The biggest loser of Sunday’s New England Patriots opener wasn’t the Cincinnati Bengals.

It was preseason football.

That’s because we have once again learned that lesson – what you see in the preseason is always simply a bad dream. It’s not reality.

Yes, the New England Patriots surprised the world yesterday, and good for them. They did it the old fashioned way, earning it with old time, plow ahead football and solid defense.

It’s a tribute to many things. One, you could tell in the first quarter that the Patriots were ready to play, do it their way and the Bengals wanted no part of that. They still were in summer mode.

And while they came back, you never thought Joe Burrow & Co. would be able to drive down the field and put the points up that were needed. Just think about this – the Patriots held a pretty potent offense to just 10 points.

“Keep everything in front of you,” Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers said. “We know Joe (Burrow) can make any throw on the field. Ja’Marr Chase is one the best, if not the best receiver in the league, and I think we did a good job today.”

They sure did. The Patriots kept the score down, and they had a back, Rhamondre Stevenson, who could just shorten the game and keep the chains moving with 120 rushing yards and a TD.

Gee, maybe the offensive coordinator and head coach aren’t as clueless as they were made out to be before the season started. The players certainly didn’t think they were.

“We really don’t care about the outside noise,” Peppers said. “We only care about what the people believe and think in our building. We know the work we put in day in an day out, we know the work the coaches put in day in and day out, and we’re all here for one common goal, and that’s to win. People can say whatever they want to say, but they can’t play in this league.”

Well, he certainly told us, right?

We know the Patriots won’t win any shootouts. Against some teams, they won’t have to. But Sunday, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo pushed all the right buttons. Offensive linemen were rotated in and out. As tackle Vederian Lowe said, “I was just told to stay ready and do what’s best for the team.”

It’s clear that a win like this will have the Patriot players buying what Mayo is selling. A lot of their answers referred to what the new head coach told them, how they should approach things, etc.

“He always talks about process/progress,” Lowe said. “So every single week, we start the process, and we make progress every week, and he payoff will come later on.”

Sunday they got a sniff of what that payoff would be like – down the road. But the days leading up to next Sunday’s home opener at Gillette vs. Seattle — which beat Denver 26-20 — won’t be filled with the gloom and doom of … yup, the preseason.

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com