue on Sunday to go with the Pats’ red throwbacks.

“I’m taking us over anybody,” Judon said with regard to the Patriots’ defensive front. “So all respect to (Detroit’s) offensive lie and offensive lines throughout the league, but we kind of really don’t care. We’re going to go out there and do our job.”

There you go, Patriots fans:

Don’t worry, be happy the Patriots have Matt Judon and the rest of the NFL doesn’t. Yeah, we know, too long for a T-Shirt.

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