The Panthers defense had no sacks and just one quarterback hurry Friday night. Defensive end Charles Johnson was back in Charlotte nursing his hamstring, and defensive end Greg Hardy played with a sore shoulder, but the line is Carolina’s deepest position. Pressure is the defense’s biggest weapon. Instead, both were nonexistent against the Patriots.

“I’m disappointed in the pass rush,” head coach Ron Rivera said. “Give them credit, they protected their quarterback, their quarterback got the ball out when he needed to. We did blitz, the timing of the blitz wasn’t very good.”

Quarterback Tom Brady did hit the turf once — when he slipped trying to hand off to running back Shane Vereen.