Patriots setting themselves up for disaster after surprise Week 1 win

The New England Patriots were the surprise winners of Week 1, toppling the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10 in Jerod Mayo's first game as the NFL's youngest head coach. After a summer of hearing about how quickly New England would plummet to the bottom of the standings, the Pats are 1-0 with a couple winnable games on the docket. My, how the tables turn.

It was not a dominant offensive performance from the Patriots, but their defense held Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense to just 10 points on a combined 224 yards. The supposed third-best quarterback in the NFL finished with a lower QBR (56.1) than Jacoby Brissett (82.4), who wasn't even all that impressive in his New England debut.

Patriots fans are understandably psyched about this outcome, as they should be. What a statement from this team in the face of adversity. I'd wager that this victory had more to do with the Bengals than the current narrative suggests, but even with Cincy's vibes in the gutter, this game was all Bengals on paper. The Patriots overcame steep odds and put together their most well-rounded performance in a while, even with a middling pass attack.

The Jerod Mayo upgrade feels substantial. These last few years under Bill Belichick were palpably toxic. Even if Mayo is not a great coach — and he very well could be for all we know — he is bringing a renewed energy to an organization that has been too stagnant for too long.

What New England cannot afford to do, however, is get too confident, too quickly. Again... the Bengals are a mess. We should probably pump the breaks a wee bit.

Patriots shouldn't go overboard in celebrating Week 1 victory over Bengals

The line between modest, humble celebration and over-the-top peacocking is razor thin, especially in the social media age. It has never been easier to broadcast and even warp ill-advised statements. That is a pitfall the Patriots need to avoid like the plague. This was an impressive victory, of course, but there is still much left to prove.

There is a lot of confidence bubbling up around the Patriots fandom and those who cover the team. All of a sudden, New England has gone from a laughing stock to a reckonable force.

"For Coach Mayo, New England starting well is a testament to the camp the former Patriots linebacker-turned-head coach ran in Foxborough this summer," writes Evan Lazar for the official Patriots team site. "Unlike the Bengals, who had mixed vibes with unhappy star players while playing their starters limited reps in the preseason, the Patriots got better at football by playing football in August."

New England's social media crew got in on the fun as well.

Great stuff. New England should have fun with it. But, again, be warned. The tide tends to turn quickly in the NFL and the Patriots are far from stable ground. One win over a wobbly opponent does not make a contender. New England needs to stack quality wins and overcome weaknesses before we can truly start to shift the narrative.

That said, there are immaculate vibes around the clubhouse right now. Mayo is clearly building the right culture and he deserves a ton of credit for that after how things ended with Belichick. Here's Jacoby Brissett talking about the encouragement he received from Mayo before the game.

We're tearing up, too.

Keion White, after netting 2.5 sacks in the opener, said New England would "run through a brick wall" for its new head coach.

Mayo deserves a ton of credit and the Patriots are justified in celebrating their victory. As the schedule gets tougher and teams around the league settle into a rhythm, however, the Patriots will face new challenges. You can't always win a game on 16 points and 121 passing yards.

Only time will tell how real this New England squad actually is.