Turn back the clock.

There really isn’t a whole lot of analysis to give on the New England Patriots 42-13 blowout of the Carolina Panthers, is there?

Number one, the Panthers stink. Number two,time get Marcus Jones some touches on offense. And No.3, how bad are the Atlanta Falcons?

OK, maybe not that bad. But its hard to believe any Bryce Young quarterbacked team putting up 30 points on anyone. They’ll have to take the ‘L’ on that pick and start over at some point.

Thats the way the NFL is,though. One week the boobirds are out, another you’re on a pedestal. But the Patriots showed on Sunday they can be a good football team that whacks the bad ones. They didnt get caught playing down to the level of the competition.And they did it at home.

They got Stefon Diggs untracked, as QB Drake Maye promised. The veteran receiver enjoyed his 37th career 100 yard game.

Its been awhile since these games have been at Gillette, the tape going out of the immediate locker room post-game celebration/game ball presentations. Like old times. Even Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” and the fans singing along sounded more like it did back in the Brady days even though it was the same recording,etc.

Hopefully for Patriot fans, like better times.

“”I think it created momentum for us,” Patriots rookie back TreVeyon Henderson said. “But we can’t get too big-headed. Coach Vrabes, he does a great job of keeping us focused,keeping us humble,pushing us in practice each and every day. We’ve got to continue to have a great week,great days of preparation to keep this thing (going).”

“It was explosive,” said Patriots veteran receiver Stefon Diggs, who gave the team a pre-game speech, something he likes to do every week. “I think we just wanted to come out and be us. … I’m super excited about what’s to come.”

Jones’ punt returns certainly electrified things. We really hadn’t seen that from him since he beat the Jets in a listless game between too bad teams three years ago. Maybe it’s a play

That’s sometimes what happens in these games, a spark is lit, and and a stadium comes alive. Something had to happen with this team, and when the Panthers scored right away, fans were likely thinking at least it was nice to be outside on a summer-like early fall day but that’s all they’d get for the price of their ticket — again.

Had the Patriots dropped to 1-3, that’s not the end of the world, but to do it against a team like the Panthers, well,you know. The Red Sox would be saving them.

They needed this, period.

“You always need it,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “You only have so many opportunities. Whatever you do in one week, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about what you do the next week moving forward. Hopefully we take that same approach whether we win or we lose. I think that’s what I’ve tried to do is whether you win or you lose, we’ve got to embrace moving on. We have to do that. We have to prepare here for a division opponent (Buffalo) on the road. It’s going to be a great environment, and hopefully we’ll see where we’re at.”

There you go. Vrabel knows there’s no way a win over the Panthers, no matter by how much, tells you a lot. To be a good team you have to beat both the bad and the good.

Next week it’s Sunday Night football, something the Patriots haven’t seen in a while except on their TV screens.

“What we put on tape last week was not what we want to do and who we want to be,” Patriots QB Drake Maye said. “I thought those guys, we established the run early, we had some different scheme kind of plays that kind of gave the defense some misdirection that I thought we hit right on the head and turned into explosive plays.”

Is that who these Patriots are? Let’s just say it’s who they possibly could be more often than not.

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on X (@Telegraph_TomK).